ON VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS
Our virtual exhibition ‘Where There Were Once Walls’ in the planning process in July 2020
In an article published by the Guardian last year, writer Laura Feinstein describes the COVID-induced surge of virtual exhibitions as the ‘beginning of a new era’. She explains how numerous museums, galleries and cultural institutions were forced to adapt to the social distancing rules and stay-at-home guidelines. Alternatives like attending artist talks on Zoom and experiencing exhibitions through virtual reality became an everyday part of our cultural programme during lockdown. But how has it changed our response to shows, and what are the benefits and disadvantages of exhibiting online?
About a year ago, we started the process of planning our own virtual exhibition, ‘Where There Were Once Walls’. Using a platform called ‘Kunstmatrix’ (which none of us ever managed to pronounce correctly other than, surprise surprise, Vera), we began to map out the different works created by the four pairs taking part in RAKE Community, alongside new components of our project ‘We May Meet One Day’. While in the beginning this was merely an alternative to an ‘in real life’ exhibition, the virtual exhibition provided us with various possibilities which a physical show could not have.
The creating and curating of the online space was initially abstract, fiddly, and annoying. After a couple of weeks the process became more straightforward, and the positive aspects of exhibiting virtually became increasingly apparent. In the previous material exhibitions that we’ve had, as a collective and as individuals, cost considerations, concerning the scale of artworks and other elements included, have always been a limiting factor. However, shouldn’t scale be a conceptual decision serving the artwork as opposed to one restricted by our savings? The answer is yes and no. Obviously, the artwork should be presented in the most fitting and conceptually relevant way; but at the end of the day we still need to pay rent, so...
In creating the virtual exhibition, the question, or rather the pressure, of cost was no longer relevant. Our chosen virtual room encouraged us to experiment with scale - it allowed us to ‘install’ massive wallpapers and extensive wall texts - which would not have been feasible for us in an actual space.
Virtual exhibitions generally lure with the promise of accessibility - offering artists the potential to reach an audience all over the world is undoubtedly alluring, and as a viewer, being able to view exhibitions from home, generally for free, even more so. However, its simplified accessibility also invokes false pretences of making it more accessible for everyone. In a recent piece for BJP, Jamila Prowse reminds us that “remote access alone does not ensure that disabled communities can easily navigate and engage with a gallery’s output”, while highlighting the fact that virtual exhibitions during the pandemic have still been almost exclusively built for able-bodied and neurotypical people.
Overall, exhibiting online can be a great opportunity and has provided many with much needed cultural stimulation during lockdown. ‘Where There Were Once Walls’ introduced us to the numerous perks of exhibiting online and we will certainly make use of such platforms again to present our work in the future. However, we as artists, along with galleries, museums and cultural institutions worldwide, must work towards creating a vastly improved and truly accessible art experience.