Undergraduate art students post projects to Instagram page in virtual exhibition
Established in 1997 at the Broad Art Center, then the Dickson Art Center, the UCLA Department of Art Undergraduate Gallery is lovingly called the "Little Gallery" and features a rotating program of student-organized exhibitions, installations, performances, and events. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Little Gallery is now on instagram.
"The UCLA Department of Art’s Little Gallery seems to affirm that the show must go on – even if that means moving to Instagram.
Established in 1997, the Little Gallery exhibits artwork by undergraduate students and typically shows at the Broad Art Center. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s gallery has moved to an Instagram page and the works of a different art student have been posted on the page each week since the beginning of fall quarter. Valerie Green, co-director of the project and photography lab area supervisor, said there are considerable differences in one’s experience viewing art on an Instagram feed compared to in a physical space.
“When you’re in a physical gallery, … you see the scale and you go walk up close to something and you can walk backwards and get a wider view,” Green said. “On Instagram, you have a feed which you could scroll through. You can zoom into the pictures and then you could zoom out and see the whole grid, but you don’t have the walls.”
When it came to choosing which digital medium to switch to, Ben Evans, the gallery co-director and painting and drawing lab area supervisor, said the Little Gallery chose Instagram because the app can reach a large audience and is already a platform that students are familiar with, which are features that generated a lot of excitement when they discussed the prospect of moving online. Additionally, Green said Instagram is an ideal platform specifically for sharing imagery compared to other virtual platforms." — David Egan, Dec. 8, 2020
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.
Visit the Little Gallery virtually on instagram.
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