About 50 Analog Artist Digital World paintings will be part of the expanded One Orlando Collection on display at the Orange County Regional History Center for one week (June 12th – 17th). The paintings document Orlando’s attempts to heal after the Pulse Nightclub attack. Also on display are the original 49 portraits created by local artists in one evening shortly after the tragedy. Curated pieces from the One Orlando Collection will feature items left at memorial sites around the city, collected directly, and images that showcase the wide-ranging support that was received following the tragedy.
The amount of work that goes into a museum exhibition like this is quite staggering. First, the exhibition space needs to be prepped. All the walls need to be patched and painted from previous use, as well as temporary walls installed designed specific to the exhibition. Memorial items, artifacts, art, photographs, and more, are measured individually and images are placed in a scaled Adobe Illustrator file exactly as they will appear on the walls. Everything is planned out, including electrical outlets and fire boxes so that there are no surprises during installation. As an entirely bilingual exhibition, copy (the text of the exhibit) has to first be written in English before being translated into Spanish.
Copy is printed on vinyl, different colors for each language, cut on a vinyl cutter, weeded of negative space, before transfer tape is applied for placement on the wall. Photographs are also printed on vinyl and then mounted on gator board. The 49 portraits are mounted behind plexiglass with the names printed in black vinyl on the front. Layouts for each wall are printed and artifacts, copy, and images are measured, leveled, and adhered to the walls. Individual cases are spread throughout the space and are carefully arranged with a variety of artifacts. Typically the staff has two weeks to install and then to de-install an exhibition. However, due to scheduling, they have one week to install and three days to de-install ‘One Year Later’. The show must come down for a wedding.
The overall theme of the exhibition is to share the shear magnitude of the worldwide love and support after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. If there is one t-shirt, there are 15 on display. One rosary, there are 50. One silicon bracelet, there are 29. The Center has collected thousands of items that reflect this support, but only a fraction can be shown within this space.
The museum will be open and free to the public from 10AM-7PM Monday, June 12, and 10AM-5PM Tuesday – Saturday, June 17th for the exhibition.