Pretty much all major galleries and museums offer some form of independent audio tour nowadays, but this isn't really a realistic option for smaller spaces. Despite this, I tend to think independent art galleries have something even better: an interactive audio tour. To put this less coldly, I mean that they have human beings happy to chat about a given exhibit or art in general. That's why even though I could be accused of being a touch shy, I always make a point of engaging with the staff at the galleries I visit, whether I plan on writing about them or not.

A success story in this capacity was my recent visit to Georgia Scherman Projects. Having had my eye on profiling this space just south of Queen West for a while, the primary intention of my visit was to learn about the history and mandate of the gallery. But as part of the process of doing that, Elena Soboleva, an assistant at the gallery, gave me a great tour of the Hank Willis Thomas exhibit that was on at the time. As we strolled through the gallery discussing each piece, I was reminded why such interactive experiences are really the prime stuff of gallery-going.

See my profile of the Georgia Scherman Projects in the gallery section.