Does anyone ever read the information sheets in galleries? I usually don't, preferring instead to look with no preconceptions. I broke that rule the other night at the opening of the exhibition Border Zones: New Art across Cultures, in the Museum of Anthropology’s Audain Gallery. Good decision.

Karen Duffek, curator for the exhibit, utilized the information sheets to ask each artist what question they wanted to pose to the viewers of their pieces. The questions asked by the artists were as varied and open-ended as their own interpretations on the broad theme of “borders.”

Most often the challenge set by the artist was intended to move the viewer beyond the beauty or perceived chaos of their piece. There was certainly the intention of moving the viewer from the obvious first impression or the surface value of the work. Look deeper, look with your mind and heart, was the most frequent enjoinder. I found following the thread of questions brought cohesion and linkage to an exhibit that could have otherwise been difficult to access.

This is not a relaxing exhibit. From the aural assault of roaring crane jaws heaving metal in Tania Mouraud’s Face to Face installation to the visual summons of hundreds of identical “postboxes,” this is no smooth ride. Instead, rather like a bumper car you bang up against images, sounds and materials. And somehow there is pleasure in that agitation. It is satisfying to conceptually engage on many levels.

Understanding comes in gradual layers as you move through the exhibit. Each piece says what it wants and needs to say about borders or lack of them or confluence of them. So it is fair to say that there is a clear and accessible continuity of ideas here. What wasn’t so clear beyond the practical need to isolate Mouraud’s installation was the placement of the pieces. Why this there?

There were audible sighs from many as they encountered Gu Xiong’s Becoming Rivers ethereal, transparent, lightly floating, plastic boats. Designed as it was to draw us in and on, it was certainly the most successful setting of a piece. The absence of easily understandable borders between the pieces may indeed have been a studied approach—another way of asking, what needs to be separated and why?

Some of the works, such as John Wynne’s Anspayaxw sound installation of photography panels with hidden speakers, create their own rectangular space. Crisp, clear photos showing men and women in their home settings telling stories or singing in their native tongue, or the sweet sound of wind whistling, created a deeply humanistic display that had the immediacy of impact that some of the other displays in the gallery lacked. The question of borders, in this case language and its ability to create or negate them, was apparent and accessible.

The Audain Gallery itself within a traditional museum of anthropology asks the same question about borders in another, larger context. Do there need to be boundaries between and among cultural and artistic artifacts?

As an attempt to raise these larger issues of borders in language, thought, race and culture this is a successful exhibit. It is an exhibit that deserves a second look. The next time I can pose my own questions.

Pauline A. Johansen is a recently retired elementary school principal with a passion for writing. With her new-found freedom she can now attend gallery exhibits on Tuesday nights. She is a UBC alumnus and often takes advantage of offerings through UBC, including their book club.

Still from Face to Face by Tania Mouraud