March 29, 2007
On Thursday, at around 7PM, I ventured down to Ovada in Gloucester Green to see the opening night of Katy Beinart’s new exhibition Parallel Worlds. The concept is fairly easy to grasp and a real gift to any project; alongside the university town which is commonly perceived by tourists and the shopping city which is perceived by locals, there are numerous other world in existence which only need looking for.
The project seems to have been conceived and coordinated rather than single-handedly created by Katy, which might explain it’s somewhat amatuer appearance. The pictures – which made up the majority of the exhibition – were neither of a good quality or well put together – check out the images in the front window which are bordered by badly fitting frames. Most of the images were stuck into two small photo albums rather than spread about the ample spare walls of the gallery. This – for an opening night was unhelpful – forcing us to queue for a look rather than saunter around and browse the pictures. The gallery’s walls needed filling and some of Oxford’s best alternative monuments – such as the East Oxford Mosque – were sadly under-represented. Interspersed with the handful of photographs on the walls, there were also some interesting and accurate maps comparing Oxford past and present. Once again these seemed somewhat rushed; reducing the potential effectiveness of the finished piece.
Connected with the exhibition; there was also a video showing of an ‘alternative tour of Oxford’ – again a brilliant idea, but still seeming quite amatuer, with the narrator reading from a script.
All in all, the exhibition is worth checking out, but it was also worthy of more work and care.
The project seems to have been conceived and coordinated rather than single-handedly created by Katy, which might explain it’s somewhat amatuer appearance. The pictures – which made up the majority of the exhibition – were neither of a good quality or well put together – check out the images in the front window which are bordered by badly fitting frames. Most of the images were stuck into two small photo albums rather than spread about the ample spare walls of the gallery. This – for an opening night was unhelpful – forcing us to queue for a look rather than saunter around and browse the pictures. The gallery’s walls needed filling and some of Oxford’s best alternative monuments – such as the East Oxford Mosque – were sadly under-represented. Interspersed with the handful of photographs on the walls, there were also some interesting and accurate maps comparing Oxford past and present. Once again these seemed somewhat rushed; reducing the potential effectiveness of the finished piece.
Connected with the exhibition; there was also a video showing of an ‘alternative tour of Oxford’ – again a brilliant idea, but still seeming quite amatuer, with the narrator reading from a script.
All in all, the exhibition is worth checking out, but it was also worthy of more work and care.