CALLING IT ART: PHOTOGRAPHY AND MARCEL DUCHAMP

Beyond Tradition | Erika Serodio

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It is hard to bring up Marcel Duchamp in conversation without eliciting a series of groans from a crowd of MMSt friends. I recently made this mistake at a bar after attending the You Are Here gallery opening with some colleagues.

Dust Breeding at the RIC | Photograph courtesy of Erika Serodio

“You all need to see the exhibition on right now at the Ryerson Image Centre,” I told them. “It’s about dust and photography… And it’s all built around this one photograph of dust by Marcel Duchamp.”

I am met with a few polite nods.
“Oh yes, I’ll check it out.”
“Sounds abstract.”
And finally,
“it’s just that I really hate Marcel Duchamp.”

Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp | Source

My knowledge of art history is rudimentary; I was first introduced to Marcel Duchamp in Abbi Jacobson’s highly relatable podcast, A Piece of Work.  Jacobson brings up Duchamp at the start of her first episode, where she explains that his sculpture titled Bicycle Wheel, is one of the starting places for modern art. Bicycle Wheel is an example of art made with common, everyday objects which the artist has selected and designated as art – an artistic movement or style called “Readymades.” People get skeptical when they walk into New York’s MoMA, and come across a bicycle wheel amidst the abundance of masters that adorn the museum’s walls. How can this be art?

Throughout my first year in the Museum Studies program, I have wrestled with the question of what a museum can and should be. There is an inherent institutional rigidity to museums that deters some people from ever entering, regardless of what’s on view inside. I think of how exhibitions or art pieces in alternative spaces might reach people who do not feel like “art” is for them. Coming back to Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel at this point in the semester felt necessary. Jacobson explains in her podcast how Duchamp was trying to make a point about the way that art has been historically viewed as rare and elite. The inclusion of his readymade bicycle wheel in a gallery defied that idea, and instead claimed that anything could be art, and anyone could be an artist. For Duchamp, the ideas behind the art were more important than the physical realization of that art.

128 Photographs of a Painting by Gerhard Richter | Photograph courtesy of Erika Serodio

This idea is especially relevant when thinking about photography as art today. The impressive quality of the cameras embedded in our everyday cellphones has made it so that photographs are ubiquitous and everyone can be a photographer. How then, does an exhibition space that focuses on photography maintain its prestige? The answer might be that it doesn't. The photographs in the Ryerson Image Centre's current exhibition, A Handful of Dust, "highlight quotidian details of life." Everyday elements take on new meaning with the accumulation of and deterioration by tiny, unimportant specks of dust. This exhibition feels like something that anyone could be a part of and there is something undeniably beautiful about that idea. 

A Handful of Dust: From the Cosmic to the Domestic runs from January 22nd to April 5, 2020, and is free to attend.

ICYMI: UPDATING THE GLASS CASE

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand 

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I have been writing Breaking the Glass Case for over a year now, and in this role I’ve written 15 articles, or at least this will be lucky number 15. Most of my articles tend to rely on current events and I thought I would take a moment and look back on a few articles I have written in the past year, provide some updates, and fill you, dear readers, in on some behind the scenes commentary on why I chose to write these articles.

In April and May of 2019, I released a two-part article on the importance, materiality, and future of the Buffalo titled “Buffing up on Buffalo,” and “Bringing Back the Buffalo.” These articles were originally based off a material heritage portfolio for Professor Cara Kmpotich's MSL 2360: Museums and Indigenous Communities, Changing Relationships Changing Practises. Being from the Prairies, it was important for me to integrate my home into the project. At one time, the Prairies were home to millions of buffalo and the Prairie Peoples relied greatly on these animals, but through disease, drought, and over hunting the buffalo population rapidly declined to near extinction. Recently, communities and government have come together to restore these numbers. I discuss a few enumerations attempts in the original articles, but there has been many others this year alone! On January 7, 2020 Zagime Anishinabek First Nation were gifted 22 bison from Peepeekisis Cree Nation. On January 17, 2020, six calves from Grassland National Park in southern Saskatchewan were unveiled in Wanuskewin. Overtime, this heard is expected to about 50 animals.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Wright. 

In March 2019, I wrote an article entitled “ We Need to Talk, or Not: Language in Museums as a Form of Control.” In, what could be considered my favourite article I have written (thus far), I discuss the International Year of Indigenous Language and its importance. Since then, there have been numerous projects and programs that share this spirit.  Dawnis Kennedy and Anna Parenteau created an Ojibway book and board game called “Boogidi,”which translates to fart, and is potentially one of my favourite instances of language sharing! The pair have been working on the book for three years and the card game for two years. Kennedy and Parenteau, say that the book and card game will teach learners of any skill to think quickly in the language and conjugate verbs.

On CBC North, Betsy Longchamp and Mary Shem have launched the first podcast that uses  Woodland Cree, called Wiih'teh. The pair, discuss  how the Woodland Cree language has evolved,  use Woodland Cree words to discuss the weather, seasons, and other stories, and hope the podcast will encourage children and other young people to learn and speak Cree. you can listen to episode 1: Weather here and episode 2: Names here!

This past summer at Poundmaker Cree Nation (SK), Lanny Real Bird taught a multi-day language camp focusing on Plains Sign Language (PSL). PSL is a historical means of communicating between groups who did not speak the same oral language, and it is still used today. The goal of the gathering ways to teach and preserve this important language tool.

"Sun" in Prairie Sign Language. Source. 

