Exhibition catalogue/publication for "Cyclorama," produced in conjunction with the exhibition, curated by James Campbell and Ryan Doherty, presented at Visual Arts Centre of Clarington Sep 9 - October 14, 2012 and Southern Alberta Art Gallery Dec 7, 2012 - Jan 27, 2013.

**Introduction by Ryan Doherty **

"Cyclorama is the happy outcome of a collaboration between the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG), the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (VAC), and the multi-talented artist, Lyla Rye. Featuring still images, single channel videos, and mixed media installations, Cyclorama looks to the theatrical curtain as a device to conflate illusion and reality, dreaming and wakefulness, audience and participant. Between the “cyclorama,” typically a concave curtain at the rear, and the front curtains framing the scene, the stage becomes a liminal zone between everyday life and the imaginary world of the play."

"This catalogue serves to extend the exhibitions held at SAAG and VAC. It includes a host of beautiful images as well as two thoughtful essays for which we are thankful. The first, by award-winning author Caoimhe Morgan-Feir, surveys the exhibition in its entirety. Her essay deftly brings together Rye’s interests in cinematography, memory, the domestic, and recent video work inspired by Buster Keaton’s silent films, a practice uniquely situated between the theatrical vaudeville tradition, the beginning of cinematic conventions, and the spectacle and technical magic of moving pictures. The second, by VAC Director, James Campbell, examines Rye’s work Memory Palace—a series of “pop-up” tarpaulin rooms that draw upon notions of spatial memory and the transitory nature of stage sets. Campbell moves us through Rye’s vividly familiar architectural composition, revealing the complexities of its installation and emphasizing how the spaces trigger our recollection. Both essays reveal Rye’s art as a timely investigation, urging us to consider our physical relationship to film and movement through constructed space, whether architectural or imaginary."