October 8, 2009
Call-and-response theme behind the Henry’s new, yearlong exhibit ‘Vortexhibition Polyphonica’
Sara Krajewski, associate curator, is the first to give voice in the Henry Art Gallery’s new show, Vortexhibition Polyphonica, but other curatorial voices — including your own, if you like — will follow, prompting the exhibit to transform.
That’s because Vortexhibition Polyphonica is based on a sort of call-and-response theme. Krajewski chose and arranged the 100-some works from the Henry’s 23,000-strong permanent collections that comprise the first of the exhibit’s three phases or movements.
Then, next quarter, Elizabeth Brown, the Henry’s chief curator and director of exhibitions and collections, will respond with her own selections for the exhibit’s second phase. Come spring, the Polyphonica will be blended with the annual Masters of Fine Art show — yet a third voice in the curatorial chorus.
“The exhibition was developed out of brainstorming sessions by the curatorial team on, how do we make connections between all the various subcollections we have?” Krajewski told those gathered for a press preview Friday.
The Henry is known, she noted, for its contemporary works, its founding collection of 19th century French and American paintings donated by Horace Henry, its costumes and textiles and its Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection.
“So we have all these different holdings and as a contemporary art museum that values art and ideas of our time, how do we engage with the collection in a way that complements our mission? … I proposed the structure where we utilize specific works of art as hubs that we can build constellations of works around,” Krajewski continued. Each of the hubs suggested to her a theme that is expressed by one or two words.
E.V. Day’s sculpture Cherry Bomb Vortex, which explodes upward like a ballistic party dress, is one hub. “This work just suggested so many things to me — it immediately made connections to the Henry’s costume and textile collection, and made a connection to issues around identity and self-preservation and also a sense of shape-shifting, in both a positive and a negative way. A kind of liberation and a kind of deterioration or destruction.”
To Krajewski, it suggested the word transform — a choice that guided her selection of other items in that area.
Paul Kos’s cuckoo clock-like sculpture Not If But When suggested the word suspend to Krajewski — the piece, crafted in the 1990s, commented on the crumbling Soviet state with hammers and sickles hanging from the clockworks.
“It suggested a whole range of ideas to me,” she said. “There was a political transformation at the time, an unraveling, and to me it suggested the suspension of ideologies.”
That led her to consider other suspensions — of subject matter, of belief, “even the scientific notion of specimens suspended in a solution.” The piece doesn’t really keep time but it does give forth a spirited “cuckoo!” every so often.
The brightly colorful poster art of Allen Ruppersberg — reminiscent of rock shows and county fairs but posing existential questions such as “Why do we fail” and “Is One Thing Better Than Another?” — is the exhibition’s third hub, around which other pieces are arranged. Krajewski said it got her thinking about personal and political messages, morality tales, allegory and narrative. The pieces in this area all make statements, she said, with words or multi-layered images.
Vortexhibition Polyphonica — by nature and name a work of several voices — will remain up for more than a year. Krajewski said, “That’s a pretty new thing for the Henry to commit its main exhibition space solely to collection objects for this length of time.”
But the exhibition will change — perhaps dramatically, perhaps only subtly — in keeping with the musical call-and-response theme.
One important voice in this process is that of the viewer. Those visiting the exhibit will be invited to leave their comments at handy computer kiosks. The University community has a particular invitation here to stop by and engage with elements of the Henry’s permanent collection — and your comments might suggest changes to come in the exhibit lineup.
“We’re hoping this will develop in different ways and inspire subsequent ‘movements,'” said Betsey Brock, Henry communications director. “It seems to me like a completely different and pretty exciting way of working with our permanent collection.”
Stop by the Henry and attend to the varied voices of Vortexhibition Polyphonica. What will be your response?
