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Edmontonians got a sneak preview of the University of Alberta's unique printmakers' exhibit at London's Royal College of Arts' Gulbenkian Galleries - and no one boarded a plane to see it.
In fact, the only "flying" going on last week was a computer-generated fly-through of the exhibit, Lines of Site: Ideas, Forms and Materialities, in the U of A's computer-aided design laboratory.
An interactive computer program designed and developed by Keith Rose (MVA '94), an instructor in industrial design, was a digital curatorial tool that allowed the entire planning and staging of the show here in Edmonton.
Eric Newell, Chair of the U of A Board of Governors |
"The technology is readily available anywhere. It's been manipulated to provide a new use for us," said Rose. Rose spent time last spring photographing the London gallery, documenting materials and lighting in order to recreate a virtual gallery on computer. It was a painstaking process setting up the program, said Rose, who had support from Academic Technologies for Learning, but it was a time-saver on the curatorial side.
"If you didn't have this technology, you'd make your best guess and take extra art pieces abroad with you. However, certain things may not feel or look right, and you'd have to make adjustments on the fly," explained Rose.
Not in this case.
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Lines of Site is all ready to go. Click on the lower floor and see works such as Navel by Steve Bowie. On the second floor, there's Just Another Prostitute by Marna Bunnell. Move the mouse left or right and the viewer can peer down the corridor, around walls and across the rooms. Works by faculty, technical staff and graduates, and works varying in scale, medium and concept come alive in this virtual art world as they will appear in the UK gallery.
The show will also head to Tokyo and exhibit at the Musashino Art University Galleries next.
"To receive an invitation, as we have done, to exhibit at these institutions is extraordinary," said Dr. Desmond Rochfort, chair of art and design, and exhibit curator. "They do not allow exhibits in these galleries of just anything." Rochfort describes the galleries as two of the world's most significant and renowned.
Ninety-eight works created by 30 artists, including internationally celebrated Liz Ingram, Walter Jule and Lyndal Osborne, make up the retrospective exhibition, which spans more than 25 years of printmaking in the U of A's Department of Art and Design. The concept for the exhibition arose from a symposium held two years ago at the University of Alberta, called Sightlines: Printmaking and Image Culture, which drew more than 300 artists, writers, curators, and critics from 18 countries.
People were struck by the remarkably diverse nature of contemporary printmaking from around the globe. Moreover, the event sparked excitement about creating a special exhibition highlighting the works of artists associated with the U of A.
Now, U of A can boast of not only prestigious invitations for its distinguished collection, but also of high-tech digital curatorial tools to help future curators, and students, with exhibition planning and design.
The company is known for handling precious cargo, said Barry Rempel, vice-president of Canadian Cargo. "We do an awful lot [of shipping] into Canada," he says, adding it's time to help the country's artwork go abroad. "It was the right fit: the right customer, the right audience and the right market-London," said Rempel.
For people short of time, cash or travel points to head over to the land of tea and crumpets, a beautiful catalogue of Lines of Site, donated by Quality Color Press, is available through University of Alberta Press.
Or call the Department of Art and Design, pull up in front of a computer and fly-through Lines of Site yourself.
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