Posted on May 3: McMaster and Art Gallery of Hamilton develop Virtual Cities Web site

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/cities2opt.jpg” caption=”Virtual Cities Web site”]Faculty and students in the multimedia program at McMaster University had the chance to experience working on a large public exhibition project when they teamed with the Art Gallery of Hamilton to produce a Virtual Cities Web site.

The team of third- and fourth-year art and multimedia students was put together by professors Geoffrey Rockwell and Liss Platt of the School of the Arts to work with Shirley Madill, the curator of the AGH's Future Cities exhibition.

Future Cities, along with its online Virtual Cities companion, is running while the AGH building is closed for renovations. Future Cities is a city-wide public exhibit that is placing works around the city of Hamilton and co-ordinating conferences concerning the future of the city. Virtual Cities both documents the public events and provides space for online exhibits of interactive art works, digital photographs and digital video works.

Multimedia students Andrew Paulin, Audrey Carr, Katrina Jennifer Bedford, Marc Foreman, Jody Prouse, and S. Peter Chanthanakone developed Virtual Cities as a exploration of digital art and online documentation. “We've had a lot of great remarks about the site from artists – the students should be really proud,” says curator Shirley Madill.

“All Liss Platt and I did was create an opportunity and structure the process – the students did this for the experience not for credit,” says Geoffrey Rockwell. “This project is an example of McMaster's ability to respond to the community, creating opportunities for students and researchers.”

The Virtual Cities project is looking for digital images and interactive works from the community to put up on the site. Go to www.virtualcities.ca and read the calls for participation. Send in pictures that are about the city in which you live.

Image: K. Jennifer Bedford