George Paton Gallery AV Experimental Art Collection

When picturing working on the audiovisual (AV) component of the George Paton Gallery Collection, I imagined watching and listening to buried gems from the Melbourne 1970s and 1980s contemporary art scene. The reality of the project has offered me a glimpse into the significant and rewarding task which comes prior to watching and listening – the preparation of AV items for digitisation.   

University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) AV collection spans over 11,000 items, meaning AV makes up a portion of most major collections at UMA. UMA’s AV holdings captures a diverse range of content, while also serving as an interesting record of the rapidly evolving AV technologies that were in use throughout the 19th and 20th centuries (1). AV archiving presents a unique set of challenges, including the fact that playback technology for analogue formats is often obsolete and therefore difficult to access. Further, the skills and knowledge required to operate and maintain playback technology are increasingly rare, while each play of an AV item is risky – as analogue formats are highly unstable and prone to damage or loss (8).  Aside from considerations about the physical storage and preservation of AV items, there are other factors to consider such as the textual record which relates to the contents and access history of an AV item.  

The George Paton Gallery collection metadata is rife with the names of influential figures and iconic works from Australia’s early contemporary and avant-garde art scene (a couple of examples that were recognisable to me include Earthworks, 1975 by Burt Flugelman, and Murray River Punch, 1980 by Bonita Ely). There were some items which were lacking in detailed metadata, rendering their content somewhat of a mystery. This highlights the digitisation of AV archives not only as a crucial step in making these items accessible and preservable, but also sometimes as the only available method of uncovering their contents. Much of the Paton Gallery AV collection is housed on magnetic media (compact cassette tapes and U-Matic tapes) which the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) [2017] highlighted as a format particularly at risk of permanent damage or loss of content (2).  

In preparing the collection for digitisation we first located and audited the materials, updating information and labelling as required. This involved some joyous discoveries, such as finding hand printed cassette tape artwork for a compilation record released by label rash(DECISIONS). The next step was creating data about the items, some of which will be embedded into digital preservation copies and some of which will be used in tracking the items throughout their digitisation journey. The items are now accounted for, safely boxed up and ready to travel to Crystal Mastering where they will be digitised.  

Throughout this preparatory work, it became increasingly clear that the AV portion of the George Paton Gallery archives involves a rare collection of records, from experimental sound recording to lectures given at the gallery, to documentation of performance art and events. This collection holds a particularly significant glimpse into the “alternative” kind of art which was emerging during the early days of the Gallery. Being one of the first Australian venues to support and show “alternative” art, the George Paton Gallery was an important space for installation art, mixed media works, experimental film and video works, performance art, and “women’s” art (3). By supporting and regularly showing experimental work which fell outside the scope of many institutions at the time, the Paton Gallery fostered a valuable space for contemporary art and artists (4).  

There is a distinct gap in the documentation and collection of early examples of Australian video art, evidenced by the lack of currently accessible records of this nature (5). This gap, either in terms of AV access or textual information, creates a degree of “cultural amnesia” (Galimberti, Perkins, 2008) (6) surrounding early examples of Australian video art, sound, film and performance work. The digitisation of AV items in the George Paton Gallery collection has the potential to be a valuable step in bridging this gap, making more of our heritage AV material accessible.  

It feels exciting to have been a small part in making this unique content accessible for current and future researchers, and to be a part of working towards preserving AV history which is at risk of being lost. I’m looking forward to being able to watch and listen! 

Isabel Wengert,

Project Archivist

1.Emma Hyde, “From audit to sound practice: Audio visual collections at the university of Melbourne Archives,” The Australasian Sound Archive, 40 (2015): 24-31, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.969622576495002 

 2. “Deadline 2025: Collections at Risk,” National Film and Sound Archive, published August 2017,    National Film and Sound Archive: Deadline 2025 (nfsa.gov.au) 

3. C. Barnes, “Art world change in the 1970s”, in When You Think About Art: The Ewing & George Paton Galleries 1971-2008, ed. Helen Vivian (South Yarra: Macmillan Art Publishing, 2008), 148-162. 

4.J. Annear, “Not careful? the Ewing and George Paton Galleries, 1979-1982”, in When you Think About A rt: The Ewing & George Paton Galleries 1971-2008, ed. Helen Vivian (South Yarra: Macmillan Art Publishing, 2008), 64-81 

5. E. Galimberti, M. Perkins, “Historical continuums: video art at the George Paton Gallery”, in When you Think About A rt: The Ewing & George Paton Galleries 1971-2008, ed. Helen Vivian (South Yarra: Macmillan Art Publishing, 2008), 210-223 

6. E. Galimberti, M. Perkins, “Historical continuums: video art at the George Paton Gallery”, in When you Think About A rt: The Ewing & George Paton Galleries 1971-2008, ed. Helen Vivian (South Yarra: Macmillan Art Publishing, 2008), 210-223 

 7. J. Annear, “Not careful? the Ewing and George Paton Galleries, 1979-1982”, in When you Think About A rt: The Ewing & George Paton Galleries 1971-2008, ed. Helen Vivian (South Yarra: Macmillan Art Publishing, 2008), 64-81 

 8. “Digitisation Strategy 2018-2025,” National Film and Sound Archive, published May 2018, nfsa_digitisation_strategy_2018-2025.pdf