CALGARY.- Through the Looking Glass is a whimsical romp through the world of dreams and altered realities. Curated by Glenbow’s President and CEO Jeff Spalding, this exhibition is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic of the same title. Visitors will find themselves on a similar journey to Alice’s, where time and space playfully invert our understanding of the world.

“We have gathered works from contemporary Canadian artists as well as international ones that invoke reflection, introspection and explore matters of perception,” said Jeff Spalding. “These artists skilfully explore the precarious balance between reality and illusion and playfully invert our understanding of the world.”

Glenbow visitors will see paintings, photography, multimedia installations and film projections all related to this theme. The international artists featured in this show include Joshua Jensen-Nagle, William Kentridge, Will Mentor, Matthew Pillsbury, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Julian Rosefeldt, Corrina Schnitt, Marcel van Eeden and Bill Viola. Internationally acclaimed artist Dennis Oppenheim’s sculpture of an upside-down church titled, Device to Root out Evil, is also part of this exhibition. It’s being displayed outside our four walls, in a small park in the TORODE Group of Companies’ Ramsay Exchange development in southeast Calgary.

Canadian artists represented in Through the Looking Glass include Vikky Alexander, David Altmejd, Mowry Baden, Iain Baxter, Dianne Bos, Victor Cicansky, Luc Courchesne, Chris Cran, Alan Dunning, Christian Eckart, Terrance Houle, Dan Kennedy, Holly King, Marie Lannoo, Mark Lewis, John Noestheden, Evan Penny, Sheila and Nicholas Pye, Max Streicher, Leila Sujir, Katie von der Ohe, Peter von Tiesenhausen, Carol Wainio and Robert Youds.

This exhibit is complemented by the first ever Calgary showing of The Paradise Institute, by celebrated Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Cardiff and Bures Miller focus on the language and experience of cinema in this work that was originally created for the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The Paradise Institute is a simple plywood pavilion. Viewers approach the artwork, mount a set of stairs and then peer over the balcony onto a miniature replica of a grand old movie theatre created with hyper-perspective. Viewers put on headphones and the projection and intrigue begin. The film is a mix of genres: part film noir, part thriller, part sci-fi and part experimental. Cardiff and Bures Miller, with this theatrical installation, continue the artistic tradition of illusionism.

Cardiff and Bures Miller were both born in Canada. For over a decade they lived and worked in Lethbridge, Alberta, south of Calgary. Their combined and solo exhibitions have been celebrated around the world and Glenbow wants Calgarians to share in this excitement.

Both exhibitions run September 26 to November 16, 2008.