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CJ’s Media Gallery opens doors 

By Russ Cooper

“The unconventional, the unusual. That’s what you’ll see here.”

It isn’t your run-of-the-mill gallery, and that’s just what Rae Staseson, communications studies chair and professor, wants, along with the rest of the department.

On Oct. 29, more than 40 people assembled for the opening of the intimate display space that has been planned for the CJ building’s first floor since its $20 million revamp in 2005.

The hope for the 40 sq. m. gallery, inaugurated in time for Open House, is to present the creative work of faculty to students and public. “We always imagined we’d have a media gallery to exhibit artwork and creative productions,” said Staseson. In addition, faculty will also serve as curators and programmers to create future shows with outside media-related artists.

To kick the gallery into motion, comm studies professor Rick Hancox presented the exhibition, Apparencies; his photographic take on mundane urban spaces, quirky suburbia and the aesthetics of abandoned industrial sites using only one-time use, disposable film cameras.

Hancox, who grew up in Moose Jaw, Sask., began the project during his first trip back to the prairies in many years. He noticed the dichotomy of murals, painted throughout the city – depicting a more prosperous time, yet displayed on the side of decaying buildings. Since that trip in 2000, Hancox has taken hundreds of pictures of locales all over Canada, which he pared down to 19 for the show.

“[The cameras] are very limited in their technical versatility. I wanted the challenge of coming up with good photos based only on my eye,” said Hancox. “I started taking pictures of subjects that were themselves disposable, in some stage of deterioration.”

As for being the first to display at the Media Gallery, Hancox stated, “I’m incredibly honoured. I’ve had a long and successful career, but there’s something about being recognized by your own peers in your own department. It’s really special.”

To accompany the launch, gallery organizers are also experimenting with new possibilities of publication. They are incorporating material from exhibitions into online print-on-demand programs; anyone wanting a book containing Apparencies, complete with artist’s statements can go to the Mobile Media Gallery website and print one.

Comm studies folk are also planning a unique collaboration with the MultiMedia University (MMU) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Together, they plan to develop innovative ways to distribute and present groundbreaking content. It’s a collaboration, according to Staseson, that highlights strengths of the MMU’s media production engineering and Concordia’s creative, scholarly output. “They have pipeline, and we have the content to put in the pipeline,” she said.

Comm studies professor Kim Sawchuk will be visiting MMU later this month, and Staseson and a team of research-artists and students plans to venture to Asia in winter to explore possibilities for “a few technological adventures.”

“This gallery is really exciting,” said Staseson, proudly stating the gallery’s potential to energize the Loyola Campus. “I think a lot of the work we do is critical work, it’s smart, and it often steps outside other kinds of work.”

The gallery hopes to hold another event in late winter. Staseson herself is preparing an installation for late spring.