Body matters, built environments: Two Dal projects to be showcased at Nocturne 2022 arts festival

Dal is hosting two free exhibitions this weekend as part of Halifax's annual city-wide art festival Nocturne, now in its 15th year.

“Blood and Breath, Skin and Dust,” an exhibition currently being shown at the Dalhousie Art Gallery and open for viewing during extended hours to coincide with Nocturne, utilizes electron microscopes to explore the body by capturing images of blood, along with dust, lint, ash, and skin.

From those images, artist Kim Morgan created a range of installations, including sculptures and multimedia formats.

“The installations are amazing varied in form and material presence,” says Susan Gibson Garvey, the exhibition’s curator.

The show involves numerous installations including a glowing chandelier composed of test tubes and an inflatable dust ball that is covered with scans of belly button lint.

Nocturne Halifax: Full list of this year's projects

Shifting perceptions of body

According to the gallery's description, Morgan’s work examines “the expressive potential in using magnified images of blood and other bodily sourced materials to consider physical and socio-cultural realities.”

“I hope the work shifts the public's perception around 'matters of the body,' blood and breath, skin and dust,” says Morgan.

Gibson Garvey vouches for the work's impact.

“To me, Morgan’s installations have a visceral effect. They inspire wonder at the same time as inviting us to consider what it means to be human in the 'mattering' universe,” says Gibson Garvey.

Morgan has been working with Gibson Garvey since 2019 on offsite projects that have resulted in various pop-up exhibits across campus. Those pop-up displays have been repurposed for this weekend’s exhibit, along with new installations from Morgan.

“Blood and Breath, Skin and Dust,” is located at the Dalhousie Art Gallery in the Arts Centre on the Studley Campus.  

Both Gibson Garvey, the curator, and Morgan, the artist, will be in the gallery on October 15, from 7 to 9 pm to discuss the exhibit and answer questions from the public.

Also happening

Dal's other project, “Ephemeral Permanence,” was designed, planned, and constructed by students in the School of Architecture. 

The show — which includes five displays created by students ranging from first year to graduate studies — explores the impact of architecture on community.

"A reflection on architecture's role in society, 'Ephemeral Permanence' takes a critical look at the tangible and intangible legacies of the built environment," reads a description of the project on the Nocturne site.

As Peter Lombardi, project lead, describes it, "There is a general focus on material reuse, with 6 'light pillars' constructed of reused pallets bringing cohesion to the gallery."

The exhibition will be on display on October 15 from 7 pm to midnight at Dal's Medjuck Building on Spring Garden Road.