Music to See

Fine Arts students invited to create multimedia exhibition

In May 2011, Art History students added a new visual element to the McGill Chamber Orchestra concert Music to See, featuring the world premiere of a new arrangement for piano and strings of Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Just as the composer was inspired by works of art when he wrote his famous piece 137 years ago, Art History graduate students have selected a dozen contemporary artworks to be projected during this premiere performance.

The event took place on Monday, May 30, 2011 at McGill University's Pollack Hall in Montreal.

Following a call for submissions for original works of art inspired by Mussorgsky's famous Pictures at an Exhibition, four master's students in Art History--Lindsay Cory, Jessa Alston-O'Connor, Wahsontiio Cross and Maya Soren--selected 12 artworks by contemporary Canadian artists, including Concordia students, for the concert's multimedia exhibition.

The artwork was also on view and for sale in an adjoining reception hall following the concert.

For more information about the Music to See exhibition, download the program insert (PDF) [not available].

About the curators:

Maya Soren's current research interests include historic building preservation and restoration, feminist architectural practices and gendered spaces. She is presently writing her graduate thesis on the Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant in Montreal.

Lindsay Cory is an aspiring art historian. Her research interests include unsanctioned public art, graffiti, site specificity and the city. She curated a small exhibition in 2009 on the changing and retelling of history within the specific context of Norse culture in Canada. 

Wahsontiio Cross is an artist and art historian. Her artwork and writing have been included in the Virtual Museum of Canada's Canada's Got Treasures! project, and published in upcoming issues of Fuse and Craft Journal. She is currently working on a children's community art project in her hometown in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory.

Jessa Alston-O'Connor's research focuses on race and cultural identity as they are constructed and negotiated in Canadian art and curatorial practices. Her thesis explores the relationships between Asian Canadian identities and food culture, specifically the use of Chinese restaurants and sushi in the works of Karen Tam and Shie Kasai.