From the Work Scholar’s Desk: Behind the Scenes at Aperture Gallery
Being an exhibitions Work Scholar at Aperture, one has the opportunity to learn the entire process of getting an exhibition onto the walls of a gallery from start to finish. I work closely with Exhibitions Manager Annette Booth and in addition, collaborate with the Design and Editorial departments to help format wall text and captions, work with art handlers to get the job done, as well as coordinate with the exhibition’s curator.
The past few weeks, Annette and I have been busying installing the exhibitions now on view, The Spanish National Photography Prize: Connections and Confrontations as well as Aperture Portfolio Prize Winner Alexander Gronsky’s The Edge. In the weeks leading up to last Friday’s opening reception Spanish curators Carmen de la Guerra and Javier Diez traveled to New York to work on sequencing. Carmen and Annette pared the selection down from around 70 works to a final 49. While they were busy with that, myself and a few other Work Scholars assisted in sequencing Alexander Gronsky’s smaller show of 8 works in the bookstore. Art handlers, Phil and Roger worked with us to hang the different pieces. The day before the opening is always dedicated to getting captions and wall text up, and finally setting the lighting.
At the opening reception, the Spanish National Photography Prize exhibit’s curators led a gallery tour. It was really rewarding to see people enjoying the exhibition we worked so hard on. Annette is a master of installing exhibitions, especially since she began her career at Aperture 7 years ago as a Work Scholar! It is a great opportunity to learn from someone who was once in my shoes.
This Work Scholar post is by Exhibitions Work Scholar Anne Lewis.
Anne is a recent graduate of Tufts University where she studied Art History and International Relations. Her favorite Aperture books are Travelers and Paris-New York-Shanghai. Aside from photography she has a secret interest in cultural property law, loves to swim, and is an Olympics enthusiast.
Click here to learn more about Aperture’s Work Scholar program
Tags: Alexander Gronsky, Anne Lewis, Annette Booth, Spanish National Photography Prize
