Word and Image exhibitions open

Published On Tue 12 Aug 2014 by Grant Hill

Two new exhibitions exploring the relationships between word and image will open in the University of Dundee’s Tower Building this evening.

The exhibitions have been staged by the University’s Museum Services to accompany the international word and image conference ‘Riddles of Form: Exploration and Discovery in Word and Image’, being held this week.

In the Lamb Gallery, ‘The Word is Art’ features text-based artworks from the University’s Museum Collections, including work by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Tom Phillips, David Mach and other notable artists.

At the same time, ‘Riddles and Answers’ in the Tower Foyer Gallery features charts, models and other teaching aids from the Museum Collections, exploring the use of word and image in scientific education.

Curator Matthew Jarron said, “The exhibition aims to explore the interplay between art and text in a variety of forms. Some artists incorporate words into their images, others are inspired by texts in other ways. Some artforms (notably comics) rely on the relationship created between the word and the image. We also have some fascinating examples of calligraphy where the writing is an art in itself.”

The exhibitions run until 11th October and are open from 9.30am to 8.30pm on weekdays and 9.30am to 4.30pm on Saturdays. Admission is free.

The two shows are part of a series of free public exhibitions being staged around the campus to accompany the conference. These include shows in the Dalhousie Building and the Queen Mother Building, while ‘Resonate’, an exhibition of artists’ books, opens in the Visual Research Centre on Thursday night.

The University-based Scottish Word and Image Group (SWIG) is hosting the Triennial Conference of the International Association of Word and Image Studies (IAWIS/AIERTI) this week. Dundee is be the first UK destination for the Triennial, following previous conferences in Montreal, Philadelphia, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Zürich.

This year’s conference examines the representation of science and technology in text, poetry, art, popular culture, film, print and digital media. Over a hundred academics from all over the UK, Europe and the Americas are visiting the University for the event.

Dundee’s history and reputation in both sciences and arts means the location is ideally suited to the theme, and the conference will specifically invoke the city’s scientific and cultural legacy through the foundational work of D'Arcy Thompson and Patrick Geddes.

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