Art has a dual purpose in life. It’s meant to be admired, to be displayed and to be bought and sold. But art’s most important role is to gather people together.
I was fortunate to be part of a blogger’s tour of the new Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) yesterday. The building, which opens to the public on Sunday, is striking with its curves, its texture and its colours. What stayed in my mind is how the AGA will bind Edmontonians together because of art.
The AGA features not only galleries but education space, a theatre, Zinc, the restaurant, a gift shop and much more.
If you look past what the AGA offers as a building, you’ll see the deeper meaning behind the facility.
What art does is provokes conversation. Even when the new AGA’s $88 million price tag was announced, there was much debate in the community whether that amount of money was worth spending on a gallery.
Architect Randall Stout’s conceptual design drew discussion as well because it was a type of building that had never been seen before in Edmonton.
Art pieces drive this type of conversation as well in a community. They can provoke emotion, outrage or invoke curiosity from people to see what is causing all the fuss.
The AGA will attract Edmontonians not only because of its facility and its exhibits but for a reason to communicate as a community.
Let’s see where and how art will lead the discussion in Edmonton.
Check out photos and links to other bloggers who attended the tour.
[...] Art’s deeper meaning at communityintelligence.ca var addthis_pub = 'mastermaq'; var addthis_brand = 'MasterMaq';var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, print, delicious, digg, facebook, friendfeed, stumbleupon, twitter, tumblr'; Tags: aga, art, art gallery of alberta, buildings, churchill square, downtown, edmonton, events, social mediaCategories: Uncategorized | 14 Comments » Related Posts:Art Gallery of Alberta sneak peek for Edmonton’s social media communityTorch Relay Reporter Chris Wheeler comes to EdmontonRandall Stout on the new Art Gallery of AlbertaTimeraiser comes to Edmonton [...]