Marshall McLuhan’s poetic description of photographs as “dreams that money can buy,” begins the catalogue text for the 2010 CONTACT photography festival in Toronto.
A view of the exhibition by David Rokeby. Image: VoCA
The 2010 festival, on throughout May in various venues across the city, celebrates the media legend – wonderfully and appropriately – on the 30th anniversary of his death.
We went to see Through the Vanishing Point, an exhibition by one of VoCA’s favorite artists, David Rokeby, and the very good sound artist Lewis Kaye, each of whom created two separate but complimentary works on view for CONTACT. I wandered to the back of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, following the clearly marked signs to the coach house at the back. Some windows had arrows pasted on them, indicating where I was to look. I peered into the darkened space, where there were a number of screens hanging, each with an image of, or relating to Marshall McLuhan.
The grayish images, on a number of translucent screens, were ghostly and beautiful, and worked well to suggest – as the panel says is the artist’s intention – “the way electronic media fragments the homogenous experience of space.” The piece, brilliantly set in the coach house, is best viewed after dark (and is on until 11 pm) It has been inspired by the book Through the Vanishing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting, that McLuhan coauthored with Harley Parker, in 1968.
Another part of the exhibition. Image: VoCA
The speakers for the accompanying soundtrack were set so high that it could barely be heard, which is unfortunate because the experience as a whole (that is, the image work together with the sound work) would have been more effective had the sound been louder, and closer.
Had this been the case the sound would have enveloped the viewer to a great, and possibly powerful effect. Unfortunately, I only realized the artist’s intentions after I had read the panel.
You can listed to Lewis Kaye’s podcast, in which he breaks up the aural sphere with echoes, in a similar way to Rokeby, HERE.
But nevertheless, it’s always best if didactic panels are supplementary, rather than necessary to, the experience of an artwork.
For more on CONTACT, including the schedule of exhibitions, please click HERE.
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...
3 comments ↓
Thanks for the nice review Andrea. Just want to clarify a couple of things with respect to the sound installation. We were actually quite limited in terms of speaker placement at the Coach House, as it is a heritage building and thus no physical alterations (like drilling holes for speaker mounts) could be made to the building. So we had to mount the speakers to existing infrastructure. Not the original plan, but one which nevertheless allowed me to establish an interesting hierarchy of sounds.
Your point about the volume is well taken, and I’ll see what I can do about this. As well, it also sounds much better at night when there are less distractions and less traffic.
I’m very curious to know what you think about the evening experience of the exhibition. For me, just after sundown, when the sky is deep blue, is the best time.
best, lk
Hi Lewis,
I had heard that it’s best after dark, but I had to go earlier, as the sun was setting, and it was good then too. I love that it’s on its own in the coach house, outside of a gallery setting.
AC
I was just there 1 p.m. sunny day, after the nearby and very good “Brothel” exhibit, and it was impossible to figure out what to do with the dark windows based on the documentation. I knocked the door and thankfully a nice fellow inside told me I’d have to squint through my palms into the glass to see anything. So I did to “get the general idea” and now can listen to the podcasts. Very disappointing setup for one of the “primary” exhibititions. Like the Drake windows, this should have been limited to after dark, or some kind of dark booth built for the window.
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