In July 2019, I wrote an article entitled “An Argument for Something Else”: Corrective Art History Right Now." In the article, I discussed Corrective Art History, both what it is and why it is important. This year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art exercised Corrective Art history by installing two of Kent Monkman’s painting, Welcoming the Newcomers and Resurgence of the People. These pieces display a broader perspective of history and culture, challenges art history’s colonial narratives, and provokes the audience to acknowledging the shared history.

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About last night: it was brilliantly fun #repinOCADU last night at the opening of Kent Monkman's @kentmonkman new installation “mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People),” now on view in The Great Hall of the @metmuseum. Thanks @ocaduniversity for the opportunity. Miss Chief Eagle Testickle represented with their wonderful creation story and told the diverse audience of over 600 people of the Indigenous fight for sovereignty from Colonization and gender discrimination. The Silver Cloud drummers and singers' invocation was moving. I am so honored that I got to be there for this historical occasion. If the Met can recognize that they are on Indigenous lands (Lenape and many others). Thank you @jimsearle for guiding me through the evening including the afterparty. I met so many new amazing people and experienced the power of @hoaxcouture design as everyone was in love with my gharara pants. #MetKentMonkman #MetGreatHall

A post shared by Dori Tunstall (@deandori_ocadu) on Dec 20, 2019 at 4:45am PST

In November 2019, I wrote an article entitled, "Who Cares: Caring for Spiritual Elements of Objects in Museum Collections." This article had been rolling in my head for nearly a year before I actually sat down to write it. In this article I discussed the action taken by museum professionals to care for not only the physical, but the spiritual elements of objects in collections. This year, at the Yale Art Gallery a show called "Place, Nations, Generations, Beings," is taking place until June 20, 2020. The show displays two centuries worth of First Nation artwork, but even before the artwork was installed the three curators, Katherine Nova McCleary (Little Shell Chippewa-Cree), Leah Tamar Shrestinian, and Joseph Zordan (Bad River Ojibwe) give thanks to the artifacts In the show.

 In the curator catalogue they write to the artwork, "thank you, for allowing us to visit with you, hold you, and speak to you. Thank you for teaching us." 

I greatly enjoyed writing these articles, and I am so very happy that I have the opportunity to go back, update them with new content, and supplement them with my thought process. If you have any other updates, I want to know! Please leave me a link in the comments or via twitter, my handle is @ally_but_online. 

THE STUDENT-SUNDIAL CONNECTION

THE GRAD SCHOOL GUIDE

BY: AURORA CACIOPPO

Greetings! I am so pleased to be the contributing editor for The Grad School Guide this summer. As I contemplated what valuable tips should be shared with incoming and/or current grad students, I got seriously sidetracked by S-Town. This podcast, as some of you may already know, is hosted by Brian Reed and was released in March 2017 by the producers of Serial. It’s about John B McLemore, a man who hates his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama. He reaches out to Brian and asks him to investigate a local crime, but once the research begins, an entirely new story is unearthed. Suddenly, Reed (and every listener) gets caught up in the life of John B. Fear not, I won’t reveal any spoilers.

John B often quotes passages found on sundials, an interesting tradition I became fascinated with. As a human who is enrolled in post-graduate education and is also desperately trying to manage every other aspect of my life, I am dedicating my first column of The Grad School Guide to sundial philosophy. I hope that from this time-measuring wisdom, graduate students will be inspired to become true masters of Museum Studies.

Source.

“Vita in motu” - Life is in motion
Accept that everyone is coming from a different stage of their life, and most importantly, different areas of expertise. Do not doubt your abilities. Instead, be confident in what you do know, and try approaching your insecurities with being open to learning about what you don’t know. Show up to as many events as you can. There are countless educational and professional development opportunities, and time moves quickly! Take advantage!

“Be as true to each other as this dial is to the sun”
Get to know your peers! These are the people you will work with during and after your degree. This will be your first network of museum professionals! Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, offer your help when appropriate, and don’t be afraid to ask for help in return. I have learned so much simply by listening to what my classmates have contributed in lecture, group projects, or while editing their papers. Be open, be interested, and be yourself. 

“Take the gifts of this hour”
The gift of this hour is this: the bathrooms in the Bissell building basement are the best. There are a lot of them, and no one is ever there. You’re welcome.

Source.

“Altera pars otio, pars ista labori” - Devote this hour to work, another to leisure
Explore! Visit museums with your classmates. Discuss what you liked about your visit and what you didn’t. Go over what you failed to understand and share what you did. You’ll quickly learn that each person notices different things. This practice will allow you to get to know your friends better, it will open your eyes to different methods of interpretation, and this process will better prepare you for class discussions and assignments.

“Vivere memento” - Remember to live
Get out of your home, the museum, work, etc., and do something completely unrelated. Try a new restaurant (there are SO MANY in the area – contact me, I will hook you up); go to SkyZone trampoline park; go to a regular park; visit an escape room etc. etc. etc. Live that life of yours!

Source.

“Dum tempus habemus operemur bonum” - While we have time, let us do good
Don’t be too serious. Life as a student is stressful, but it is also a special time where we have the freedom to take chances. Research what you’re passionate about. Find what works best for you. As museum professionals, we have the opportunity to make a difference in the way people understand art, history, and objects. Do good with it.

“Tedious and Brief”
This is one phrase that isn’t found on a sundial; rather, it’s something John B repeats in S Town. Nevertheless, I think it’s something that’s worth reminding ourselves of. Yes, at times, things can seem tedious. But in the grand scheme of things, it is incredibly brief. Take time to remind yourself that it is most definitely worthwhile.