Hi All, Tori here.
Yesterday, the Smith College Museum of Art announced that they will remain closed until December. Although I am feeling homesick for its galleries and the need to remind myself of the “six inch rule” if I get too close while absorbed in an artwork, it is the wisest decision for all concerned. What excites me, though, is that they also announced a new commitment to, "easy access to a broad range of free digital content, with the museum’s website providing the main hub and entry point.”
This made me reflect on the array of virtual exhibitions that have been opening due to COVID-19. It seems to me that they are ripe with opportunities.
Many big-name museums, like the Tate, opened virtual exhibitions after COVID closed their doors. Surely, doing away with physical borders by allowing for virtual alternatives has made exhibitions more accessible for some viewers.
In fact, this very idea of transcending physical borders is part of Ghost Art Project’s mission. I would call Ghost Art Project a virtual museum, because its exhibitions are all virtual. Although they were founded before COVID, their latest exhibition, “i miss you and i’m angry,” features three black artists who address in their work, “a tension felt between quarantine and outrage: between longing deeply to be in physical community and also of acting out in protest against the systems and individuals that be” (Ghost Art Project).
So, not only are virtual exhibitions encouraging art-world accessibility, but diversity. COVID has put a spotlight on the powers and systems that be in the U.S., widely exposing their flaws and injustices. This can be applied to the art world too.
Virtual exhibitions, in response to museum and gallery closures, are revealing how much more accessible and diverse galleries could be. There is a great potential for change here, especially as we see increasing empathy and solidarity in the art community in response to COVID’s impacts:
Bridge Productions offers an online exhibition of BFA and MFA artists so student opportunities are not lost because of cancellations, Deep Space, a virtual gallery that exhibits artists who have faced representational, monetary, and or physical challenges, has been on hiatus for one year but reopened to exhibit artists whose exhibitions have been impacted by COVID.
Which virtual exhibitions are your favorites? Have they made a personal difference for you? Whether as a viewer, an artist, a curator, or any number of the three? We would love to hear from you!
