February 7, 2010

• AGA Opening Celebration
  
  For almost 11 months, there was this building sitting next to City Hall that was under construction and when asked i was told it would be the new building for the Art Gallery of Alberta. Or AGA as lovingly known by the locals in the city. The public had the opportunity to place their reservations on free half hourly allocated time slot tickets so i got myself some for yesterday morning.
  
  Hubbie was supposed to out of camp to attend the opening celebration with me but a really nice lady who works with him in camp (and who is helping to arrange their work schedules) managed to get him to work till the 10th of Feb so that he could be here to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. Thank you, Stephanie! So instead, i invited Alex (@alexglee), Tasha (@Cokebear17) and Thea to join me.
  
  I had gone to the opening celebration on Sunday as Alex had extra tickets. However, because of the overwhelming response on Sunday, the tour started later and it took a while for us to go through the various installations and exhibits. We left halfway thru because Alex had a volleyball match to go to and i was really starving by then. The Monday tour definitely felt less rushed, less hectic and the atmosphere had more of a calmness to it. Maybe its because the group that was in the Monday 10.30am time slot comprised mostly of people in their 60s and older.
  
  My two favourite stops of the tour were Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's The Murder of Crows and Karsh : Image Maker.
  
  Murder of Crows is a sound installation that saw 98 speakers spread out around the space to give us a fascinating yet haunting sensation and enhances the story that was being told through a gramophone that sat in the middle of the room. I managed to catch the same part of the 30 minute piece twice but it was still good the second time around. I managed to pick out different aspect of the piece - first time round i was in awe of the surround sound and didn't pay attention to anything else. Second time round, i picked up more subtle parts, like how the crows flew across the room and the footsteps that stomped past you. You hear and feel them but you don't see them which adds to the eerily haunting feeling to the piece. Definitely have to come back to experience and enjoy the piece in its entirety. Also, props to lil Thea who was a lil scared but she was a trooper and even wandered around the room to experience the sounds coming from the speakers.
  
  Karsh : Image Maker has a brilliant collection of portraits that just inspires me to want to practice and take portraits like he does. Heh..i probably won't be as good as him but i am definitely inspired. As Tasha and myself had observed, there is a certain sharpness that contrast the slight blur in other areas and gives it somewhat a 3D effect. Will be going back to do a slower walk-through without the pressure of moving through because of the crowd and holding anyone back.
  
  Honestly, appreciating art is a very subjective matter. I go by the thought that if it speaks to you then you appreciate it more. However, if you don't get anything from it you can still appreciate the hard work and effort that went into the various pieces of art and sculpture. So onto the design of the spanking new AGA building... i felt like i was in the belly of a whale or that the curves that decorated the interior of the building reminded me of being inside a whale. Love love love the red room that held Karsh's portraits. Okay, i'm partial to anything red. *grin* Again, i have to go back for more visits because i notice different things with each visit. Here are some photos i took of the public areas of the building (no photography inside the exibition and installation rooms) ...

   
  First Evening of the 2day Opening Celebration @ AGA

  
  Funny how Thea also said that the curves look like big fishes to her.

  

  
  Main Entrance of AGA

  • 4:52 pm
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