In the digital age, the debate about viewing artworks online versus in person has many sides. Crowdsourced projects like Community Curates give voice to both— the accessibility of online collections, as well as the pleasure of seeing the works
in person in the resulting exhibition.
Over the summer, we launched our second crowdsourced exhibition project Community Curates II. We divided the online survey into categories: landscape, portrait, prints, abstract, still life, and photography. An art curator must remain as objective as possible, so the categories ensured that results would reflect the vast diversity of our collection and also challenge participants to consider work they might not have immediately chosen. This was particularly effective in the abstract category. Comments made it clear that while many participants appreciate abstract art, it is still challenging for others. For example, some of the posted comments include:
“both of my choices are for the same reason, they bring an instant feeling of what the artist is trying to convey, clearly.”
“I’m not very keen on abstract art…”
“I really like the Alexandra Luke, “Design for a Plate” 1948 because it looks like a picture of the world”
The Community Curates II exhibition ranges from work by historical artist Paul Peel to contemporary work by David Bierk. It reflects our community’s desire to engage with the RMG collection in new ways. It demonstrates that there are definite benefits to making art more accessible online—with our hope ultimately being to encourage people to visit the gallery to see art in person.