Transmission is Glasgow's oldest artist-run gallery, established in 1983 by art school graduates who felt dissatisfied with the opportunities available to them on graduating. From its inception the gallery has been run by a changing committee and offered membership. When it was founded, it was supported by the Scottish Arts Council and Glasgow City Council. Its first address was 13–15 Chisholm Street, Trongate, Glasgow. On the opening nightAlexander Moffat gave a speech, calling the gallery 'far more important than the Burrell Collection.' As well as exhibitions, the gallery's programme has always included talks, readings and events. Curator Craig Richardson notes that in the early days of Transmission, the gallery's membership 'was encouraged to take advantage of the gallery typewriter and telephone which were domestic rarities for mainly unemployed artists in the late 1980s and early 1990s.' In 1989 the gallery moved to 28 King Street, Trongate, Glasgow. The new space was a 'white cube' gallery. Nicola White wrote in 1995:
'Previously the gallery had deliberately positioned itself outside the cultural mainstream. In the early '90s Transmission became, not mainstream, but certainly more allied to the international art scene. Entering the clean-lined space, once could have been in any city in Europe. Alliances and exchanges were made with like-minded artists and galleries in such places as Belfast, London, Chicago and Cologne. The gallery became increasingly recognised outside of Scotland, and increasingly reviewed in the press.'
Several artists associated with the gallery have gone on to win or be nominated for the Turner Prize. The resource room at Transmission Gallery holds a physical library, a collection of slides and visual material left by artists, as well as the Transmission Archive. The Archive includes the gallery's exhibition and events poster archive. The Transmission website also displays encounters with the archive by invited researchers and artists, these are available to view on the website for two years post publishing.
Committee
The first committee of Transmission, from 1983 to 1986, was Alastair Magee, Lesley Raeside, John Rogan, Michelle Baucke and Alistair Strachan. The second committee, from 1986 to 1988, was Gordon Muir, Malcolm Dickson, Carol Rhodes, Peter Thompson, Simon Brown and Douglas Aubrey. From 1988 to the present the following people have been on a rolling committee: Douglas Gordon, Alastair Magee, Lesley Raeside, John Rogan, Malcolm Dickson, Carol Rhodes, Douglas Aubrey, Richard Walker, Jayne Taylor, Tommy Lydon, Billy Clark, Karen Strang, Gillian Steel, Scott Paterson, Anne Elliot, David Allen, Christine Borland, Mike Ellen, Pete Gilmour, Euan Sutherland, Anne Vance, Craig Richardson, Claire Barclay, Elsie Mitchell, Roderick Buchanan, Katrina Brown, Jacqueline Donachie, Martin Boyce, Simon Starling, Kirsty Ogg, Eva Rothschild, Will Bradley, Toby Webster, Tanya Leighton, Judith Welk, Caroline Kirsop, Toby Paterson, Sarah Tripp, Robert Johnston, Ewan Imrie, Julian Kildear, Lucy Skaer, Sophie Macpherson, Rose Thomas, Alan Michael, Frederik Pedersen, Anna McLauchlan, Danny Saunders, Alex Pollard, Clare Stephenson, Lorna Macintyre,Gregor wright, Laurence Figgis, Charlie Hammond, Nick Evans Lotte Gertz, Lucy McEachan, Lynn Hynd, Iain Hetherington, Michael Hill Johnston, Michael Stumpf, Cara Tolmie Esq, Morag Keil, Giles Bailey, Laura Aldridge, tim Facey, Victoria Skogsberg, Salomeh Grace, Levi Hanes, Helen Tubridy, Conal McStravick, “JENS” Sssssssssssttttraandberg!!!, Rebecca Wilcox, Tom Varley, Amelia Bywater, Mark BRIGGSY Briggs, Carrie Skinner, Claire and Guiseppe Shallcross and Mistretta, Chris Dyson, Darren Rhymes, Hannes Hellstrom, Emilia Muller-Ginorio, Kari Robertson, John Nicol, Nick Thomas, Gordon “The Disappointment” Douglas, Jennifer Bailey, Josee Aubin Ouellette, Sophie Pitt, Joe Sloan, Adam Lewis-Jacob, Alex Sarkisian, Winnie Herbstein, andrew black, Camara Taylor, Alberta Whittle, Sophie Mackfall, Nima Sene, Ashanti Harris, Adam Benmakhlouf, Thulani Rachia, Sophie Mackfall, Elaine Ang, Katherine Ka Yi Liu, Samar Ziadat, Myriam Mouflih, Colm Guo-Lin Peare, Zoë Guthrie. Each committee member serves for a minimum of two years. Matt Locke has noted that this means that 'patterns cannot become fossilised, but need to change and remain flexible.'
Exhibitions
Notable exhibitions at Transmission have included:
Urban Life | This was the first exhibition at Transmission and was curated by Ken Currie, Matthew Inglis and Lesley Raeside.
Fifth International Festival of Plagiarism: Slogans of Reversal/Reversal of Slogans | This was the first exhibition in the new Transmission space on King Street. It was a group show, and included the work of Nathan Coley, Douglas Gordon, Ross Sinclair and Roderick Buchanan, amongst others.
