tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797026352166187522024-03-13T22:31:42.717-04:00MUSINGSMASTER OF MUSEUM STUDIES BLOG AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.comBlogger1229125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-81680006337143329102023-03-22T15:36:00.002-04:002023-03-22T15:36:34.044-04:00MUSINGS HAS MOVED!<p><a href="https://www.musingsmmst.com/">CLICK HERE </a>to be redirected to our new and improved website! :) </p>Neshan Tunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03181494191958758878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-83304329191223896202021-12-17T01:03:00.000-05:002021-12-17T01:03:07.993-05:00适量 "SHILIANG" THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT <p><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Colour%20the%20Canvas" target="_blank">Colour the Canvas</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Jingshu%20Helen%20Yao" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Jingshu Helen Yao</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /></div><div><br />Back in 2020, I submitted a <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/cooking-the-past/finding-my-way-home-through-cooking?authuser=0">Chinese rice cake</a> recipe to <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/cooking-the-past/introduction?authuser=0">Cooking the Past</a>, an online cookbook collected by a group of food historians. During the correspondence with my editor, I was asked to provide specific measurements for the amount of flour and glutinous rice that was used. <br /><br />I had no idea.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgt4HFEMM2e92BexbqHfkheYSBGEQ0VBQ_PIGedJ52kMDCXGjPnfbkKewPBsdjnQr22Dj3ezr17iZ07bV6BUzxCYW4yaYIPZBf9wCmb1EcAUkUovsPbeN4fQHij8LN3pFOwvs0FcKYCPELOKb7bUi5yoXTRcSPn-dBGkzqYar5hHVnN-CjsIV0Jff02=s800" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="800" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgt4HFEMM2e92BexbqHfkheYSBGEQ0VBQ_PIGedJ52kMDCXGjPnfbkKewPBsdjnQr22Dj3ezr17iZ07bV6BUzxCYW4yaYIPZBf9wCmb1EcAUkUovsPbeN4fQHij8LN3pFOwvs0FcKYCPELOKb7bUi5yoXTRcSPn-dBGkzqYar5hHVnN-CjsIV0Jff02=w640-h478" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rice Cake by Helen, Courtesy of the author.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />When I made the rice cake, I just raised the bag of flour over the mixing bowl and shook it. I watched the white powder pile up like snow covering a hill, a mountain in winter. I then poured water and watched it stream down the sides of the mountain of flour, like waves washing over a sandcastle. I stirred them up with chopsticks and when they refused to form a dough, I added more water, and then more flour, until the dough was neither too dry nor too wet. </div><div><br />That was an honest description of me making a dough but not something I could share directly. Not without stating how many cups of flour I used, even though I don’t have a measuring cup in my kitchen; not without saying how many grams of sugar I added, even though I think it depends, none at all or a whole lot of it – both measurements make sense. <br /><br />On one hand, I understand why precise amounts are needed. If someone wants to recreate the dish, four cups are much easier to follow than the “appropriate amount.” But that wasn’t how the food was made at home, not how the recipe was taught to me. Both my mother and grandmother often used 适量 (Shiliang) or “The Appropriate Amount” to describe the amount needed for each ingredient. Even if they were asked to quantify it, they would say “as much as you think is needed” or “give it a try and you will know.” To me, recipes were never written; they were told over a steaming pot, over the sizzling sound of oil, over the aromatic smell of species. That was how I learned to cook, not through words and numbers, but through watching, listening, and smelling.<br /><br />Eventually, I made a guess for my recipe submission and wrote two cups of flour and half a cup of glutinous rice. But I have no idea if someone followed these instructions strictly, whether or not they could make the rice cake that I’m familiar with. Subconsciously, I felt a little ashamed for not being able to provide a more accurate answer, for not having a drawer of kitchen supplies that have numbers and measuring units encrypted. But I didn’t give the feeling much thought and forgot about it soon after.