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Since the 1990s, VOX has moved increasingly in the direction
of producing projects that combine photography and technologies.
The year 2005 has marked a turning point for the centre,
which has created a major Fonds documentaire
(Documentary Collection) with the goal of contributing
to the advancement of knowledge regarding the history
of and issues involving the image, both contemporary and
historical.
The Fonds documentaire brings together visual
documentation of the work of more than 120 Quebec artists.
It makes accessible on the Web, free of charge, reproductions
of almost 7,000 works form 1950 to the present. In addition
to a database with an advanced search engine that lets
users consult artists’ images and texts about their
works, the Fonds documentaire includes artists’
projects, thematic paths, and visual essays that offer
both the general public and the art community a chance
to better understand image practices in Quebec.
In coming years, we hope that the Fonds documentaire
will contain increasing numbers of the texts that have
marked the history and culture of image practices in Quebec,
and we will invite curators and researchers to create
new thematic paths. The development of VOX’s digital
activities also includes support for the production of
mediatic works with the goal of encouraging experimentation
in new media by contemporary artists.
History
These development plans are based on expertise that VOX
developed with the conception, in 1995, of the Musée
virtuel de la photographie québécoise
(Virtual Museum of Quebec Photography). A prototype of
the database, containing digital reproductions of more
than 500 works by 10 member artists of Atelier VOX, was
published on CD-ROM. In 1998, a second version of the
Musée virtuel de la photographie québécoise
featured digital reproductions of more than 3,000 works
produced by 68 artists from all regions of Quebec. In
February 2002, the Musée virtuel de la photographie
québécoise, providing access to the
work of 76 art photographers, was put on line on the Web.
In addition, two virtual exhibitions produced from the
collections were placed permanently on our Web site. Over
the years, the Musée virtuel de la photographie
québécoise has proved to be an indispensable
tool for Quebec photography in terms of research, knowledge,
and promotion.
© 2005 VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine.
All rights reserved. |
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