{"id":37223569001,"date":"2023-05-16T10:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcmichael1.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=37223569001"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T19:25:49","slug":"photographer-edward-burtynsky-brings-in-high-tech-scanner-to-help-digitise-inuit-art","status":"publish","type":"media-article","link":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/article-media\/photographer-edward-burtynsky-brings-in-high-tech-scanner-to-help-digitise-inuit-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Edward Burtynsky brings in high-tech scanner to help digitise Inuit art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photographer Edward Burtynsky brings in high-tech scanner to help digitise Inuit art<\/h1>\n

The Art Newspaper<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

By: Larry Humber<\/span><\/p>\n

May 16, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

Original URL: Photographer Edward Burtynsky brings in high-tech scanner to help digitise Inuit art (theartnewspaper.com)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Workers in Burtynsky\u2019s Toronto studio use the customised scanning system known as ARKIV360 to process Inuit drawings at a rate of as many as 900 works in a day. The scanned images are being made available online for free Photo \u00a9 Alanna Joanne Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>

A trove of Inuit art\u2014some 89,000 drawings in all\u2014was created in Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) near the southern tip of Baffin Island between 1950 and 1980, providing a way for the community in Canada\u2019s remote Nunavut territory to generate income. But very few of those works have seen the light of day through the issuing of limited-edition prints, with the Toronto market very much in mind.<\/p>\n

After a devastating fire destroyed a similar archive in a nearby Arctic community, the Ontario-based McMichael Canadian Art Collection offered to house the Cape Dorset drawings in 1990 in trust for the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, giving them a secure home. \u201cInuit art was always folded into our national identity,\u201d says Sarah Milroy, the McMichael\u2019s chief curator, making the acquisition an obvious move.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, since then the collection has only been accessible for viewing in person at the McMichael, which is based in Kleinburg, a village north of Toronto. That necessitated handling the work, too, raising conservation issues. So, for the most part, the art lingered in what Edward Burtynsky, famed Canadian photographer who would enter the picture in 2019, calls \u201chigh-priced, temperature-controlled vaults\u201d. The drawings, he adds, \u201chad a nice, deep sleep, 30-plus years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Digitisation is rousing the works from their slumber, allowing free and full access to the McMichael\u2019s collection of Inuit drawings, thanks in large part to Burtynsky and his bespoke ARKIV360 scanner\u2014which he calls \u201cmy baby\u201d. \u201cDuring Covid, the outcry became really loud,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were way back in terms of digitisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burtynsky realised there was a need for such a machine from his dealings with Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), which has an even larger collection, yet to be digitised. \u201cWe were the guinea pig,\u201d Milroy says.<\/p>\n

High performance, low price<\/strong><\/p>\n

The complex machine, originally conceived in collaboration with Adam Lowe and conservation firm Factum Arte and subsequently tweaked and improved by Burtynsky and his team, is capable of quickly scanning two-dimensional works at very high resolutions. It was initially housed at the McMichael and is now installed at Burtynsky\u2019s downtown Toronto studio, where a staff of three works on it full-time. Whereas previous devices made it possible to digitise some 100 drawings per day, Burtynsky\u2019s proprietary machine and software can scan up to 900 works in a day while significantly cutting costs. \u201cIt works out to a couple bucks each, as opposed to $40 before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have taken half a lifetime without Ed\u2019s machine\u201d to scan the McMichael\u2019s collection, Milroy says. \u201cBy October, we\u2019ll have the whole kit and caboodle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Works that have already been scanned are publicly available on the website Iningat Ilagiit, whose name means \u201ca place for family\u201d in Inuktitut. The site is available in English, French and Inuktitut; it includes a low-bandwidth option for users in remote regions with slower connections. In the final phase, an Inuit scholar will be enlisted to study the archive and curate a major exhibition at the McMichael scheduled for the spring of 2025.<\/p>\n

As Jennifer Withrow, the head of exhibitions and publications at the McMichael, sees it, \u201cThis is a transformational moment, both in the art world\u2014the origin oracle of Cape Dorset artmaking, accessible to all at last\u2014and in the museum sector, a cost-effective way to digitise an enormous archive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Media wishing to request an interview with exhibition artists, curators, or to obtain high-resolution images of the artworks are asked to contact Sam Cheung at\u00a0<\/span>scheung@mcmichael.com<\/a> or 905.893.1121 ext. 2210.<\/span>
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Ces informations sont aussi disponible en fran\u00e7ais.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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ABOUT THE MCMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, and the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. It is the only major museum in the country\u00a0devoted exclusively to Canadian art. In addition to touring exhibitions, the McMichael houses a permanent collection of more than 6,500 works by historic and\u00a0contemporary\u00a0Canadian artists, including Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, Indigenous artists and artists from many diasporic communities in Canada. The Gallery is located on 100 acres of\u00a0forested\u00a0land and hiking trails at 10365 Islington Avenue,\u00a0Kleinburg,\u00a0north\u00a0of Major Mackenzie Drive in the City of Vaughan. For more information, please visit mcmichael.com.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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MEDIA CONTACTS<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>

Sam Cheung<\/strong><\/span>
\nMedia Relations and Communications Coordinator<\/em><\/span>
\nMcMichael Canadian Art Collection<\/span>
\n905.893.1121 ext. 2210<\/span>
\nscheung@mcmichael.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Grace Johnstone<\/strong><\/span>
\nDirector, Communications, Marketing and Sales<\/span>
\nMcMichael Canadian Art Collection<\/span>
\n905-893-1121 x2265<\/span>
\ngjohnstone@mcmichael.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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