End of August we received a notice that the Post Image Lab will be relocated to the 5th floor, into a former class room of the Faculty of Fine Arts. This decision was brought to us without any previous consultation.
Everyone who has worked at Post Image knows that it is a unique space. It was set up by artists for artists, and has been built to provide the specific viewing conditions we need to judge and fine tune large scale prints, something no other place in Canada offers. Countless exhibitions have been born here, and some of them have been presented around the world. Its open space concept has been instrumental in fostering collaborations, and has made it a meeting place for artists researchers to exchanging ideas.
How much of all this we will be able to put to the 5th floor remains to be seen. The space is 25% smaller, and Fine Arts has no budget allocated to facilitate the necessary constructions to mirror the 10th floor space. While they are doing their best to make at least some of the modifications for the move, the space has for sure not the same quality. The best we can hope for is a “light” version of the Post Image Lab.
An official announcement came out on September 27*, which does not really explain why this is happening. It only says that it is about to “make best use of our spaces”. We can only guess what they are trying to say here, but we would like to point out that we have always made “best use” of our space.
If you have questions about this (as many do), or if you are concerned how this will affect your research, you can e-mail Angela Tsafaras, (angela.tsafaras@concordia.ca) Joel Taylor, (joel.taylor@concordia.ca) – both Faculty of Fine Arts, or Bart Simon, Director, Milieux Institute (bart.simon@concordia.ca).
*The announcement from September 27 you can read here!
EV 5.615, a classroom at the CDA where Post Image should move in 2025.