Monday, November 8, 2010

your thoughts, like stars (installation and the opening)

last week i installed your thoughts, like stars. it was somewhat stressful pulling everything together after my trip to holland (and my two previous exhibitions in september and october), but i managed to get to edmonton tuesday evening and began installing the exhibition on wednesday morning. i know i stressed out the installation team (again, my deepest apologies) but i also knew that my work would be fairly simple to both install and light. and it was. by wednesday afternoon, most of it was installed and ready to be lit.

here are some images of the work in situ:

the weight of things

(between)

recipes for kneeling (version two) - as installed and lit

***

the opening reception was great. it was wonderful to reconnect with so many people who i had worked with when i was the education curator with the gallery, both artists and co-workers/ volunteers. while there weren't hundreds of people, of those that did come, many stayed for twenty or thirty minutes (and some even longer!). to be honest, i would much rather have 60 people visit and stay and linger and engage with the work than have 200 come and spend 5 or 10 minutes, and that's what happened. there were many people who visited in the front, lit portion of the gallery, but there were also many who sat on the bench in the darkened back half of the gallery, meditating on the work.

there were several people who came up to me that evening to share the impact that the work was having on them. some spoke about how some of the pieces were challenging them on some quite specific [personal] issues and struggles. others shared how they were going through some tough times, and that the work was inspiring hope in them. how wonderful that my work should inspire hope. when was the last time art truly inspired hope in you?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Edward,

I am so glad to hear this last exhibition went well. The photos look amazing and I know if I were in the area I would have checked it out. I hope you are far less stressed now and that you can look forward to your next exhibition! :)

Michelle

Anonymous said...

Hi Edward,

Let me know if you get a chance to post the images used in the weight of things.

N

P.S. If you need me to fix the shift key on your keyboards, just let me know. :P

techne said...

michelle-
no exhibitions anytime soon for me, thanks! though i suppose i will need to send out some submissions before too long. for now i need to recoup some costs, and let some more ideas percolate (amongst other things).

N-
by posting the images from the weight of things, do you mean that 'cloud' idea? i have no idea how i would import that into this blog, or even how to set it up. daniel noted at the exhibition that the experience of being able to enter the 'cloud' of texts was much different than a linear presentation, and i agree. any thoughts?