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| Issue 1 Home | Editorial | Features | Regular Columns | News & Events | Misc. | ||
By Robin Bourne - July 2000
The Axis database is the only national information resource on British artists and makers. Containing visual and textual data on over 3,300 contemporary British practitioners, it is a rapidly growing source of up-to date information for researchers, commissioning agents, curators, architects, patrons and purchasers of visual artwork. Axis also plays an important national role in promoting contemporary art and artists and widening access to visual culture.
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Finding easily accessible information about a contemporary artist or craft-maker can be difficult. Individuals often work in isolation without financial or professional backing. With this in mind, Axis, the national contemporary visual arts information service based in Leeds, has for the last 7 years been compiling a national central register of contemporary visual artists and makers, which is available free of charge to anyone interested in their work. The information is stored and displayed on the largest interactive multimedia database of contemporary British art on the Internet, the Axis database.
Late last year, Axis took contemporary British art into a new dimension by putting its database of over 3,300 artists and 12,500 images on-line. Almost one year on, the response has been quite staggering. Over 15,500 users visit the site each month, but who are they? And what do they look for?
Recent research by Axis confirms the on-line art world is alive and kicking. From students to academics, from architects to interior designers and advertising agencies, all are taking advantage of the free on-line service.
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| Artist: Marie
Goodenough [1] Title: Red Pepper | Artist: HAG [2] title: Storm in a teacup | artist: Jeremy Broun [3] title: Caterpillar Rocking Chair |
Kate Hainsworth, Chief Executive of Axis, comments: " Many of our users are art dealers, galleries and designers as you would expect. But over 65% have been private collectors. This is great news for artists and proves that the Internet can bring art to a wider and more diverse audience. Many reasons are given for visiting the site, but by far the most common is to buy artwork, the reason given by over 60% of respondents. We’re extremely pleased and so are our artists. The Axis website gives our artists national and international exposure and is easy to get to."
Traditionally, artists seeking exhibition, commission or sales opportunities would take their portfolio to galleries and send their slides to art buyers and then wait for a response. Nowadays, artists, through necessity, are becoming increasingly proactive and aware of marketing and promotional opportunities. The idea of an Internet presence that can create work and promotional opportunities at a completely different level by servicing a national and international audience has been quickly embraced by an increasing number of artists. However, there are some difficulties involved, particularly in attracting “traffic” to an individual’s site and the time and cost of maintaining and keeping the site up-to date. By registering with Axis, artists have found that they can overcome this problem and display their work alongside other established contemporaries on the Axis database.
Axis as a resource was developed from the 1988 National Visual Arts Project which aimed to support and assist the development of visual arts, crafts, photography, performance and live art in the UK by serving the needs of practitioners, visual arts professionals, patronage, research and education. A feasibility study undertaken in 1989 by Susan Jones on behalf of AN Publications, determined that these needs would be best served by the setting up of a comprehensive computerised visual arts information and research resource. From the outset the concept was ambitious, focusing on the development of a state of the art multimedia artists register. In 1990 a steering group was formed to set up the company, to secure start up funds and to identify a base for its operations. As the result of a competitive tendering process it was agreed that Leeds Metropolitan University (formerly Leeds Polytechnic) would host the organisation providing physically accessible city centre office accommodation. In 1993, ‘Axis – for information on visual artists’ was designated a resource of national strategic importance by the Arts Council of England (England’s national arts funding body), and Leeds Polytechnic was successful in its bid to become the home base for the project.
By 1995 Axis had launched the National Artists Register (now called the Axis database) as a multimedia database of artists, complete with CVs and examples of their work, and the Axis Information Service and network of Axispoints had been established.
Five years on, Axis is continuing to develop its resources and scope, funded by the Arts Councils of England, Wales and Scotland, and seven of the ten regional arts boards. These bodies fund Axis to provide information on their behalf about visual artists and craftspeople. Axis has also received four European development awards and continues to enjoy sponsorship from Leeds Metropolitan University and identity consultants, Luxon Carra.
The Axis database contains a summary of each artist’s curriculum vitae and up to nine images of their work. Since the information is in an electronic format, the user can find information quickly and easily, focusing searches on their areas of interest. The database is available online, as a stand-alone application (an Axispoint) at a growing number of national venues, and on CD-ROM. Axis has been criticized for adopting a range of access methodologies, rather than relying solely on the World Wide Web, but this criticism fails to acknowledge that the Web itself is still limited in terms of overall accessibility and because of problems connected with the speed of downloading images and interrogating large amounts of data. The Axispoint with 17 search options, speedy retrieval and high quality image resolution remains the best experience for the user. With more Axispoints due to be installed in Scotland and Wales this summer, a comprehensive national network is well on the way to being established giving Axis a regional as well as global presence. Development of the online version of the database will also continue as Axis strives to increase the accessibility of the database to new audiences.
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| Figure 1: Axis Search Screen |
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| Figure 2: Thumbnail images |
The Axis database system consists of eight different database files and a number of application tools for data entry, update and various print utilities. It has been implemented as a hybrid model of Microsoft Access 2.0 and Microsoft Virtual Basic 3.0 elements, and is designed for growth. To meet the increasing demand for accessible information inside and outside Axis, existing components have been modified and new components added to the system in the form of new Access databases and Visual Basic applications. Slides and prints of photographed work submitted by the artists are digitised and stored on CD ROM. Each digitised artwork is represented in three different sizes: thumbnail, medium and large. A zoom facility allows closer inspection of the largest images. Thumbnails are stored as bitmaps (.bmp format) whereas medium and large-sized artworks are stored as fractals (.fif format). The Axis online database was designed by Tim Deighton at Warp Interactive, specialists in online databases. This innovative company have established a firm reputation for stylish online galleries and powerful web development
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| Figure 3: Artwork |
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| Figure 4: Zoomed in on image |
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| Figure 5: Artist's CV |
Axis, since its inception, has proved to be an essential resource for those seeking detailed information on contemporary visual artists and craftspeople. Enquiries are regularly received from a wide range of users including commissioning agents, art consultants, exhibition organisers, curators, researchers, teachers, the media, architects, artists, local government arts officers and arts administrators. Between April 1999 and April 2000, Axis answered over 6,000 user enquiries.
