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Memory of Fire, the 2008 Brighton Photo Biennial, shown across nine venues, had public impact, as measured by audience figures, audience comment on the website and in gallery comment books, attendance at public events and in education programmes, and the analyses of the event in an independent audit and Audience & Visitor Evaluation Report. Its longer term impact derives from the stimulation of discourse about the role of imagery in the conduct of war, over a period in which the UK has continually been at war, and in which the media's treatment of war has been of pressing public concern.
Making Art in Tudor Britain (MATB) has enhanced public engagement with iconic images of British history; generated fresh insights for the public (multiple makers' hands, works' international origin) and brought works into display. School-level learners and teachers have particular readiness to attend to Tudor material since the Tudor period is central to National Curriculum. Popular access to findings on the makeup of works (lectures, website, museum displays and trails, book, press articles) led to knowledge enhancement. Viewers were fascinated and instructed by a TV demonstration of newly-tried methods of technical analysis on forgeries. MATB has impacted on international conservation practice, sparking exhibitions and projects.
Turner and the Masters, organised in collaboration with Tate Britain, shown at Tate, the Grand Palais, Paris, and the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, in 2009-10, had extensive impact, as measured by audience figures, catalogue sales, press coverage, online survey participation, and attendance at public events and education programmes. Exhibition visitors, schoolchildren on tours, readers and viewers of media items gained insight into Turner's achievements; mechanisms of cultural transmission and the European context of British art. Immediate impact on curatorial and scholarly engagement with Turner shows in a `spin-off' exhibition (Turner in the Light of Claude) at the National Gallery, and a new book on Turner and history.
The Gothic Ivories Project is an online research resource which aims to provide detailed information and high-quality images of all Gothic ivories. This database has been constructed in a collaborative venture with over 260 museums and collections in 19 countries to date. It is accessible at www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk. Despite being work in progress, the site already attracts over 2,000 users per month. It has transformed the possibilities and practicalities of ivories research. The principal beneficiaries are scholars, students, museum staff, the art market and the wider public.