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5cC6WdyQymeI9tK4nzsfFIPoejVe4NS71yZM009RPmWEhLlPn6bfhtXXBM73MmcaKtpiaIdtIQmaN2y81C8T2CFA8dqrMTTJcJ0YunHsJXeayqPNn7SrSWd-qdo3r_zSgtBmn45zeM5VHB_25IZCShaozcLjyfd_SV9kSdtDG-3CRrDvdn8fRQLGY=s1966" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1966" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5cC6WdyQymeI9tK4nzsfFIPoejVe4NS71yZM009RPmWEhLlPn6bfhtXXBM73MmcaKtpiaIdtIQmaN2y81C8T2CFA8dqrMTTJcJ0YunHsJXeayqPNn7SrSWd-qdo3r_zSgtBmn45zeM5VHB_25IZCShaozcLjyfd_SV9kSdtDG-3CRrDvdn8fRQLGY=w640-h326" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazon Best Sellers Kitchen Measuring Tools, Screenshots from Amazon.ca.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />When I watched Mama Put’s story in <a href="https://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/">Ozoz Sokoh</a>’s documentary,<i> <a href="https://vimeo.com/535191001?fbclid=IwAR09ghNLVNlaogdWxg8tOGvroY3QWfjK7tY4_apUgI8FqdtifYuHtCsvZCc#t=1h10m7s">Rice and Beans</a></i>, I heard the following narration: “She has neither pastry cutter or cupcake plunger but she knows how deep to stick her knife…she will not win any awards for sophistication, her own people won’t let her... and because she does it anyway, without language. Do we not call her unskilled labour?” The memory of writing that rice cake recipe came back to me. Like many videos of street food vendors that went viral online, people may look in awe at the skills, eyes wide open. But these videos would not be categorized the same as the ones that feature a clean kitchen, shiny tools, young and attractive chiefs, and measurements. Not yet. <br /><br />I was really excited to connect with Ozoz Sokoh through MSL4000: Exhibition Project, where she was a guest speaker at one of our lectures. I brought up how the documentary had moved me and inspired me to think deeper about my own culinary traditions. I shared my dilemma with her about measurements in recipe writing. Ozoz replied, “I think people have to understand the difference between conceptual recipes… by sight, taste, and deep understanding; versus precision cooking by following a recipe and measuring… they co-exist and one is not necessarily better than the other.” She then introduced me to the Persian word “Andaaza/ loose estimation”, discussed by <a href="http://www.thespicespoon.com/">Shayma Saadat</a> (one of Ozoz’s friends and a food writer and blogger) in an article about her mother’s <a href="http://www.thespicespoon.com/blog/mothers-day/comment-page-1/">Ginger Chicken</a>. It sounded a lot like how my mother would use 适量, which made me wonder how many cultures had, or used similar terms this way – to represent knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation without defining, specifying, or measuring.<br /><br />In my first draft of this article, I titled it “The Opposite of Sophistication.” But what Ozoz said reminded me of is that cooking without precise measurement is not necessarily unsophisticated, but simply a different kind of sophistication related to a different culture, a different way of teaching. Therefore I renamed it with a term that I am familiar with and have been for a long time but had not yet fully explored: 适量 The Appropriate Amount.</div><div><br /></div>Jingshu Helen Yaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05287609143375585406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-5957612294457592532021-12-09T17:43:00.004-05:002021-12-09T17:43:26.709-05:00CAN THE MUSEUM BE RECONCILED?<a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Breaking%20the%20Glass%20Case" target="_blank">Breaking the Glass Case</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Breaking%20the%20Glass%20Case" target="_blank">Megan C. Mahon</a><div>___________________________________________________________________________________<br /><br /> Good morning museum friends, and now it’s time for another issue of Here’s How Hard It Is To Decolonize Museums. Not to depress anyone at this late stage in the semester, but I wanted to talk about a trend I’ve been noticing among Canadian museums recently and ask a vital question: do we, as participants in this program, believe that the museum can be reconciled? Not simply decolonized, but reconciled?<br /><br /> Some might argue it’s an issue of semantics. But I believe that, in most cases, decolonization is something that follows reconciliation. In theory, once Canadian museums have reconciled with the Indigenous peoples on whose land they stand, they can continue, with their input, to decolonize the museum - that is, to reimagine and reorganize their content with justice and restitution in mind. However, I fear that “decolonization” is in danger of simply becoming another museum buzzword – a trend that quickly fizzles, rather than a way of operating that all institutions should be committing to for the future. Many Canadian museums are at risk of putting half an effort into their decolonization practices, by not putting reconciliation first. And that will involve a total re-imagination of what “the museum” actually is and should be.