The Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Will Reopen September 26

The Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity will reopen to the public on Saturday, September 26 with the extension of Governor General Award-winning media artist Rita McKeough's exhibition darkness is as deep as the darkness is.

Visiting the gallery will be by appointment, offering a uniquely intimate opportunity to experience the exhibition together with a limited number of visitors. Appointments can be made online at www.banffcentre.ca/wpg beginning on September 23.

"Finding ways to healthfully and viably reopen spaces on our campus that support artists and leaders, culture, and our community remains our priority during this period," said Janice Price, President and CEO for Banff Centre. "We are thrilled to be taking this first step towards having our beautiful campus facilities open to staff and guests."

Banff Centre is taking increased measures to ensure the safety of both our guests and staff in reopening the gallery during COVID-19. This includes hosting a limited number of visitors based on the physical space available within the exhibition, applying social distancing protocols, increased cleaning of the space, providing hand sanitizing stations, and implementing the Town of Banff bylaw requiring people to wear face masks in all public indoor spaces. For more information, please visit www.banffcentre.ca/wpg.

The Walter Phillips Gallery will be among the first art galleries on a post-secondary institution campus to reopen since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the exhibit:

"Rita McKeough has an almost 40 year history with Banff Centre, first exhibiting at the Walter Phillips Gallery as part of Installations in 1983. This early work described a world where humans - having depleated the planet's resources - resurrect ruins of demolished houses buried underground as the building materials for the future," recalled Brandy Dahrouge, Director of Visual Arts for Banff Centre.

Nationally recognized for her complex installation-based works integrating electronic media, sound and performance, McKeough's darkness is as deep as the darkness is invites viewers into an imagined subterranean environment just below the ground's surface. A space where darkness connotes a richness of lived entanglements between beings above and below the soil, the exhibition also references contested sites of urban development and resource extraction that penetrate into the burrows, roots and remains of animals and plants.

"darkenss is as deep as the darkness is speaks to our collective impact on the deepest layers of the earth - the encroachment of the built environment and the effects of resource extraction on plants and animals above and below. Rita McKeough's work is imperative to consider at this nexus of global uncertainly and environmental change. We are thrilled to share this exhibition, which closed shortly after opening in February," said Dahrouge.

About Banff Centre's plans for further reopening of campus:

"Banff Centre is at the intersection of a number of different regulatory constraints governing its many activities, including as a post-secondary institution, gallery, theatre and performance venue, fitness centre, hotel, restaurant, and a conference and hospitality centre," said Michael Code, Vice President of Operations. "We are working thoughtfully and deliberately to ensure that our facilities are reopened following health guidelines, protocols and regulations set out by Alberta Health Services, the Ministry of Advanced Education, and all other federal, provincial and municipal regimes, and in a way that preserves the long-term viability of the institution."

Banff Centre is currently working on plans to reopen additional campus buildings to serve the Bow Valley community, support artists and leaders pursuing on-campus programming, along with hosting conference and hospitality clients. Banff Centre is currently offering programs and events online. Further announcements will be made as plans are finalized.

"We share a deep belief that Banff Centre has an unparalleled opportunity to live into its full potential as an arts and leadership educational institute with a mixed revenue model, which centres itself around the diverse artists and leaders who participate in Banff Centre programs," said Janice Price. "We are working very hard towards the restart and relaunch of this nationally and globally recognized institution so it can serve its educational and social purpose long into the future."

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