Alive and Kicking: Curating Riverside Museum’s Record Shop Exhibit
Record Shops, by definition, are retail outlets for the sale of recorded music. 40 or so years ago they were much more. Passing through their doors signified an escape: an immersion in a world of infinite possibilities, a journey of self-discovery – all thanks to the music in the racks and what was blasting through the shop speakers.
The abundance of record retailers in 1980s and ‘90s Glasgow inspired the development of a multi-disciplinary exhibit at the city’s Riverside Museum which opened in Spring 2022.
This paper explores the development and implementation of the exhibit, entitled ‘Spinning Around Glasgow’s Remarkable Record Shops’, which recognised the importance of bringing the past into the present – creating a display which feels like it is, to quote Simple Minds, ‘alive and kicking’.
How it achieved this aim was through a range of mechanisms which provided a space for engaging with music and sparking memories, including tactile interactivity, audio-visual presentations, a map, and an immersive audio soundtrack.
The challenges of curating such a far-reaching subject as record store retail will be highlighted, particularly the display and preservation of paper-based ephemera. Mention will also be made of capturing the intangible assets, namely personal reminiscences, which revealed record shops’ social and cultural value, underlining their role as more than mere retailers.
Finally addressing what measures can be taken to ensure the exhibit stays ‘alive and kicking’, the paper will conclude with an example of recent active research on the experiences of Glasgow’s Black and South Asian musicians and record shop staff which will ultimately inform future exhibit changes.
Keywords: record shop, interactive, museum, Glasgow, preservation
Biography
Neil Johnson-Symington Neil Johnson-Symington joined Glasgow Museums in 2005 and is Curator for Transport and Technology, responsible for Cars, Emergency Vehicles, Motorcycles, and Bicycles. With a multi-disciplined and dynamic approach to curatorial projects, his displays and research work features many crossovers in transport, design, art and social history.
Neil gained his undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh and his postgraduate degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has worked widely in the arts curating exhibitions for the National Maritime Museum, Design Museum, Pittenweem Arts Festival, Summerlee Museum, and Lighthouse Centre for Architecture, Design and the City.
Glasgow Life Museums, United Kingdom
neil.johnson-symington@glasgowlife.org.uk