<br /><br /> The Royal BC Museum in Victoria, for example, <a href="https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/royal-bc-museum-announces-upcoming-changes-core-galleries" target="_blank">has recently closed its third floor</a>, citing the need to completely overhaul their exhibitions in the name of decolonization. The galleries prepped to close include the “Becoming BC” exhibition and the extremely popular Old Town (which depicts the city of Victoria as it would have looked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries). They’re also going to <a href="https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-nobody-wants-museums-discovery-or-old-town-gone-4731034" target="_blank">close their First Peoples gallery</a>, as they want to feature Indigenous stories that are not based in white settler stereotypes from 1886 (when the museum was founded).</div><div><br /></div><div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOrNC9erNm7dl2LcNQS2Qorp1xp86FGuLmCunCSl0U6mk6jU80LF5o0cQqORmZHKpI0w1kfwQ-sWzIVR1YPQZjIz9bBwHPY0xkylDSi70M66xGFp9sg_DpnfRYoSo7nD9bBuYOLgVgOMMoHF8F8a-9OD4rNRVe60lQkXMZflhr4viBn_Kdd9QVmZWQXg=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2004" data-original-width="2048" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOrNC9erNm7dl2LcNQS2Qorp1xp86FGuLmCunCSl0U6mk6jU80LF5o0cQqORmZHKpI0w1kfwQ-sWzIVR1YPQZjIz9bBwHPY0xkylDSi70M66xGFp9sg_DpnfRYoSo7nD9bBuYOLgVgOMMoHF8F8a-9OD4rNRVe60lQkXMZflhr4viBn_Kdd9QVmZWQXg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The outside of the Royal British Columbia Museum. Source: Michael Klajban. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_British_Columbia_Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>On the surface, this looks great. These galleries definitely need an overhaul - as <a href="https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-nobody-wants-museums-discovery-or-old-town-gone-4731034" target="_blank">Geoff Russ</a>, a member of the Haida community and a Victoria resident, put it, the First Peoples gallery in particular “desperately needs input from Indigenous experts” before it can reopen. The other exhibits also need thorough examination to ensure that they explain history from more than one (white) viewpoint. No, I’m not against gallery overhauls. But I’m also not sure that this gets to the very root of the problem.<br /><br /> The reason the RBCM is making these changes is that <a href="https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/rbcm-closing-3rd-floor-for-adecolonizationa-effort-that-will-remove-old-town-settler-displays-ship-4719972" target="_blank">past staff members have complained</a> about “a culture of racism and discrimination.” The resignation of Lucy Bell, who had been the head of the Indigenous Collections and Repatriation department, sparked a third-party investigation into internal practices - <a href="https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/indigenous-collections-curator-calls-royal-b-c-museum-wicked-place-resigns/" target="_blank">the results of which</a> were, apparently, “not good.” Put simply? It’s not only the galleries that need an overhaul.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgH6HQlwQeNjvaHc9wSjz9adiKM2TcWBRlduQo_iiaZgH0wfMYI4JZMBi6VTCAH_1lKIWM5U6vsn_oJ9ceZP2X-Ono4GD7Q4u1cko1LBbd9yE26cBwXJdfRb1R2Pqe77D1ii5jvXvhybeLETfdSq5rAJ9rhxf41Q0xlw_hJAm--EYchYcXZcQSSTor0KA=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgH6HQlwQeNjvaHc9wSjz9adiKM2TcWBRlduQo_iiaZgH0wfMYI4JZMBi6VTCAH_1lKIWM5U6vsn_oJ9ceZP2X-Ono4GD7Q4u1cko1LBbd9yE26cBwXJdfRb1R2Pqe77D1ii5jvXvhybeLETfdSq5rAJ9rhxf41Q0xlw_hJAm--EYchYcXZcQSSTor0KA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some artifacts of the First Peoples collection at the Royal BC Museum. Source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Nations_Exhibit_-_Royal_BC_Museum_-_Victoria_BC_-_Canada.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>Museums are made up of people. While art, objects, and artifacts might be the public face of an institution, people make them run – and it’s the people, not the artifacts, that have to do the work of reconciliation. If the RBCM changes their exhibits and didactics, that’s great. But if the people who make those exhibits and didactics continue to participate in making the museum unsafe for Indigenous folks, then only the surface has changed. The colonial wound has not, in fact, healed at all.