News

Computer art imitating art

'CURATA' is a new piece of software developed at the University which creates a 3D virtual art gallery on your desktop computer. It is modeled on much-loved local galleries like the Djanogly Gallery at the University's own Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham Castle Museum and the new Nottingham Contemporary.

The unique programme allows students to curate their own 'virtual' exhibitions in these spaces as part of a new 'pathway' called Modern Art, Criticism and Display in the postgraduate MA, Art History and Visual Culture. It involves the study of modern and contemporary modes of gallery and museum display, and examines how Modern/Contemporary Art is studied and appraised in the wider art world.

Assessment for the module takes the form of an exhibition project in which students have to showcase the processes involved in curating an exhibition. They have to pitch an original idea in a live class presentation, develop the idea by finalising works for the show, arrange the works in their chosen gallery space and, finally, write a catalogue essay exploring the rationale behind their exciting 'virtual art event'.

CURATA provides a technological solution to the practical problem of how students can bring their exhibition to life without recourse to a real-life gallery space and real works of art. The realistically rendered 3-dimensional virtual galleries effectively incorporate 2D art works, and there are plans to develop the software further to allow the inclusion of 3D objects, such as sculptures and installations.

Art History staff at the University have a long and prestigious track record in curating exhibitions, both locally at the Djanogly Gallery at Lakeside, or nationally at the National Portrait Gallery, the Hayward and Tate Britain in London. When the idea for the new 'Curating' module was mooted, no suitable computer software could be found and thus the CURATA collaborative project was born.

Its creation brought together the Department of Art History and the University's Department of the Built Environment, as well as an external IT consultant and programmer to build the software. For two years, students in the Department of the Built Environment surveyed and then made computer models of gallery spaces across Nottingham, including the new Nottingham Contemporary as well as other regional galleries like Ikon in Birmingham, the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and Edinburgh's Fruit Market.

The resulting CURATA programme allows Art History students to choose a gallery space, insert and move artwork around, change wall-colour and add wall-text about each work. They can also annotate each work with their rationale for its inclusion and position in the exhibition, save their display and edit it as they progress. A finished mode allows virtual visitors to 'move around' in the gallery and explore the show, and importantly, an assessment mode lets staff examine the work and add their own feedback and commentary for the student to access.

CURATA is the brainchild of the Department of Art History's Dr Mark Rawlinson. He said:'We are really proud of this new educational tool. Such has been its success and popularity that we are planning to incorporate its use in the undergraduate Art History programme as well. The software could eventually be rolled out commercially to other institutions, schools and indeed the wider art gallery world.'

Postgraduate student Harriet Curtis was one of the first to use CURATA as part of her MA. She said: 'I was impressed by how much I was able to control using the CURATA programme. For example, the colour of the walls, size of images and their positioning, the wall texts and captions, and getting to grips with these different applications was fairly easy. I also thought that using CURATA alongside writing essays in connection with the devised exhibition was really helpful, as it helped to visualise the ideas, and point out any practical/aesthetic problems involved in curating an exhibition. It added a practical aspect to what may have been a merely theoretical project.'

The University is also exploring new funding opportunities to develop the CURATA software further so it could be used in a wider variety of disciplines, for example, in Archaeology, History and Geography.

Source:www.nottingham.ac.uk|

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