Remai Modern’s new exhibit highlights the art of weather

The Remai Modern’s most recent exhibit features something experienced be people in all parts of the world: weather.

“People experience weather wherever they are. That’s not really something you can escape from. And so, that’s sort of the universal experience. We have over 8,000 artworks in our own collection, so it’s really hard to show everything all at once. With our exhibits, especially in our collection gallery, we just want to really focus on what we have,” said Moss Allen, Indigenous program guide at Remai Modern.

Titled “Forecast,” the exhibit features 100 artworks spanning multiple mediums and time periods. Forecast has seen strong interest since its opening. The Collections Galleries have housed popular exhibits in the past, and Allen shared that the newest one has received a warm welcome.

“It actually replaced our previous exhibit ‘Views from the Blue House’ that was up for two years. And so, it sort of had really large shoes to fill, since a lot of people really enjoyed ‘Views from the Blue House,’ but the reception has been wonderful,” Allen said.

Allen added that Forecast is intended to challenge the narrative of weather being “small talk”. They shared that especially during the province’s colder spells, it can be difficult to find the beauty in an April snowstorm.

“Right now, in Saskatoon, we’re sort of fighting with an on and off winter. And there’s a room in Forecast that talks about winter and a relationship with winter and that room is I believe one of the more important rooms,” Allen said.

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Forecast features tropical ecosystems, Saskatchewan snowstorms and everything in between. This diverse collection is intended to make visitors think about the complicated relationships between people, their environment, and the changing climate.

“It’s important to acknowledge the beauty, I think it’s also really important to acknowledge the ugly part as well. It’s just sort of you can’t really cherry pick what you experience of what you don’t experience, but sort of accepting the whole thing as it is. I think that just makes life just more enjoyable. You can look at things and be like, maybe this isn’t like the picture-perfect sort of thing you have in your mind, but it’s life,” Allen said.

Forecast also features a piece of CTV history. One important aspect of weather is the ever-changing way people stay informed about conditions in their area. In Saskatoon, Greg Barnsley played a major role as the first CTV — or CFQC at the time — weather specialist in 1954.

Barnsley used a green and orange felt map of Canada and physically stuck a series of felt numbers to the map to indicate the forecast. As part of the exhibit, visitors are able to try their hand at weather forecasting on a replica of Barnsley’s map.

“There used to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, weather forecasting that people can tune in just to make sure what the weather is. But as time has gone on, people start getting apps. All those weather programs start kind of dwindling. But I think it’s really important to remember the first time it happened,” Allen said.

Forecast brings a new perspective to an experience that dates back further than humans can remember. Allen said the exhibit will be on display for the foreseeable future, which will hopefully give folks the opportunity to experience art that haven’t seen before.

“We have things that have never once been on display, even if they’ve been in our exhibit for years. And so even if you’ve been to Remai before, or even to the Mendel Gallery, there will be artwork here that you have never seen before,” Allen said.