This fall the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh will feature five new free exhibitions, two of which have already opened. These temporary exhibitions are housed in the East Building of the museum along with part of the museum's permanent collection.
The exhibitions include artist Andrea Donnelly’s textile collection “We’ve Met Before” and media artist Sabine Gruffat’s interactive computer animation “A Kiss of the Earth.” The two both opened Aug. 26 and will be available for public viewing until Jan. 28, 2018.
Donald Sultan’s “The Disaster Paintings” will be open from Sept. 23 to Dec. 31, and the collaborative photography collection “Night(Light),” as well as photographer Barbara Morgan’s “Rhythmic Vitality,” will open Sept. 30 and close Jan. 28, 2018.
The exhibitions showcase a variety of artistic styles and mediums, according to Jennifer Dasal, associate curator of contemporary art.
“All these exhibitions are so different, and there really is something for everybody,” Dasal said.
Dasal also said the exhibitions are the culmination of multiple years of planning work. The larger shows required at least two years of planning to determine what pieces would be displayed and how to fit them into the available space.
“It really is a large process, so by the time it opens, it’s just exciting all of a sudden to have a big payoff for all the work that you’ve done,” Dasal said.
As a contemporary art curator, Dasal said she enjoys the opportunity to work directly with artists and have their input into the exhibitions. She worked directly with media artist Sabine Gruffat to choose which of Gruffat’s works to display.
Gruffat said she initially proposed several projects, and the museum chose to show “A Kiss of the Earth.” Her inspiration came from the original 1913 dance production of “The Rite of Spring” and its avant-garde, modern nature, as well as the story of the audience riot and dancer response, which Gruffat said she thinks of as interactive.
Like “The Rite of Spring,” Gruffat’s work is in two parts and includes interactive elements. To start the second part, the viewer must text the word “sacrifice,” the title of part two of the dance, to the provided phone number.
“[The dance] was talking about nature, how nature necessitates a sacrifice,” Gruffat said. “My act two of the piece is really about the environment and how we’re kind of sacrificing our environment and nature, and how that environment is affected by climate change and pollution and all these toxic chemicals.”
Dasal said the process for developing the “Night(Light)” exhibition was different from individual artist works because it carries a central theme throughout the photos, all chosen from the permanent collection. Fine art photographer Lynn Saville, who graduated from the Women’s College at Duke in 1971 before it combined with Trinity College, will feature a photo entitled “Pepsi-Cola, New York” in the exhibition.
The themes of “Night(Light)” parallel many of the themes Saville said she likes to explore, such as light and dark and the transition period between day and night. For “Pepsi-Cola, New York,” Saville said that though she had seen images of the sign previously, this moment was special for her.
“It suddenly made me think of the history of New York,” Saville said. “New York is so built up, it’s so electric and alive and paved, so to see it and think you’re on a farm or how…[New York] was completely natural and then little by little, by hand, people built this amazing metropolis.”
In the same way, the curators, artists, editors and registrars go through a lengthy process that culminates in new exhibitions like the five opening this fall, according to Dasal.
“It’s always such an exciting time,” Dasal said. “It’s always most gratifying to see people walking through the galleries and admiring the work. People asking questions is always really exciting.”
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the free exhibits were located in a building separate from the museum's permanent collection. The article has been updated to note that the East Building, which houses the free exhibits, also includes permanent galleries. The Chronicle regrets the error.
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