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And so it begins: the installation of the Maharaja exhibition

October 30th, 2010

It has been enjoyable following the planning of the AGO’s Maharaja exhibition, but what I have been dying to see is the actual installation process. Finally, I get my invitation.

“Do you have steel-toed boots?” reads the email.

I arrive and I am guided through a labyrinthine set of hallways (I start to panic a little, thinking to myself that it might be a good idea to leave a trail of crumbs behind so I can find my way out). We pass one more set of doors, get my name checked by security and voila, we’re finally here, at a half-finished construction site.

Looking around, I feel like I’m a kid again when my family visited the suburban subdivision where our house was being built. There’s that similar feeling of excitement and wonder. That this work-in-progress will one day be real.

There are the incomplete walls, the cases for objets being built, a half-painted wall and a corner full of plaster dust that leads to a whirlwind of sneezes. One room is full of crates of all sizes, packed together so tightly, you can’t walk between them. A few crates include mannequins who are already partially dressed in vintage saris (it leads to less wear and tear, says the textile conservator).

In another room, paintings and photographs are already hung, but they are covered in craft paper to protect them from the light for just a few more weeks. Fortunately, there is something to see, a silver landau (or carriage) that shines not-so brightly, waiting for its daily polishing.

People are everywhere: the AGO’s own installation technicians, Maharaja team members, and even folks from the Victoria & Albert who have accompanied the work to make sure the installation process goes smoothly (some are here for a few days, others for a few weeks).

Often the work is prosaic – someone has to drill holes in the walls to hang the paintings or lift part of a picture frame ever so carefully out of a crate. But the levels are out, as are the measuring tapes, to make sure the lines are straight.

Welcome to a fairy tale world where perfection is a necessary part of the job description.

Piali Roy is a Toronto writer with a long-held interest in South Asian culture and history. You can contact her at yourvoice@ago.net.

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Translating a travelling exhibition: a curatorial perspective

August 11th, 2010

These days, exhibitions hopscotch around the world. Everyone loves a good blockbuster, but how easy or difficult is it to pull off?

Who better to give some insight into the process than Dr. Stephen Inglis, the adjunct curator of the AGO’s version of the exhibition? We touched on this issue during an in-depth conversation about his work on the Maharaja exhibit.

In case you didn’t know, Stephen is the curator emeritus from the Canadian Museum of Civilization (where he once held the position of Director-General, Research and Collections) and is the new executive director of the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, which is to open in northwestern Quebec in 2011. He is also an art historian with specialties in both Indian and Canadian folk art traditions.

So how did he get involved with the AGO? It turns out that two years ago he was in London sussing out the option of creating an exhibition on maharajas, when he heard about the Victoria & Albert Museum’s plans for their own show. When the V&A became interested in sending the exhibit to the AGO, he got the call asking if he would be interested in working on the project, by helping “transition” it to Canada. The rest is…well, you know…history.

One of the issues of bringing the V & A show here is that you have to translate it to a Canadian audience, tell me about some of the issues involved in doing that.

There is a section of the exhibit called The Raj and British rule in India of what is often referred to as The Raj. But I think that many people – this is never explained in the exhibition – many people would not know that the word Raj used to describe the British Rule comes from the same word as maharaja [maha means great, raja means king]. It’s the word for king that has been transitioned into the British sense of authority during their colonial rule in India. Those kinds of things are maybe taken for granted in London, but for the Canadian audience, it’s an interesting little detail that they need to absorb and think about and have explained.

It seems like a simple thing but in a sense, it tells a whole story in itself – how the British, in many ways, adopted some of the traditions and the positions formerly held by kings of India because they were the new kings of India. Many of the processions – of audiences meeting kings- were even kind of modified (sometimes expanded and sometimes contracted) to suit the needs of a new form of imperialism which was the British rule.

What are some of the trickier aspects of working on this project since you are also in Ottawa, this is happening in Toronto and there are other partner museums involved?

[Laughter] I think it is very tricky. One of the things about this experience is that it exemplifies the challenges that are faced by all large travelling exhibitions today, which usually combine a whole set of different professionals, often from different countries and from different traditions. It relies a lot on good cooperation and goodwill, but it also relies on a set of skills that people in museums develop for really working together, cooperating, relying on each other, and learning to fulfill certain functions.

The idea that a single person works on the curatorial vision, on the interpretation, on the layout – especially something of this scale and complexity – doesn’t work anymore. In a sense, it is both a challenge and also a very great pleasure to find yourself in a position where you are relying on your colleagues and on people that you have recently met, to deliver a product that is coherent, that takes into account the public, and that delivers messages that are both explicit and implicit in what is happening [in the exhibition].

Piali Roy is a Toronto freelance writer with a long-held interest in South Asian culture and history. You can contact her at yourvoice@ago.net.

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The making of a show – Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts

May 25th, 2010

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind-the-scenes to bring a new exhibition to the AGO? Is it an exact copy of the original show? Do some pieces get left behind? Who decides what changes are made? How do visitors get to have their say before the show opens?

A royal procession

Image: Procession of Raja Ram Singh II of Kota and his son at Kota, c. 1850, © V&A Images/ Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Welcome to a new blog series dedicated to answering such questions for the upcoming November exhibition, Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts.  This is the North American debut of a show that first opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London last year.

I will be your blogger-in-residence (the palace blogger, perhaps?), your personal guide to the process of putting this exhibit together. In weekly posts, I’ll cover community consultations and meetings with the design team, look at some of the region’s history, and elaborate on a few of the 200 plus extraordinary works of art – paintings, photography, armour and jewellery – that will be on display.

We’ll have the chance to consider what these beautiful objects, which range from the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards, reveal about the role of kings whose powers were severely limited by the British colonial rule over India.

But most importantly, this blog is where you can start a conversation with us. What are your questions for the AGO team? What sort of programming to accompany the exhibit excites you? Perhaps you have a story about a personal link to a princely state or you have photos of the great palaces that can be uploaded to a Flickr stream that you can share with us.

I look forward to having you join me on a new way to experience an AGO exhibition!

Piali Roy is a Toronto freelance writer with a long-held interest in South Asian culture and history.

Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Court runs from November 20, 2010 until February 27, 2011.

Posted in Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts | 6 Comments »

Angelika’s Promise: Two Performances Only!

June 15th, 2009

War, a failed marriage, tragic death – the story of German artist Angelika Hoerle brings the adage of a tortured artist to a whole other level. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to check out the exhibition Angelika Hoerle: The Comet of Cologne Dada, but for the next two Wednesdays in June, a one-act one-woman play dramatizing the last moments of her life will be presented in AGO’s Jackman Hall. The show’s curator Angie Littlefield, has teamed up with the talent of Ryerson University’s theatre program to bring Angelika’s story to life.

I had the good fortune this morning of catching a glimpse of the behind the scenes action as they were running one of their last rehearsals, here are a few of my snaps showing Taryn Jorgensen, one of the two actresses playing Angelika.

To learn more, grab tickets, and see a very cute Youtube video of Taryn and Sochie click here.

Performance dates:

Wednesday, June 17, 7pm, Jackman Hall (Sochi Fried as Angelika), Pay What You Can (!! And the AGO is free Wednesday nights, so you can’t use the tough economic times as an excuse!)

Wednesday, June 24, 7pm, Jackman Hall (Taryn Jorgensen as Angelika), Members $15; General Public $18; Students $12.

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Posted in Art, Artists and Ideas, Behind The Scenes | 2 Comments »