Like it or not, contemporary art in new media is coming to the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) on Friday when a new exhibition entitled `Art: New Genre, New Directions' paves the way to paths hitherto untaken at the City Hall facility.

"We're not just bringing the gallery up to date, but pushing the envelope by showing a lot of kinds of art which haven't been seen in Bermuda," director Mrs. Laura Gorham says.

The concept is a "first" according to BNG acting curator David Mitchell, who is also curating this exhibition. "It is inspired by the Bermuda Festival production of Yasmina Reza's play, `Art' which questions `What is art?' We are exploring contemporary art in new media - video and installations, as well as paintings, none of which are considered `traditional'. It is beyond contemporary. The artists are exploring new media and new ways to represent reality as they see it. Some of it is conceptual art, which means the idea is really more important than the finished product."

So does that mean monotone and/or torn canvases, dripping sand, dead objets, human hair and such like?

The answer is: "Probably."

Mr. Mitchell is giving little detail away at this stage because the gallery wants public curiosity to be sufficiently piqued to stream through its doors, perhaps for the first time, and be challenged. He does, however, give a clue in citing Dr. Charles Zuill's work.

"This artist describes his work as `real landscapes' because he uses earth, soil and sands, whereas we would consider them abstracts. They are not landscapes in the traditional sense," Mr. Mitchell says.

Successful Spanish artist and teacher Angela de la Cruz, who is also participating in `Art: New Genre, New Direction', likes to create art, deconstruct it, and exhibit the results as art.

Other artists participating in the exhibition include: Manuel Palacio, Glen Wilks, Louise Flannery, William Collieson, James Cooper, Helen White, Niall Woolf, Dan Dempster, Gabriella Brunner, Bill Viola, Polly Binns and Nancy Greaves.

As curator, Mr. Mitchell says he was faced with several challenges: extensive research, and finding artists who were working in new media, which in turn led to some interesting developments. One was the discovery of alternative works by otherwise `traditional' Bermuda artists, the inclusion of which will surprise viewers.

"One is a piece by Will Collieson which is very different from his usual work. He is very excited about it because it is a completely new direction for him," he says. "Another is by Glen Wilks which is also very different. It is about desire and acceptability."

The show's curator also draws a link with the concurrent Masterworks exhibition of paintings from its Bermudiana Collection, which features works by New York artists who painted here.

"Those paintings and artists in their day were very controversial and contemporary, and not accepted by the general public, but as time went on those art forms became part of mainstream thought and acceptability," Mr. Mitchell says. "When you think of the 19th Century Impressionists, they caused a huge stir and people questioned them, yet today (their art) is the most popular art in the world. This show will be the same way. It will cause a stir because people are not familiar with the media. They will even question whether it is art."

A future spin-off from the `Art: New Genre, New Directions' exhibition is an outdoor installation at City Hall involving public participation.

Whatever reaction the BNG exhibition evokes, at least no-one will be able to say: "I can't believe I paid to see it" because, for the first time, the normal $3 admission fee has been swept away for the duration of this, the Gallery's tenth anniversary year, thanks to the generosity of three benefactors: founding trustee Dennis Sherwin, BNG chairman David L.White, OBE, and the Leperq Foundation.

With that good news comes some bad: the in-house gift shop is closing in its present form, although selected items, such as BNG logo bags and exhibition-related postcards, will be sold at the reception desk.

"We took a hard look at the gift shop during our strategic planning processes, and did not have the turnover to cover costs. We are a charity, and as such should not be taking on the overheads. It is sad, but the accounting tells the tale," Mrs.Gorham says of the closure.

Meanwhile, further innovative plans for the Gallery's anniversary celebrations include a gala fund-raiser in June, an international guest lecture series, a music series, various educational programmes, and a History of Art video series by Sir Kenneth Clark.

The former shop space will be used in connection with the gallery's expanding education programmes, which are to include an after-school programme and the addition of adult classes to the summer art camp programme.

The gallery also plans to continue telling the story of the fine arts in Bermuda, which it began with the `Made in Bermuda pre-20th Century' exhibition, through specific exhibitions, as well as featured items from its permanent collection.

Once the two new exhibitions, which open on Friday, are up and running, the permanent collection display in the Watlington Room is to be re-arranged.

`In a New York Frame of Mind,' featuring selections from the Masterworks Bermudiana Collection and including works by Georgia O'Keefe, Marsden Hartley, Albert Gleizes and Charles Demuth, also has its official opening on February 8. Both exhibitions, which are co-sponsored by the ACE group of companies and XL Capital Ltd., will run until April 13. For further information ( 295-9428.