Art history with a pulse

Arts | December 3rd, 2015

By David McCoy

After years of providing a one-stop repository for art slides and projections for all students and their departments, Minnesota State University Moorhead’s slide library will be closing its doors in 2016. To commemorate the medium and history of visual projection and the decades of work archiving, categorizing and procuring slides, MSUM’s upper-level sculpting class will be showcasing its collection at the Plains Art Museum on Dec. 10 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Projectors and slides have been a welcomed addition to the classroom setting throughout the 20th century. They allowed instructors to display information for their multitude of students, save lectures and work visually on a transparency or slide.

However technological advancements like smartboards, PowerPoint, Prezi and other computer-based software and hardware rendered these historic projectors and slides nearly obsolete. Despite this, projected light and electric light remain as a medium for artists such as Joelle Tuerlickx, Anthony McCall and Shimon Attie. The influence of electric slides and projects has spread far beyond just the classroom, from the family home to projection-based advertising.

Professor of art history at MSUM, Anna Arnar has been a chief component in building the slide library’s collection. “When I arrived at MSUM they hardly had any modern slides, or any slides by women artists for that matter,” says Arnar. “So I was driving down to Minneapolis and procuring books with high-quality images to photograph, which were then mounted, labeled and archived. The slides were not just used by the art department, but by several other departments on campus, so we even had a system of checking out the slides just like checking books.”

The library now has over 70,000 slides organized by century, media, origin, in addition to projection equipment. Yet all this history will be removed from the campus by next year. In thinking about the technology of projectors and lanterns, the MSUM sculpting class has honored the history and utility of the slide library. Dec. 10 will be the last day to see these historic slides that taught generations of artists and art historians. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that evening the library will have an exhibition on the second floor of the Plains Art Museum showcasing the historic equipment, slides and student artwork. At 7 p.m. there will be a special performance by the sculpting class celebrating decades of history.

IF YOU GO:

Electric Slide Showcase

Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.- 9 p.m. with performance at 7 p.m..

Center for Creativity, second floor of Plains Art Museum.

704 First Ave. N, Fargo

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