As part of a major building expansion project in 2016, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries in Richmond, Virginia installed a two-story media screen on the facade of its main academic library, James Branch Cabell Library. Using the same technology that wraps around the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, a 6,000 square-foot screen that floods the intersection with video advertisements,Footnote ¹ the screen at Cabell raised concerns from library staff who imagined its use as a jumbotron when it was initially proposed. These misgivings gave way to excitement when the architects and library administrators described a very different source of inspiration, the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno. At the time, Madden Library was the only media screen installed on a building façade in a university setting.

The 43-foot high media screen at Madden Library shows a site-specific video installation by artist and architect Susan Narduli.Footnote ² The installation depicts a Native American woman in a vibrant red dress, weaving a basket from start to finish in intentionally slowed motion. The 5,600-hour video runs consecutively, day and night, from the beginning of the academic year to graduation. Narduli Studios describes the work as ‘a piece to be understood over time. The casual passer-by may see only the monumental images. But for those who use the library every day, the video becomes a timekeeper for the campus as the basket progresses from one day to the next.’Footnote ³

Fig. 1.

Susan Narduli, Weaving, 2009, light installation, Henry Madden Library, California State University at Fresno. Image courtesy of GKD-USA, Inc.

While construction was underway on the library extension that would feature the new media screen, library staff began to consider its potential purpose and promise for VCU Libraries. It could provide Cabell Library with a platform to engage the 3,000 students enrolled in VCUarts, the top-ranking public art school in the United States. The same product used at Madden Library, GKD Metal Fabrics' Mediamesh®,Footnote ⁴ a stainless-steel wire mesh interwoven with LED lights, was installed at Cabell Library, but it was not intended for a specific work of art. Instead, the library planned to show rotating programs of visually compelling works related to research, scholarship and art from the university community. The screen overlooks an outdoor area called the Compass – the central pedestrian thoroughfare and gathering place on the VCU campus. With over 31,000 students enrolled at the university, this meant that the screen would be seen by thousands of people each day. The vision was for the screen to spark conversations and serve as a source of community engagement and connection. Its content would capture the vibrancy and intellectual life of the university campus.

While the Libraries’ investment in technology was significant, there was no additional staffing or budget allocated for the screen. A committee was charged with defining the mission, content strategy and quality standards for the screen, as well as planning and delivering programs for its inaugural year. The committee included two art librarians in addition to representative staff from public relations, digital engagement, innovative media, and special collections and archives. Programming was to begin almost immediately, so the committee launched into planning its first exhibit while developing the broader mission and content strategy in process. The screen did not have a name, but the committee members realized that the screen had to be branded in some way in order to be recognized as a platform with a defined purpose. The ‘Big Screen’ and the ‘Vitrine’ failed to catch on, but the ‘Cabell Screen’ was adopted by the university community.

Fig. 2.

Student Showcase, Cabell Screen, James Branch Cabell Library, 2016, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Image courtesy of GKD-USA, Inc.

Fig. 3.

Unmasked, solo exhibition of VCU alumnus Nickolai Walko, Cabell Screen, 2016. Image courtesy of GKD-USA, Inc.

In planning its first programs, the committee began to define the Cabell Screen as an electronic exhibition space: a place to show curated groups of still or moving images shown in meaningful sequences, or site-specific work created specifically for the screen.

While the Cabell Screen uses a specific type of technology, the development of a content strategy, paired with considerations related to scale, site, technology, audience and purpose can apply to a wide range of electronic displays – from monitors to projectors. While the Mediamesh® was a major expense, electronic exhibitions can be created within a range of budgets. The practical advantages of electronic venues versus physical exhibitions include space: a monitor takes up little physical space and does not require cases, lights, cradles and other exhibition materials. Electronic exhibits can also save time and money related to installation and deinstallation. While it is helpful to have a committee that develops electronic exhibitions, the work can also be shared by faculty and students.

To connect with the university community, the committee decided to hold an inaugural electronic exhibition of student works during an opportune time – Family Weekend – when the university invites family to visit students recently enrolled at the university. Prior to the event, the committee created a blog called On the Cabell Screen to provide information, describe current shows, outline technical specifications and solicit ideas and submissions.Footnote ⁵ A call for submissions generated a group of approximately 25 works — a small response, but sufficient to run a sequence of images on the screen for a trial exhibition. To provide context to the group of images, the exhibition opened with a title slide and ended with several minutes on a blank screen before returning to the beginning.

Fig. 4.

On the Cabell Screen, VCU Libraries, accessed July 12, 2019, https://wp.vcu.edu/cabellscreen/.

Since it was clear that running a single exhibition over and over again would become tiresome for viewers, a second show was added to the student showcase. This time, rather than sending a call out for submission, the committee took advantage of a physical exhibit that was already scheduled to take place in the library. The show, A forum of ideas,Footnote ⁶ featured design proposals that undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Interior Design created for the new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) building that was under construction at the time. The show gave VCU Libraries an opportunity to introduce the Cabell Screen to the School of the Arts and the ICA as a vehicle for collaboration.

