Art, in all of its forms, has always had the ability to elicit emotions, stir the mind, and stimulate thought. However, an artwork's scale - its sheer enormity and presence - plays a critical role in enhancing these emotions, frequently taking spectators to a world of sublimity and infinity. The Page Gallery's great exhibition, BIG, BIG, BIG, celebrated its tenth anniversary by illuminating this very theme.
Why is scale so important? Large-scale artworks encapsulate a vastness that is almost impossible for the human sight to comprehend. They encourage viewers to take a step back and gaze up, down, and around to truly appreciate their scale. This bodily involvement is accompanied by a sensory overload; an absorption that little artworks, no matter how intricate or exquisite, may find difficult to elicit.
Upon entering the exhibition, I could see Anish Kapoor’s unique sphere sculpture with mysterious color variation. The sculpture evoked a surrealistic illusion as if it is floating on the wall. Together with the large blood-red painting also by Kapoor, the sphere sculpture overwhelmed the large space. It was my first time to see Do Ho Suh’s installation work, Cause and Effect, because his works were rarely exhibited publicly. The artwork resembled the shape of a chandelier, made with small figures of humans, expressing the strong bond community of human society. Artworks by emerging artists Katherine Bernhardt, Brian Calvin, Vio Choe, and Philip Colbert are also presented in the exhibition. Artworks that are loosely tied into the genres of ‘Pop’ or ‘Neo-pop’ have received attention in the recent years including in biennales along with diverse international exhibitions with their unique visual language. New York-based collaborative design project ‘Snarkitecture’ run by Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen also showcased works that bridges the gap between furniture, artwork and decoration.
While doing my internship for this exhibition, I filmed the whole exhibition through a 360º VR camera and created a space for people who could not attend this exhibition to virtually visit online by using the platform called Eazel. After filming with the help of Eazel, I recorded an audio docent for people who aren't visually available to attend the exhibition. I organized all the artworks that were displayed in this exhibition, including the title, artist, when it was made, which size, and which material it was made out of, and researched about the artist themself or the art piece to give a brief guide to listeners about each piece. Mainly I focused on what the hidden message or the artist's purpose was in the artwork. This project was never an easy task for a beginner like me. In some cases, information were omitted, so I sent an email directly to the artist to obtain information about the painting or the artist's bio. In other cases, since I am not a native English speaker, I did not know how to pronounce the artist's name, so I had to wait for their reply on how to correctly pronounce his name!
It was a new challenge for me to explain the exhibition from A to Z on my own and I made many mistakes while recording, but through this experience I could be able to expand my skills only from just analyzing and researching about the artworks to curating an audio exhibition myself for the community. The exhibition BIG, BIG, BIG truely touched my heart and eyes with its massively scaled pieces that evoked imposing emotions.
Below is the VR tour that I planned out, with the audio guide attached. Feel free to press virtual visit and enjoy the exhibit!
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