RIT “Big Shot” will Expose Memorial Art Gallery, May 1

The lights will go out at the Memorial Art Gallery on the evening of May 1. One of Rochester’s notable landmarks will instead be lit by hundreds of hand held flashlights—capturing the magnificence of the edifice as never before.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s “Big Shot” photo project will take place at the Memorial Art Gallery on Monday, May 1st at 8 p.m. The public is welcome and invited to be part of this “memorial night.”

Faculty from RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences as well the National Technical Institute for the Deaf will lead volunteers in creating a nighttime photograph of the Gallery. Hundreds of volunteers are needed to make this endeavor a success. Participants should arrive by 8 p.m. and meet on MAG’s front lawn near the main entrance. Volunteers should bring a camera flash unit or a flashlight and are asked to wear dark clothing.

Big Shot, often described as a “painting with light” photograph, requires many participants to help illuminate the subject area during an extended exposure. The Memorial Art Gallery will become RIT’s 22^nd Big Shot. This year marks the first time a digital photograph will also be shot.

As an added benefit, MAG Galleries will be open and free to participants from 5-8 p.m. Examples of previous Big Shot photographs also will be on view in the Gallery’s main entrance Pavilion.

The Memorial Art Gallery opened in 1913 and since then has expanded three times. Frank S. Grosso, architect for the 1987 expansion said at the time, “I felt the entrance should be a bit magic, a beautiful room, an architectural statement appropriate to this museum. The image from the outside now is of one building composed of four different elements: the original building; the strong horizontal line of the ’68 wing; then this entry with powerful columns—a kind of portico, really; and finally the transition to Cutler. At night the full impact is reinforced by new lighting—on the original façade, under the trees, a high-intensity spot on the entrance, and the Cutler tower all aglow.”

Past Big Shots have highlighted historical places and landmarks around the world including the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden; the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas; and the World War II aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid, docked in New York Harbor.

For more information about the Big Shot, please call (585) 475-2863.