Aga Khan Museum of Toronto Goes Virtual
The Sanctuary Exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada. (Image Courtesy of the Aga Khan Museum)
On April 22, the Aga Khan Museum, located in Toronto, Canada opened its virtual doors for guests to enter “a window into worlds unknown” and experience #MuseumWithoutWalls.
The museum, which opened in September 2014, is the first museum in North America dedicated to Islamic arts. It has a vast collection of both contemporary and historical art from Muslim communities around the world.
Like many other museums around the globe, the Aga Khan Museum has gone online to help aid as an artistic distraction during this time. Each week the museum provides a schedule of events to take part in, including guided tours, video lectures, concerts, and Zoom-led art projects.
The museum offers 3-D tours of some of its exhibitions, such as “Caravans of Gold: Fragments in Time”. While the 3-D model works best while viewing the exhibition as a whole rather than individual pieces, it allows the guests to get a better idea for how the exhibition has been curated. White circle outlines are laid out on the floor for guests to click on with their mouse to view the different pieces, similar technology to that used by Google Maps. From there, guests can use their cursor to hover over the blue circles that provide a detailed summary about the piece they are viewing.
“Sanctuary in the Age of Displacement”, an exhibition offered virtually on the museum’s YouTube channel, tells the stories of those who have sought sanctuary living. What stands out about this exhibition is the artwork has been reimagined from the original works, into wool rugs crafted by artists in Lahore, Pakistan using traditional weaving techniques.
"Untiled" by Julio César Morales, a part of the Sanctuary Exhibition currently on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada. (Image Courtesy of the Aga Khan Museum)
As the guests are shown different areas of the exhibition it intertwines the individual artworks such as “Untiled” by Julio César Morales, that depicts the harsh reality of a young child tucked away inside the seat of a car as a means to cross the border.
The museum has also made use of their other social media platforms, such as their Instagram account where Museum Curator Dr. Michael Chagnon was able to host an Instagram Live of the Sanctuary Exhibition, giving viewers a behind the scenes look at the pieces. “Our museum, like a lot of other museums, are providing digital content and online content so that those of you who are at home quarantined and self quarantined and in lock down of different kinds can still experience the arts,” said Chagnon to the viewers as he began the tour. “That’s very important so we can continue to connect with one another through our shared humanity.”
The museum’s staff is keeping busy to provide online content for guests, hoping to enrich the lives of those looking for something more than just a simple diversion, which has been greatly appreciated. “I think it’s been very very positive. Just the feedback I’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive. Hopefully we’re providing a service to people. Hopefully we’re providing that educational content that some people are really looking for,” said Chagnon. “I think parents in particular are looking for enriching experiences in this moment to help focus their kids on some things that are beyond mere entertainment.”
Museum guests can look forward to the digital content remaining online once the museum is able to reopen. “This pivot towards web based technology, this pivot towards putting our content online is not something that we’re going to walk away from. This is something permanent that's going to be with us,” Chagnon continued. “It’s a really effective way for us to continue to connect people, even if you’re not able to make your way to Toronto to see what we have on view. It’s been really a powerful way for us to really, in very personal ways, connect to our audiences.”
The museum is worth seeing in person, not only for the artwork inside, but for the architecture of the building. “Nothing can replicate the first hand experience,” says Chagnon “[but] we can provide this other realm of experience which can be equally powerful.”
Chagnon will be hosting a live virtual tour of the Museum’s Sanctuary Exhibition using the 3-D Model technology on May 6, 2020 at Noon EST.
For more information visit agakhanmuseum.org
Corrections: The exhibition on display at the Aga Khan Museum is titled "Sanctuary", not "Sanctuary in the Age of Displacement."
To clarify, sanctuary living is not a lifestyle choice.
