Image: Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton ; byron dauncey 500px
The Art Gallery of Alberta will open ‘The Light Fantastic’ on August 29, bringing together contemporary artworks that examine light, electricity, mystery and wonder. The exhibition is planned for the gallery in Edmonton and focuses on the transformation of familiar household and office objects into immersive artistic experiences.
According to the Art Gallery of Alberta, the exhibition considers what happens when everyday objects become uncanny. Lamps, bulbs and fixtures are taken out of their ordinary settings and reworked as elements of artworks that encourage visitors to reconsider artificial light. The gallery describes the presentation as an invitation to see light in a new way, rather than simply as a functional feature of domestic or public space.
A central component will be a new site-specific installation by Canadian conceptual artist Germaine Koh. To help create the work, the gallery is collecting working second-hand household and office lamps. Members of the public who have a lamp they no longer need can bring it to Guest Services during regular gallery hours, with the donated object potentially becoming part of the installation.
The lamp collection gives the exhibition a direct relationship to the objects it examines. Rather than presenting light only through newly fabricated materials, the project draws on items that have already served practical purposes in homes and workplaces. The available information does not specify how many lamps will be used, how the installation will be arranged or how long the collection will continue, but identifies the work as site-specific and connected to Koh’s conceptual practice.
The exhibition forms part of the Art Gallery of Alberta’s programme at its Edmonton building, located at 2 Sir Winston Churchill Square. The institution is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A ‘Tours for Tots’ programme focused on ‘Light Fantastic’ is scheduled for September 2 from 10 to 11 a.m., according to the gallery’s programme listing.
The Art Gallery of Alberta’s announcement does not provide a closing date for ‘The Light Fantastic’ or a complete list of participating artists and works. It identifies the exhibition’s scope as contemporary art concerned with light, electricity, mystery and wonder, and highlights the involvement of visitors in supplying lamps for Koh’s installation. The exhibition opens August 29 at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton.
