About VRC

Opening Hours

Wednesday - Friday, 10.30am - 5.30pm

During exhibitions, it is also open Saturday & Sunday 12.30 - 5.30pm

The Visual Research Centre is a unique facility dedicated to visual arts research from initial concepts to final exposition and dissemination. Unlike many other research centres, its activities are not carried out behind closed doors, but directly in the public view.

Located on the floor below Jute Cafe bar, the research activities which go on in VRC are broad-based ranging from Professor Gavin Renwick's current work involving differing conceptions of house and home within the Canadian sub-Arctic, to Professor Seaton Baxter's Centre for the study of Natural Design which is developing compassionate design systems which work in harmony with our natural environment. The inhabitants of VRC are made up researchers and PhD students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design's schools of Fine Art, Design, Television and Imaging and Architecture; and the core staff Jane Cumberlidge, Malcolm Robertson, Vicky Hale and Paul Harrison.

Alongside the ongoing research, the VRC also runs a public programme of events and exhibitions, bringing the research outcomes into the public domain. The main portal for this is Centrespace - a large, flexible experimental space which can be used for anything from testing working practices to conducting seminars to exhibitions.

For more information on the Visual Research Centre visit www.vrc.dundee.ac.uk.

If you would like a tour of VRC 'behind the scenes', including the publishing and product design facilities, information about projects, Centre for Artists Books, or would like more general information please contact Call VRC Project Co-ordinator Vicky Hale on 01382 388064.

News from VRC

Over the past few years the Visual Research Centre at DCA has established itself as one of the world's leading research centres for art and artists. The VRC currently hosts a number of large-scale research projects that will add to the body of knowledge and understanding around contemporary art practice in the UK. Some of these projects, led by staff at the University of Dundee, will in the future produce resources that will be publicly accessible within DCA.

Two recent projects include:

Rewind - Video Art in the UK from the 1970s and 80s

The VRC is currently mid-way through an ambitious project to capture and preserve video works and associated materials from the early period of video art in the UK. Extensive interviews and digestion of early tape material will create a comprehensive archive of this often-neglected, but fertile period of activity.

For more about rewind go to www.vrc.dundee.ac.uk/Research/REWIND/REWIND.html

Window to the West: Towards a Redefinition of the Visual within Gaelic Scotland

This unique project, a collaboration between the VRC and Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, will explore the inter-relations of visual art and Gaelic language and culture. Working with the artist Will McLean, it will support a new insight into gaelic culture as a key to understanding Scotland. Supported by one of the largest grants made for Visual Arts and Humanities Research Council, the results of the research will include a series of publications and an exhibition to be held here at DCA towards the end of the project.

For further information see www.vrc.dundee.ac.uk/research/window_to_the_west.html