<br /><br /> It’s a similar story at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Following their own – oft-repeated and studied by students in this program – blunders, <a href="https://winnipegsun.com/news/local-news/lot-of-work-ahead-following-investigation-into-racism-oppression-at-cmhr" target="_blank">their CEO was fired</a>. They’ve since spent over four thousand hours on employee training (<i>don’t be racist!</i> is it really that difficult?) and instituted Robert Greene as Indigenous Elder-In-Residence. But as <a href="https://winnipegsun.com/news/local-news/lot-of-work-ahead-following-investigation-into-racism-oppression-at-cmhr" target="_blank">new CEO Isha Khan</a> has stated, disrupting the colonial standard in museums “takes really thoughtful and deliberate work and takes a long time.” <br /><br /> She’s right. For once, I have to think the CMHR is taking the right approach. It’s not about changing galleries - although that takes a lot of work, it can happen relatively quickly. Changing people won’t happen overnight.<br /><br /> However, that brings me to the question which is the crux of this article: is the museum too steeped in coloniality to ever be reconciled, no matter how much the people within them may change and grow? <br /><br /> Pondering this question led me to Sumaya Kassim’s <a href="https://mediadiversified.org/2017/11/15/the-museum-will-not-be-decolonised/" target="_blank">famous article</a> “The Museum Will Not Be Decolonized,” which I’m sure most people in this program have read. It details her experiences as a co-curator at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, creating an exhibition that examined the museum’s colonial history. Although her exploration into the history of the museum’s artifacts was fascinating, what’s more relevant to this discussion is her struggle with the overall structure of the museum. <a href="https://mediadiversified.org/2017/11/15/the-museum-will-not-be-decolonised/" target="_blank">As she put it,</a> white supremacy and coloniality are “so embedded in the history and power structures” of cultural institutions that she was doubtful about whether decolonization could ever be achieved. Museums are made by, for, and about white audiences. Before we can think about changing museums, we have to alter their entire structure and purpose.<br /><br /> I’m an eternal optimist: I believe that the museum can be reconciled and, eventually, decolonized. But I think that museums have to change their definition of what that means. For the Royal BC Museum, it means more than simply changing your galleries. For the Canadian Museum for Human rights, it means more than firing your CEO and conducting staff workshops. Of course, these things are all good (especially if your CEO does nothing to combat reports of racism), and they have their place in the reconciliation process. But they also fail to fundamentally disrupt the nature of the museum, which is, I think, the true way to reconcile and decolonize.<br /><br /> This has been a long, deep dive into what museums are doing – and not doing – that works to create safer environments for everyone and to reconcile with communities they have harmed in the past. My final point is that it must happen in layers: change the structure, change the people, change the artifacts. If everything I’ve learned in this program is true, it won’t happen quickly. All of us who work in museums will have to ensure that reconciliation is our primary focus. But, if the end result is safer and anti-colonial museum spaces, it will be worth it. And we aren't averse to hard work, are we?</div>Megan Mahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366598396071320664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-23170511156611889802021-12-06T00:00:00.141-05:002021-12-06T23:36:37.309-05:00CATHERINE THE GREAT... ART COLLECTOR?<p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Collections%20Corner" target="_blank">Collections Corner</a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">| </span><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Kara%20Annett" target="_blank">Kara Annett</a></p><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Kara%20Annett" target="_blank"><hr color="black" size="1" /><br /></a><div><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/03/07/02/54/vigilius-eriksen-91074_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="637" height="650" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/03/07/02/54/vigilius-eriksen-91074_1280.jpg" width="518" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The art conisseur herself. <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/vigilius-eriksen-catherine-the-great-91074/" target="_blank">Source. </a></span><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></span>Like many of my peers, I’m eagerly counting down the days until the end of the semester. It won’t be long before we can catch up on sleep, spend time with friends and family, and, most importantly, have a chance to catch up on shows. For me, this means binge-watching <i>The Great</i> (can you tell I did my undergrad in history?). In honour of the second season being released, what better collection to highlight than that of the Hermitage Museum in Russia?