Inspired by the co-current exhibition Connected Histories: The Telegraph in Nigeria, these works are drawn from the McMaster Museum of Art’s permanent collection and explore how people connect across landscaopes, cities, and intimate spaces. From telegraph wires to roads, trains, and digital signals, communication networks shape movement, labour, and daily life.

Some artists show visible infrastructure – rails, pylons, harbours – while others focus on quieter coments of human connection. Together, they reveal how technology is not distant or abstract, but embedded in ordinary places and actions.

Like the telegraph systems that transformed societies, these works remind us that communication is both material and human – linking people, places, and histories across time.

An added component to this project is a research partnership with Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL) and McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind (LIVELab).

Using eye tracking glasses, researchers will examine the effect of the text on visitors to the museum regarding the aesthetic perception of artwork as well as their enjoyment and learning from the exhibition.

Lead Investigators:
Lauren Fink, PhD
Victor Kuperman, PhD

Research Lead:
Brianna Griska-Macphee, M.Sc. Candidate

 

 

Image Credit
Ed Pien
Wasteland, 2008-2012
Ink on 3M reflective laminate mounted to Shoji paper and ink on Shoji paper
Overall: 137.2-182.9 cm (54-72 in.)
Museum of Art Collection Trust (Courtesy of Birch Contemporary)