Featured Project: Imo Nse Imeh’s exhibition The Hope of Radiance
Installation view of The Hope of Radiance in the Benendum Gallery, August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh, PA, February 17 - May 31, 2023
Institutional relations, curatorial direction, logistics
In 2022 Imo Imeh was invited by Janice Wilson, Director of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh, to show his work in the AWAACC’s Claude Benedum Gallery, the Center’s main exhibition space. Apart from being a significant member of Pittsburgh’s arts and cultural landscape, which includes the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum, the August Wilson is one of the nation’s premiere music and performing arts venues; it’s a centerpiece of downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural life.
When Inversion Art began working with Imeh, it was clear that the studio was going to need to take a lead in planning for the exhibition. Inversion Art began direct communications with the AWAACC’s contracted production team (Flyspace) to obtain images and floor plans of the Benedum Gallery. From those assets, we built a computer model of the space and then developed a series of proposals for how to show Imeh’s works, including new partition walls to sequence the installation and experience of Imeh’s works.
3D model and fly-through showing the selected installation for Imo Imeh’s show Hope of Radiance. Inversion Art designed and located the new partition walls to create a sequence of galleries to highlight Imeh’s different bodies of wors.
With the proposed installation and curation of the works in place and agreed up by Imeh, we transmitted the model and checklist to the AWAACC’s production team and coordinated shipment of the work from Imeh’s studio in western Massachusetts. Inversion Art also handled arrangements for loans of works to the show from two private collections and from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection, including sourcing shippers and obtaining gallery condition reports for lenders.
Installation view of Hope of Radiance at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.
Inversion Art also assisted with exhibition didactics, including editorial direction over the wall texts and labels, as well as with copy and images for the AWAACC’s marketing campaign. And at the opening, Inversion Art was on hand to ensure that Imo connected with noteworthy collectors, curators, and other creatives from the Pittsburgh area who were in attendance.
Janice Wilson, Director of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, addressing the audience at the opening of Hope of Radiance, February 17, 2023. Wilson is standing in front of Parliament I & Parliament II, both 2022.