The committee also ran a solo show featuring the work of Sonya Clark, a faculty member in the Department of Craft and Material Studies. Clark is a textile artist who uses fibres, beading, household materials and human hair to explore concepts of identity and race.Footnote ⁷ At that time, the committee was still experimenting with the way images appear on a screen that was not high resolution, but made up of small LED lights. Not surprisingly, Clark's materials-based work did not render well on a screen, and an image of a textile work that appropriated the Confederate battle flag could not be shown since the context was lost on the pixelated Mediamesh® image. The committee acknowledged the limitations of showing digital surrogates that were not made for the screen and established criteria for both surrogates and original works made for the screen that would best suit the technology.

The committee was asked to feature content outside of the arts, but found it difficult to engage faculty and students in other disciplines. Asking subject librarians in various disciplines to promote the screen resulted in some success. Examples of exhibitions include illustrated models of super atoms created by faculty in the Department of Physics, videos of rotating 3D- scanned skulls submitted by an anthropology professor, and images of zebrafish spinal cord neurons captured with a confocal microscope as part of a master's thesis in neurobiology. The committee members review sets of images through Google Drive, then work collaboratively to select and sequence images for each exhibition. For a group of images to appear as a cohesive and well-paced exhibit, at least 15 to 25 images, displayed for approximately 20 seconds each is necessary.

Fig. 5.

Shiv Khanna and Arthur Reber, images of superatom and atomic cluster models submitted for the Cabell Screen, 2017.

The content strategy for the screen specifies categories of exhibits that best meet library objectives. These categories include exhibitions featuring students, faculty, alumni, library collections and community. Shows featuring library collections have included GIFs of opening pop-up books, ephemera from manuscript collections and illustrations from of comic books and graphic novels. The community shows have included partnerships with local arts organizations, a variety of non-profit groups and other universities. Recently, the screen has been increasingly requested for curricular use. Faculty have used the screen for class critiques and for site-specific projects.

Currently, the Cabell Screen displays two to four exhibitions concurrently for the duration of one month, with staggered opening dates. The sequence of shows run from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with breaks between each exhibit.

Lessons learned and suggested practices

When Cabell Library first installed the screen, the committee could find no known models for programming such a large communication device with rotating art exhibitions. Based on lessons learned, the following points are offered as suggestions for creating a successful electronic exhibition space:

1. 1. Stick to a mission statement and use consistent branding

During the first year of exhibitions, the committee received many requests from student groups and academic departments to use the screen to post information and promote events. Consistency in communicating the purpose, delivering content and promoting the screen as an art space helped the university community understand that the screen is not a jumbotron. When considering a monitor or projection as an alternative, it's important to brand the particular set-up as a distinct entity. Otherwise, viewers will not understand that a blank monitor or screen can function as a virtual exhibition space.

1. 2. Create an outreach plan and solicit supporters

Invite gallery curators, faculty members, student groups and other stakeholders to learn about the electronic exhibition space. In addition to subject liaisons, ask development, public relations, the alumni association and other supports to lend a hand with social media, news, and outreach.

1. 3. Establish workflows for efficiency

The Cabell Screen committee created a Google Form to streamline submissions and requests to use the screen for curricular purposes. The form also includes a section on intellectual property rights so that permissions to share content can be obtained at the beginning of the process.

1. 4. Write a content strategy with clear guidelines and limits

The Cabell Screen's content strategy clearly states that the committee has the right to select and reject work at its discretion. It explains that the committee reviews content for expressions of hate, violence, obscenity, bias or themes discordant with the university's values and errs on the side of openness and inclusion in its curatorial process. The content strategy also states that the screen will not be used for pure messaging, advertising, slogans and political speech, but works of art or collections of material that explore political themes would be considered. For example, the Cabell Screen recently partnered with a local church to show images of work from their Black Lives Matter exhibition.

1. 5. Remember, ‘the medium is the message’Footnote ⁸

It is critical to consider the relationship of the artwork with the medium. Monitors are a low-cost option for electronic exhibitions, but they are so ubiquitous that branding, site, and scale become all the more important. Projected art exhibitions can include challenges related to the surface for the projection, ambient light and shadows, and the physical relationship of the audience to the projection.Footnote ⁹ As mentioned previously, Cabell Mediamesh® displays a low-resolution image. Fine lines, text, texture and other details do not render well. The colour black can also present challenges because the screen shows black with the absence of light. Mediamesh® is also transparent, so the inside of the building becomes visible where the screen is black and affects the overall image.

Fig. 6.

Detail of GKD Mediamesh®. Image courtesy of GKD-USA, Inc.

The Cabell Screen's most successful exhibitions consist of work that was made specifically for the medium. An example is We are slowly approaching solstice every day by former graduate student Joanna Stillwell, a long-run video of a sunrise played on a loop each night from dusk until dawn. Stillwell explains, ‘For the Cabell screen I'm experimenting with showing one sunrise at a time and thinking about how each LED bulb will be responsible for and encapsulate each particular shade of changing light. I also enjoy how the screen articulates darkness as no light and how each bulb will slowly turn on with each sunrise.’Footnote ¹⁰