NEWS

Ackland invites public to comment on potential photography acquisitions

By MARIA GLOEGGLER
Ackland Art Museum

CHAPEL HILL -- Which would you choose? Margaret Bourke-White’s 1928 photograph of the inside of a steel factory, or Gordon Parks’ intimate portraits of Muhammed Ali and Malcolm X?

A wide-angle view of the Tibetan landscape, or a night scene of Ground Zero, taken on Sept. 25, 2001?

These are among 10 photographs on display through Sept. 28 at the Ackland Art Museum, where the public can weigh in on which of the 10 should be purchased for the Ackland’s permanent collection.

From now through Sept. 28, visitors to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill museum can share their opinions on paper or electronically at a kiosk in the exhibition gallery. Curators will consider everyone’s input. On Sept. 29, their decisions will be posted in the museum and on its Web site at www.ackland.org. Private donations will fund the acquisitions.

This interactive exhibition, "Collecting Photography: A Community Dialogue," is presented within a larger photography exhibition, "Defining Moments: Two Centuries of Photography," which opened June 8.

" ‘Collecting Photography’ offers an innovative way to involve the community in the museum’s acquisition program," said Barbara Matilsky, the Ackland’s curator of exhibitions. "Specifically, we are interested in knowing what photographs people like and why."

Through a Curators Gallery Talk at 12:15 p.m. Sept. 10 and a panel discussion at 3 p.m. Sept. 14, museum curators, private collectors and photographers will discuss how professionals evaluate photography and make selections to build a collection. Both events will be free and open to the public.

The 10 on display and under consideration are:

• Bourke-White's romantic view of the interior of Cleveland's Otis Steel Factory in 1928;
• Joel Meyerowitz’s Sept. 25, 2001, shot of the recently devastated site of the World Trade Center;
• Parks’ intimate photographs of Muhammed Ali and Malcolm X (two works);
• Richard Misrach's flooded shoreline along California's Salton Sea;
• Toshio Shibata's vertiginous view of falling water at Grand Coulee Dam;
• Steve McCurry's Tibetan landscape, highlighted by a giant tangka painting of the Buddha Sakyamuni and hundreds of pilgrims attending a harvest festival;
• Yasuhiro Ishimoto's photograph of Katsura Imperial Villa, which captures the essence of Japanese architecture and landscape design;
• Krzysztof Wodiczko's photograph of his public artwork of images projected onto the facade of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., provoking viewers to examine George H.W. Bush's foreign and domestic agendas on the eve of his election as president in 1988.
• A collage by Christo -- of drawing, fabric and a photograph – that functions as a preparatory study and fund-raising tool for his monumental environmental artwork in New York's Central Park, scheduled for 2005.

"Traditionally, the Ackland selects acquisitions based on visual and conceptual power, relationship to other works in the collection, potential community use and price," Matilsky said. " ‘Collecting Photography: A Community Dialogue’ is unique in that it invites the public to participate in the selection process through thoughtful commentary. The dialogue model recognizes the importance of public involvement to the Ackland, which exists to engage, educate and serve our community."

The Ackland is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. For more information, call 919-843-1611 (recorded information), 919-966-5736 (museum office), 919-962-0837 (TTY) or visit the Web site at www.ackland.org.

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Contact: Maria Gloeggler, Ackland Director of Communications 919.843.3675