Please look at the project description below. Here is what you will need:
1) Your Theme
2) Your chosen location for your museum
3) 8 of your artists are required to be included for the project.
U.S. Museum Project:
You have just been asked to curate an art exhibit by a museum. The type of museum is completely your choice. In can be a “brick and mortar” type of place like the De Young or the Tate Modern in London or another “smaller” museum. It could be an installation in a different sort of public space like an exhibit area in the Downtown Main Library in SF. It can be an outdoor exhibit – they have certainly done that on numerous occasions in New York in Central Park! So, the “space” you choose for your exhibit is completely up to you. But you do need to start your project by describing the space you have chosen.
Now that you have chosen your space, please include 8 artists (or if there is an art DUO or GROUP – they count as ONE – for example Britain’s Gilbert and George ) in your exhibit. The theme is U.S. LGBTQI2+ artists. Since this is the domestically focused class, it would be best if the majority of your artists are from the U.S. – but certainly inclusive of the rest of the Americas. Don’t forget that the ex-patriots also count. It is okay to include a global artist or two if you would like – but you do not have to. You choose the artists, the themes, etc. It has to be LGBTQI2+ focused.
Remember that you also want to be really clear on your definitions about “art” and artists; you also want to be clear about your theme. A theme should be broad enough that you can work within it but not so broad that there is no unifying theme. You can include visual arts, music, writing, etc. If you love being more “high tech” and want to send a virtual museum tour that you come up with, that is fine. But something “flatter” like a word doc or pdf is fine. As you construct your project, remember that you are going to “walk your visitors through” with your writing and that you will also have about 1-2 paragraphs on each of the artists – remember to cite your sources. This includes their bios and also why you have chosen them – why they fit into your theme. And of course, include images, links to videos, and quotes from writings.You really can describe in words what your exhibition space looks like and the order in which your audience will see the artist.
A note about art exhibits and themes
A theme is really important when you are putting together a museum exhibit. Some of the best museum exhibits I have been to have had very specific themes. Here are some examples of amazing museum exhibits I have had the good fortune to go to:
Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (also known as CARA) at the Denver Art Museum in 1991. This was an entire floor of the museum and amazing exhibit covering the art of the United Farmworker’s Movement, Radical Chicana Queer Women and Art, and other pieces of art to show the history and empowerment of Chicanx people.
Sunken Cities at the British Museum (this was focused on two Ancient Egyptian cities that sank a few thousand years ago, but now the remains of those cities have been brought up from the bottom of the Nile and been exhibited in a gorgeously curated space).
Against Nature: Japanese Art in the 1980’s at the SF MOMA. This was an amazing exhibit that focused on the ways Japanese art changed radically after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I Dream A World in Denver, Colorado. This exhibit focused on Black women who have changed the world. Brian Lanker’s amazing black and white photos were stunning in this very simple but very beautiful exhibit.