On the Axis database you can find details of artists’ work history, training, inspiration, work methods and contact details. Printouts of these details and colour images of artworks are available at a nominal cost.
The database currently holds information on over 3,300 artists and makers ranging from well-known artists such as Rachel Whiteread , the 1993 Turner Prize award winner, Ana Maria Pacheco, David Mach, Paula Rego, Basil Beattie and Michael Craig Martin, to recently established and newly emerging artists. Originally information was only held on those artists who had been nominated onto the Axis database by their regional arts board. To overcome this restriction, self-funded registration was introduced which allows artists and makers to nominate themselves. Artists need to provide evidence of professional practice to be included in the Axis database. Self-funded registration provides the enquirer with a greater range of artists to choose from, working in a wide variety of media. As more and more artists join Axis, the Axis database continues to be the obvious place to begin a search for contemporary artists.
The Axis database contains the artwork of artists and craftspeople from across the whole spectrum of contemporary practice. That includes sculptors, conceptual artists, printmakers, ceramicists, designers, photographers, painters, video artists, jewellery makers, metal workers and many more. The number of artists registered with Axis is increasing all the time. Artists can update their textual details at any time, and are encouraged to keep their information as current as possible.
The structure of the Axis database allows large amounts of information to be searched in a variety of ways. Complex searches can be built up using a wide range of different criteria. For example, Axis has received requests for information on the following:
Experienced Information Service staff at Axis can help enquirers find the artist they are looking for or can provide advice on how best to use the Axis database to find a range of artists and/or works.
Descriptive authority lists or lexicons of the artist and his or her practice, can be utilised by the enquirer in various combinations for searching the Axis database. Information can also be obtained through a series of criteria that are applied to the examples of artwork illustrated in the database. Each artwork is described by four defining sets of variables: artwork type, techniques, characteristics and approach, which together identify the nature of the work and its production process, both technically and with reference to current art practice. Thus each type of artwork is characterised by one of 45 terms such as ceramics, environmental art, mosaic, photograph and textile. For techniques, up to three are listed from a lexicon of 105 terms, such as aquatint, collography, slip glazed and welded. For characteristics of the artwork up to two are selected from 34 terms, such as commemorative, gallery-based, kinetic, three-dimensional and wall-mounted. And up to three terms are chosen from a list of 55 describing approach, such as abstract, conceptual, erotic, still life and symbolic. Finally the artist lists three materials used in the artwork’s production.
It is the ability to search by either or both entry pathways, the artist on the one hand, and the artwork examples on the other, which give the Axis database its power. Since the descriptor terms are selected by the artists themselves, their ‘ownership’ of the information on the database is ensured. It is of course important to ensure that the lexicons are in tune with current contemporary art practice and are both precise and wide-ranging. As the numbers of images on the database increases, the need for usable and effective lexicons becomes more and more essential. With this in mind, they are reviewed every couple of years to keep pace with changing terminology and technology.
Whilst Axis is at present in a transition period from project development to service delivery, new projects are still very much part of the vision. A recent development has been the establishment of a new three-dimensional virtual gallery, CyberAxis, which is currently hosting four exhibitions and artists’ debates on the Axis website [4] to celebrate the year 2000 - Year of the Artist. Visitors to CyberAxis are able to navigate the virtual gallery using a virtual body – avatar - to approach artworks and to communicate with others, as you would when visiting a normal gallery.
New communication technologies can give access to visual arts in different ways. Axis have developed the CyberAxis gallery as a means of facilitating discussions to shape the mutual roles and responsibilities of the artist and society. Through the use of developing technology to present artworks, Axis hopes to attract a different audience to contemporary practice and debate, particularly younger people. It is hoped that the project will propose a new angle of debate, presentation and 'space' in the new Millennium.
In recognition of its work with new technologies, including virtual galleries, Axis has recently been invited by the Creative Industries Taskforce (DCMS) to contribute to their enquiry panel into Internet development for the creative industries.
Ten years on from its beginnings, Axis continues to develop its database and information service, to attract new artists and provide up-to date information to established and new audiences. So, if a visit to Tate Modern is not an easy option for you (or even if it is), why not pay a visit to the Axis website or an Axispoint, to view a dedicated digital showcase of the talent, innovation and quality of British professional and emerging visual artists and makers.
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Robin Bourne
Principal Information Officer
Axis – For Information on Visual Artists
r.bourne@lmu.ac.uk
<http://www.axisartists.org.uk/>
Phone: 0113 245 7946
A graduate in Art History and English, Robin has worked at Whitaker's Almanack, the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the library at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. He was also Thesaurus and Reference Data Manager at the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in Swindon where he compiled the national data standard - The Thesaurus of Monument Types. Before joining Axis he spent two and a half years at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham compiling the national Artists' Papers Register and designing an accompanying online database. He is shortly to take up the post of Information Officer with the South West Museums Council in Taunton, Somerset.
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For citation purposes:
Bourne, R "British contemporary art at your fingertips: the Axis Database", Cultivate Interactive, issue
1, 3 July 2000
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue1/axis/>
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