when art pisses you off

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to sit in on, participate in and document a training session for the MCA's Artist Guides (AGs), the corps of practicing studio artists who lead conversation-based tours for school groups throughout the academic year. The training was fantastic, in that I got to meet most of the AGs and hear them talk about their art, how leading school tours fits into it, and their unique role within the greater institution.

During the latter half of the morning session, Marissa Reyes, Associate Director of Education, School and Teacher Programs, rolled out the MCA's freshly crafted vision statement, which serves as a complement to the museum's mission statement by stating not what the MCA is but what it aspires to be. AGs, staff, and myself then broke up into small groups to parse out particularly complicated sections of the statement, and came back together as a large group to share insights and come to a collective understanding of the vision's meaning through the lens of the AGs' work with students.

Part of the vision statement refers the MCA as an "audience-engaged platform for producing art, ideas, community, and conversation around the creative process." A common question among AGs was: How do we make our students self-confident enough to become truly engaged? One AG, Alex, noted that when you come into a museum, you're essentially a human being, flesh and bones, in a building, looking at stuff. How can we help others make something more from that "stuff," when it also means taking the risk of making mistakes? Rachel Harper suggested that in order to do that, we need to set up boundaries to keep the space safe and allow students to push up against those boundaries. Marissa suggested building empathy toward one's students by using oneself as a starting point.

Something else that came up was the necessity of encouraging kids to share their negative reactions toward pieces of art. The guides talked about their experience with a Richard Serra sculpture in an exhibit a few years ago, and how students hated it when they first saw it, but how after engaging with it, many of them changed their minds. The group agreed that certain works of art are valuable within tours for their ability to turn kids off, and that those works serve as great icebreakers.

Today, I was talking with another AG about the Minimalism show that's going up on Saturday, which will be the site of the bulk of fall school tours. She expressed her excitement for it, and her particular interest in leading high school students through it. "Because they'll understand the conceptual part of it better?" I asked. "Because it's going to piss them off," she replied.

People talk about art as a thing of beauty, of cultural and significance, as an emotional force or a historical object, but I like art best when it pisses people off. Because what makes them angry, makes them talk, and when people talk -- especially passionately -- they learn.

we love museums... do museums love us back?

um. this is adorable. also, it says in less than 5 minutes what i am still not sure if i said in 18 pages of intro/lit review.

deck of arts 4/21/11

your lit reviews will be done by wednesday, your panel presentations by thursday... so there's no reason you shouldn't come to this awesome event in the museum next thursday (the 21st) at 5:00! i co-designed the content and format with the rest of the lovely smc members, and it is (hopefully!) going to be something straight out of a nina simon blog post. you won't be disappointed!

having fun at the mca

 

one of a two-part series in which paulina and i posed in front of the 12x12.

oh là là: a new french history museum?

i was skimming the times website the other day and i found this article about a new museum that french president nicolas sarkozy is planning to open. first, a bit of history:

about french presidents

they like to memorialize their presidencies by having national monuments built (and named after themselves) while in office. this sounds like i am generalizing/stereotyping, but it's just their way.

georges pompidou has the centre pompidou, an incredibly cool modern and contemporary art museum:

françois mitterrand has the national library:

and jacques chirac has the quai branly, a controversial museum of indigenous art from africa, asia, oceania, and the americas:

about sarkozy

the 9 months that i lived in france fell within the first year and a half of sarkozy's election, and were peppered with student, government worker, and transportation strikes, in response to reforms he tried to implement and as a result of general disgust with his person. in a way, sarkozy is much more american than french -- always pushing for productivity, unafraid of privatization, and unapologetic about his own blinged-out lifestyle. from what i saw and heard, the french population over 35 seems pretty split about how good he is for france, but the french youth? they hate him with a passion.

about the new museum

one reason why sarkozy is so unpopular among french youth is that he is anti-immigration and, well, downright racist (this is ironic, as one of his parents was a polish immigrant). which bring us to his proposed legacy: a museum of french history. while in theory there is nothing wrong with this, rest assured that sarkozy's take on french history will glorify all the usual suspects (ahem, napoleon), and gloss right over the travesties bestowed by france on places like algeria. the problem with history is that it's always told by the victors. this museum would be just one more slap in the face from a narcissistic power monger to the neglected and abused, though culture-rich, immigrant populations in france. normally, i'm all for new museums, but imagining walking through this one makes me feel nothing short of disgust.

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