<div><br /> Sometime during the 1750s, a Berlin merchant named Johann Gotzkowski began travelling around Europe to purchase artwork at the request of King Frederick II of Prussia who hoped to expand the royal collection. This would never come to be, as the Seven Years War devastated Prussia in Gotzkowski’s absence, leaving Frederick unable to afford the <a href="https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/history/historical-article/1750/Empress+Catherine+II+purchases+Johann+Ernest+Gotzkowskis+collection/?lng=en" target="_blank">225 paintings</a> that had been collected for him. Luckily for Gotzkowski, one man’s misery is another (wo)man’s fortune. In 1764, Catherine the Great bought the collection – if only to rub it in Frederick’s face that Russia could still afford to make such lavish and expensive purchases. These 225 paintings would eventually grow to a collection of over three million pieces.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/05/09/11/27/russia-1381258_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="800" height="438" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/05/09/11/27/russia-1381258_1280.jpg" width="609" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cupid and Pysche by Antonio Canova. <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/russia-st-petersburg-hermitage-1381258/" target="_blank">Source. </a></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div> Catherine had a bit of a shopping addiction and by 1771 her collection had outgrown the Small Hermitage. As anyone in this situation would do, Catherine had a second building constructed to accommodate her new collection, aptly called the <a href="https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/history/historical-article/1750/Grand+Hermitage/?lng=en" target="_blank">Great Hermitage</a>. Since there was no point in letting all this newfound space remain empty, the museum wasted no time in acquiring <a href="https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/history/historical-article/1750/Kroez+collection/?lng=en" target="_blank">the collection of Baron Pierre Crozat</a> in 1772, closely followed by that of <a href="https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/history/historical-article/1750/Walpole/?lng=en" target="_blank">Sir Robert Walpole’s</a> in 1779, and the John Lyde Browne’s <a href="https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/history/historical-article/1750/llayd+Brown/?lng=en" target="_blank">ancient sculpture collection</a> in 1787.<div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Portrait_of_a_Young_Bachelor_1634_Rembrandt_Hermitage_Museum.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="430" height="543" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Portrait_of_a_Young_Bachelor_1634_Rembrandt_Hermitage_Museum.jpg" width="430" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rembrandt's Portrait of a Young Bachelor, part of the Hermitage collection. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_a_Young_Bachelor_1634_Rembrandt_Hermitage_Museum.jpg">Source</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /> Some of the highlights from her impressive collection include multiple Rembrandts, Raphael’s <i>Holy Family</i>, Pieter Paul Ruben’s <i>Bacchus</i>, and the infamous <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a38302158/hermitage-museum-catherine-the-great-art-collection/" target="_blank">Peacock Clock</a> that her lover Grigori Potemkin commissioned for her in 1766. The collection housed at the Hermitage became the envy of Europe, especially amongst the French who thought they were cheated out of the Crozat’s collection by Dennis Diderot (yes, that Diderot). This didn’t deter Catherine, who remained an avid collector up until her death. Throughout the last three decades of her life, Catherine employed several agents to travel across Europe and purchase works for her rapidly expanding collection. By 1796, she had amassed nearly 4,000 paintings and established herself as one of the greatest art collectors in Europe.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Peacock_Clock.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="791" height="462" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Peacock_Clock.jpg" width="457" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Peacock Clock. <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Peacock_Clock.