Fourth successive Artist Rooms tour announced by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland

LONDON.- National Galleries of Scotland and Tate announced plans for the fourth successive ARTIST ROOMS Tour in 2012 thanks to continued support from the Art Fund. In 2012 a total of 19 new exhibitions and displays will go on show at 17 venues across the UK, including six new to the project. The works being shown are drawn from ARTIST ROOMS, the collection of modern and contemporary art established through the extraordinary gift made by Anthony d’Offay in 2008, held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. The Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art, continues to sponsor the tour with funding of £250,000.

In 2012, ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays will be seen outside the capitals in Banff, Belfast, Bristol, Dunoon, Glasgow, Hull, Leicester, Linlithgow, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Perth, Sheffield, Wakefield and Walsall. A further venue, Mostyn in Llandudno will continue to show the work of Anselm Kiefer into the New Year. By the end of 2012, ARTIST ROOMS will have been shown in 44 museums and galleries nationwide and 92 displays and exhibitions will have opened since 2009.

This year, important new works have been donated to the ARTIST ROOMS Collection by Vija Celmins, Martin Creed and Alex Katz. Creed’s work was not previously represented in ARTIST ROOMS and he is the first new contemporary artist to join the Collection. He has donated a group of seven works which will be shown together at Tate Liverpool in 2012. Alex Katz has donated two large-scale paintings, Full Moon 1988 and Black Brook 1988; and Vija Celmins has donated a group of six mezzotint prints to complement the existing holdings of her work. The Collection has continued to grow through the generosity of artists who have responded to the national reach of ARTIST ROOMS and its vision for bringing art into the lives of young people.

ARTIST ROOMS: The Game, a new online resource will also be launched today to give young audiences the chance to put together their own virtual exhibitions, selecting works by ten artists in the ARTIST ROOMS Collection. The game offers an insight into exhibition-making in ‘real-life’, as players overcome the challenges of choosing artworks, employing staff, selecting lighting and marketing their show. They can also assess the cost, time and impact of their choices. The game also allows players to share the exhibitions they create with their friends, through social media. ARTIST ROOMS:The Game was developed byThoughtden, the Bristol-based design agency.

Highlights of the 2012 tour will include:
*Robert Therrien at new contemporary arts venue The MAC in Belfast as part of its inaugural opening programme

*Exhibitions at two newly refurbished venues in Scotland: Burgh Hall Dunoon and Linlithgow Burgh Halls, West Lothian

*The Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour which will see the work of this artist travel to Dunoon, Linlithgow and Perth

*Richard Long at The Hepworth Wakefield

*Two unique exhibitions of the work of Jannis Kounellis at Tramway, Glasgow and mima, Middlesbrough

Works donated to the ARTIST ROOMS Collection this year are:
A group of seven works donated by Martin Creed that will be shown together at Tate Liverpool in 2012:
*Work No. 837 (Sick Film) 2007, four-part colour video
*Work No. 890 (Don’t Worry) 2008, neon
*Work No. 944 2008, twenty-one part drawing
*Work No. 1102, Work No. 1103, Work No. 1104, Work No. 1105, 2011, sequence of four paintings

Two large-scale paintings donated by Alex Katz
*Full Moon, 1988
*Black Brook 1988

A group of six mezzotint prints to complement the existing holdings of her work, donated by Vija Celmins
*Web Ladder 2010
*Divided Night Sky 2010
*Reverse Galaxy 2010;
*Falling Stars 2010
*Dark Galaxy 2010
*Starfield 2010

ARTIST ROOMS has had a profound impact up and down the country since the touring programme commenced in 2009. In 2011, Southampton City Art Gallery and John Hansard Gallery collaborated to show the biggest presentation of Warhols in the UK outside London to date, with record visitor numbers received. Southampton City Art Gallery saw over 27,700 visitors, more than double their usual numbers for the same period and John Hansard Gallery recorded some 7,500 visits. In the first three weeks of opening its Francesca Woodman ARTIST ROOMS exhibition, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull had over 4,000 visitors.

ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through the extraordinary gift made by Anthony d’Offay to the nation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. The tour is made possible thanks to the support of the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art that helps museums buy, show and share art throughout the UK. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.