1990 Nova Scotia Photo Co-op, Carl Zimmerman, Halifax
Sculptures, tables, photos, lighting, audio (continuious playing excerpt from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (instrumental))
1991 Artefect Gallery, The Calm Sea, Toronto, ON
Sculpture, photocopy's, lighting, audio (continuous sounds of water at seaside)
1992 00 Gallery, The Lark Ascending, Halifax, NS
Sculptural components (audio speaker, stands with photocopy, light projection boxes), military bed sheets, audio (continuously playing excerpt from "The Lark Ascending" by Ralf Vaughn Williams)
1993 St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery, Stratos, Antigonish, NS
Sculptural components (speaker, stand), audio (continuously playing excerpt from introduction to Dvorak's "New World Symphony")
1993 Hamilton Artist's Inc., building interior, Hamilton, ON
Sculptural component (speaker), industrial lamps, painted walls, lighting, audio (continuously playing excerpt from Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess")
Detail (speaker cabinet)
1997 Acadian University Art Gallery, beach, Wolfville, NS
Sculptural component (speakers), lighting, audio (continuous sounds of water lapping at seashore)
Detail from above
2000 HX: Halifax Exhibition of International Contemporary Art, Installation (Westward Ho: A Guided Tour), Khyber Centre for the Arts, Halifax, NS
Photographs, frames, painted wall, lighting
2000 Owens Art Gallery, Untitled, Recent Work by Carl Zimmerman, (small gallery), Sackville, NB
Tables, lamp, chairs, ashtray, radio, clock, handcoloured photocopy
2000 Owens Art Gallery, Untitled, Recent Work by Carl Zimmerman, (tall gallery), Sackville, NB
Sculptural component (speaker), painted walls, lighting, audio (continuously playing excerpt from Bernard Herrmann soundtrack for Truffault's 1966 film "Fahrenheit 451")
2001 Irish Museum of Modern Art, interior with photo of building, Residency Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland
Framed photo (Mausoleum), painted walls
2006 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Landmarks of Industrial Britain, Halifax, NS
Sculptural components (steel tables), photographs, plexiglass, lighting
2006 Dunlop Gallery, Landmarks of Industrial Britain, Regina, Sask.
Sculptural components (steel tables), photographs, plexiglass, lighting
Gallery Installations (1990-2008)
Around 1970 I viewed an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Symbolist Painting. I entered a large dimly lit gallery with a high ceiling. Heavy Victorian curtains draped the walls and romantic music played somewhere in the background. It made an immediate and indelible imprint. Images, sound, light, like an incantation into some hidden alchemy. As I later learned, my response was not unusual. In fact it was the stated aim of many Victorian artworks to bring together the separate disciplines under one umbrella, most famously, Wagner’s operatic "Gesamtkunstwerk" or "total work of art". In this view, individual art forms, visual, musical, architectural, are subordinated to a superior, elevated, total experience. I was reminded of the cavernous movie theatres of the 1950’s and that constructed immersive experience.
The opportunity to realize some of these thoughts did not happen until about 20 yrs. later, but my initial impressions did not change. In almost all of my installation work, it can be broken down to the fairly simple aim of creating a particular experience through the assembly of elements - architectural space, site, visual props, lighting, and ambient musical excerpts. In one or two words I would describe my approach as cinematic.
My vocabulary was fairly limited. Gallery installations started with a generic institutional space, while site-specific spaces ( with some exceptions ) were selected for the specific qualities of the site. Gallery installations were mostly fashioned around the idea of a darkened interior space ( the idea of a bunker was a common reference ). Painted walls were modelled on public institutions of the WWII era. Lighting was often very dim with spotlights for sculptural elements styled on Streamlined design motifs ( eg. cars, buildings, radios ) popular before and during the war.
The sculptural pieces in my installations were mostly functional speaker cabinets, constructed by me and designed to play a continuous audio track. The selection of audio related to 19th and early 20thC romantic orchestral pieces, 50’s or 60’s movie soundtracks and audio recorded by myself.