Commission Aims
Douglas Gordon's 'Empire' was intended to form part of a projected series of 'Urban Icons' which were defined as 'deliberately non-grandiose artworks for public sites around Merchant City'.
Commission Background
Visual Arts Projects (VAP) aimed to develop a collection of small but ambitious artworks within the Merchant City area under the title 'Urban Icons Project', and 'Empire' formed part of this program. 'Urban Icons' was brought under and supported by the 'Artworks for Glasgow' scheme, a city-wide programme of projects which commissioned artists to work on public sites. The Urban Icons name was first used by VAP in a Lottery Application to the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) with a broader intention of commissioning public artworks from a younger generation of artists that were not represented in the city’s collections at that time. Lucy Byatt (VAP & The Centre) attributes the under-representation of young or emerging artists to, among other things, Glasgow Museums Director Julian Spalding's collecting policy at GoMA. The project was supported by SAC, with the Urban Icons tag used to describe a potential trail of works within the Merchant City. The tag was dropped once the projects started to come on-line. Julia Radcliffe (VAP) and Liz Davidson (Merchant City Initiative) had discussed public art as part of a proposal for the re-development of Argyle Street while Urban Icons first project had been the Tron Theatre commissions as part of the building redevelopment. Artists for this project included:
Andy Millar – worked with architect
Richard Wright – worked with architect
Tracey McKenna – designed carpet
Kenny Hunter – sculptural work exterior to building ('Cherub/Skull' bronze, powder coated with metallic gold, 1997-8)
Daphne Wright – sculptural work in Tron Board Room
'Empire' was specifically commissioned (at VAP's invitation) as part of a proposed wider environmental scheme to redevelop and improve the Brunswick Lane area. The proposal hoped to add value to the thoroughfare's redevelopment and become a significant landmark in the cityscape.
The Merchant City Civic Society was initially approached by Lucy Byatt and Julia Radcliffe of VAP as they shared office space with the Society's chairman, Ross Hunter (Graven Images). Hunter agreed to be involved in order to provide VAP with the 'client' necessary for funding. From this point the work was project managed by Byatt. The neon sign was fabricated by Lofthus Signs, Aberdeen.
Gordon describes the site as 'a typical of Glasgow...with its odd juxtaposition of low and high buildings and ...cinematic atmosphere.' (in Ray McKenzie Public Sculpture of Glasgow Liverpool University Press; 2002 p.31). Gordon also had a particular affection for the area as the location of the Mitre Bar, which was a regular haunt of the local artistic community. The artist hoped to make a work that would juxtapose references to urban history, considering political and economic histories of the site and the Merchant City's history of prosperity based on the tobacco trade during the eighteenth century. Gordon directly references the Empire Hotel in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1956) within the work. Gordon's cinematic 'Empire' sign is written backwards, the word 'righted' within the mirror hanging behind the work. The artist comments that his intention was to:
'Make an artwork that would not look like an artwork. I could make an object which was a copy of something that does not actually exist except in fiction, and the only way you can read it properly is to look in a mirror, which is a place that does not really exist either.' (McKenzie p.32)
Funding
The project secured funding though the Scottish Arts Council (Heritage Lottery Fund), Glasgow Development Agency (GDA Merchant City Fund), GCA (Year of Visual Art Fund) and commercial funding. The electrical supply which powered the work was supplied by the Trongate branch of Clydesdale Bank, who additionally assisted with the installation costs. The SAC Award amounted to £25,500, covering the majority of the commissioning costs.
The Merchant City Civic Society also held back £6,000-7,000 in order to cover maintenance of the piece.
Legacy
A new site for Empire was necessary after the site was bought by Pathfinder, and the concurrent closure of the Mitre Bar. Consultations between Lucy Byatt (Visual Arts Projects) and Douglas Gordon led to the identification of a new site at nearby Tontine Lane. In coordinating the move the sign from the Mitre Bar in addition to the work itself was moved to the new location, preserving something of the previous site's identity and keeping it within the locale of the area it was initially commissioned to improve. The work was predominately organized by Liz Davidson of the Merchant City Initiative.
The work continues to be owned by the Merchant City Civic Society, who remain responsible for its maintenance.
Gordon's vested interest in and passion for Hollywood movies is well documented, in particular Hitchcock's works. In 1997 he also made 'Empire Bootleg', based on Andy Warhol's 'Empire';
'I did a version of 'Empire', which was called 'Bootleg Empire', it is almost like the amateur version of the auteur masterpiece — it's very shakily done. I lived in Berlin for a while and I went to see Warhol's 'Empire' and I thought 'I may never get to see this again', so I filmed it for an hour went to the pub and then came back and filmed it for the last hour. So mine only lasts for two hours — so it's like 'the best of' or something. But quite often my version is seen with his films in exhibitions, which is kind of funny as mine is slightly more dramatic as it is shaky and there are shadows of people walking in front of the camera.' (Jean Wainwright 'Mirror Images' (Interview with Douglas Gordon) Art Monthly, Dec-Jan 2002/03, No. 262)