1708 Gallery

InLight Richmond

Previous InLight Richmond Exhibitions

InLight Richmond 2010:

Juror's Statement

Inlight Richmond takes as its inspiration Nuit Blanche, Light Night, or White Night events now held in over 125 cities around the world. While borrowing conceptually from the phenomena of midsummer White Nights and Festivals of Light, for Inlight Richmond,1708 Gallery invites artists from around the world to specifically respond to a different geographic location in Richmond, this year, for the third manifestation of InLight Richmond to the historic Shockoe Slip district. Artists were asked to respond to the existing urban infrastructure, bringing art out of the gallery or museum and inserting it into the cultural fabric of the city, inviting artists and audiences alike to explore a specific urban environment in creative, engaging and playful ways.

Shockoe Slip will be transformed by 39 temporary artworks and installations created by 60 artists. Taking as their referent light as a medium but also as an evocation, these works aim to activate the facades, walls, storefronts, doorways, parking lots, and alleyways of Shockoe Slip. While literally lighting up the city, in addition to light artists will employ sound, performance, ceramics, video, electronics, photography, animation, sculpture, and even surveillance technologies to help us re-imagine the urban streetscape in new ways. Inlight Richmond promises to stimulate our senses, as well as guide us in thinking about ways to re-map the city and re-imagine our future in it.

-Amanda McDonald Crowley, InLight Richmond 2010 Juror

Go here to see images and video from InLight Richmond 2010.

InLight Richmond 2009:

Guest juror Adelina Vlas, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, selected 26 international artists out of 65 entries to participate in the 2009 InLight Richmond exhibition. In addition, the juror selected four proposals to be considered for possible permanent installations. The artists are from all over the world including the US, Australia, Canada and Germany (10% international, 75% US, 15% Richmond). The exhibition will include video projections, photography, light installations, sculpture, and performance art.

Re-mapping the city at night

Taking as its departure point light, both as a medium and as a concept, InLight Richmond offers artists annually the opportunity to create projects that address a specific urban environment in a creative and engaging manner. Inserted in spaces that are otherwise vacant or have a limited usage, the selected works aim to activate the facades, walls, storefronts, doorways, and parking lots located between East Grace and East Broad Streets and 5th to 8th Streets of downtown Richmond.

The 26 international artists selected for the 2009 edition of InLight submitted projects that respond to the landscape of Richmond’s city center while also attempting to address more universal issues associ- ated with the contemporary urban context. Diverse artistic practices are represented in this year’s selection, and they include video and sound projec- tions, kinetic sculptures, interactive installations, architectural environments, dance and performance art. Intended to stimulate our senses, these works also act as new points of reference on the map of the city. Their ephemeral presence urges us not only to join in the celebration of light but also to claim back and animate, in a creative and memorable way, a part of the city otherwise inactive at night.

-Adelina Vlas, Curator

Go here to see images and video from InLight Richmond 2009.

Click here to see the program from InLight Richmond 2009.