McColl Center for Art + Innovation presents Shared Space: A New Era / Photographs from the Bank of America Collection. Featuring works by 23 international contemporary photographers and artists, Shared Space: A New Era acts as a time capsule, traversing an evolving social landscape through photographs and video created over the span of nearly twenty-five years. Shared Space: A New Era will be on view at McColl Center for Art + Innovation from September 9 to November 5, 2016. An Opening Reception will take place on Friday, September 9, 2016 from 6 to 9 PM (with a Curator Talk at 6:30 PM)
Guest Curator: Lorie Mertes
This is the first time that this groundbreaking exhibition has been shown in the eastern United States and the first time that works by many of these contemporary artists have been seen in Charlotte. The artists featured in Shared Space: A New Era hail from 11 countries—Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States—and include Hans Aarsman, Olivo Barbieri, Wout Berger, Edward Burtynsky, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Ken Fandell, Günther Förg, Ben Gest, Andreas Gursky, Jitka Hanzlova, Barbara Klemm, Bertien van Manen, Walter Niedermayr, Shirin Neshat, Gabriel Orozco, Thomas Ruff, Tokihiro Sato, Raghubir Singh, Beat Streuli, Thomas Struth, Sze Tsung Leong, Massimo Vitali.
"Shared Space: A New Era offers an opportunity to see the work of some of the most influential photographers of our time," said Mertes. "Touching on themes such as mass migration, globalization, the environment, technology, and urbanization, the works gathered at the McColl Center invite us to consider the impact of a revolutionary era in our recent history and its influence on our collective physical and psychological experience." She added, "I can't think of a more poignant moment for us all to consider the evolution of our shared space and our hopes for shaping tomorrow."
Focusing on the mediums of photography and video—visual modes of communication made infinitely more ubiquitous by new technology—Shared Space: A New Era also explores the ways in which our venues for communication, exchange, and interaction have evolved: our homes and backyards, city streets and plazas, ports and airplanes, and urban and rural landscapes.
As we seek ways to promote understanding, healing, and tolerance in light of our difficult times, the presentation of Shared Space: A New Era at McColl Center for Art + Innovation presents a poignant opportunity for dialogue and exchange in our community. Many of the themes raised in the exhibition are brought forward by the work of our Fall 2016 Artists-in-Residence: from Glexis Novoa’s futuristic cityscapes questioning systems of power and Orit Hofshi’s massive landscapes that delve into our psychological relationship to nature, to Marion Wilson’s interventions creating spaces of social exchange and Mark Greenfield’s mixed-media works that focus on the complexities of the African-American experience in contemporary society. We look forward to rich and robust conversations this fall inspired both by Shared Space: A New Era and the work of our Artists-in-Residence.
Shared Space: A New Era / Photographs from the Bank of America Collection is presented by Bank of America. Additional support is provided by Rodgers Builders, LandDesign, and Odell.
Image: Thomas Struth, Hermitage 2 (detail), Saint Petersburg, 2005. Color coupler print, 43 5/8 x 55 5/8 inches. Courtesy of the artist. © Thomas Struth, 2016.