IMAGE? The Power of the Visual (opening April 9) reflects on humanity’s pre-occupation with images and explores how they shape our beliefs, ideals, and experiences. At a time when we’re bombarded with an overwhelming number of images and scroll through hundreds on our phones daily, this exhibition is meant to immerse the viewer and offer to reflect on the deeper meaning and messaging behind each visual.
Among 62 pieces that will be offered to the viewers, two works deserve special attention:
- Opening the show is Mémoires, levitating above the ground must-experience installation by Montreal-based artist Roberto Pellegrinuzzi. It includes 275,000 individual images, the total number of frames the sensor on each smartphone camera is designed to capture before it starts to degrade. It’s a compelling reminder of the overwhelming barrage of disposable imagery and visual stimuli that we now live with.
- Closing the show is a artwork making its world debut titled Together, Alone by an award-winning renowned Pakistani artist Rashid Rana. First viewed from a distance are three figures — self-portraits by a 19th-century French photographer. As you get closer, you discover that the image has been created using thousands of selfies shared on social media, bridging 150 years of people taking photos of themselves and emphasizing the timelessness of humanity’s obsession with projecting an ideal “image” of themselves and what they believe in.
The exhibition consists of four key areas of life in which images have always played an important part in conveying deeper meaning and convictions: Power and Authority, Faith and Spirituality, Ideals and Values, and Identity and Self. You can preview each area together with highlights here.
Exhibition: April 9, to September 5, 2022
Purchase tickets here.
Ismailimail 