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /> It wasn’t just all fun and games though; by building up such a prestigious collection, Catherine was able to transform Russia’s global reputation from one of supposed backwardness and barbarism to the epicentre of cultural enlightenment. However, it came at a cost: while millions of rubles were being spent on art, Catherine was also quashing growing unrest amongst peasants and serfs, who continued to suffer under <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-catherine-great-180974863/" target="_blank">feudalism</a>. Amid the Great Hermitage’s construction, a military officer named <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yemelyan-Pugachev" target="_blank">Yemelyan Pugachev</a> led hundreds of thousands into a rebellion in response to Russia’s continued conflict with Turkey. Pugachev ended up burning Kazan and captured Tsaritsyn before he was ultimately caught and executed by Catherine’s army, along with other members of the rebellion.</div><div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Inside_the_hermitage.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Inside_the_hermitage.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hall of Military Fame. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_the_hermitage.JPG">Source.</a> </td></tr></tbody></table><br /> It’s undeniable that Catherine the Great transformed Russia’s reputation during her rule, leading the country to become a major power in terms of arts, sciences, and education. She supposedly embraced Enlightenment ideals with the promotion of education and freedom, yet she failed to abolish serfdom and kept thousands of people enslaved in the name of maintaining power. While her ideals were at odds with her actions, her expansive collection altered the Russian cultural landscape, establishing the country as an enlightened power to be reckoned with.</div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Kara Annetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394598920069389472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-85101156763051868472021-11-25T15:29:00.001-05:002021-11-25T15:29:37.887-05:00THE ENDURING RELEVANCE OF PIONEERING OCCULT ARTIST ROSALEEN NORTON <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/She%27s%20My%20Muse" target="_blank">She's My Muse </a>| <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Neshan%20Tung" target="_blank">Neshan Tung</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">____________________________________________________________________________________<br /><br hrcolor="black" size="1" />"I came into this world bravely, I'll go out bravely." <br /><br />~ <a href="https://wrldrels.org/2019/12/18/rosaleen-norton/ " target="_blank">Rosaleen Norton, artist, occult practitioner, daughter of Pan, before her death in 1979</a><br /><br />Rosaleen Norton has only recently begun to get the cultural recognition she deserves. Despite being a tremendously influential and defining artist of the mid 20th century, Rosaleen’s unapologetic artistic legacy remains relatively obscure compared to her counterparts. Perhaps this has to do with how she was outcasted, crudely mocked and relentlessly hounded by the media. She was branded by most as a depraved, satanic witch. In the 1940s and 1950s, she became a national fascination and was perceived as a major threat to the social norms and moral orthodoxy of a predominately Christian Australia. Her artwork, tragically misunderstood, was torched by the government, confiscated by police and censored by major museums and galleries in Melbourne. She remains the only Australian artist whose work was physically <a href="http://zeroequalstwo.net/the-witch-of-king-cross-rosaleen-roie-norton/" target="_blank">destroyed by order of the courts</a>. Rosaleen also faced charges of obscenity for her provocative paintings depicting Greek gods and goddesses, female sexuality and ritual magic. In a recently made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z2OMFCXQ_0&ab_channel=JourneymanPictures" target="_blank">film </a>about the artist, director Sonia Bible proclaims that Rosaleen was once <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/144377/a-documentary-for-the-witch-of-kings-cross-australias-persecuted-occult-artist/" target="_blank">“the most persecuted artist in Australia.”</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinPihKsYsFqFf4FpqNK9BQPROeKXwKNf0mKliEwR_BAP1ESwyBwuFvJekRSoZAHAgXd_t8GoiBk7WqLwKEeO36IlF2lmxoSFflfPSkP16zBora-s8qwZsffktioygqdw-Tx1N5elUQXAebqaDYx7scmKeNQK2FuYB5EmH6jU0UMckjEPA-kipIZ3Jyng=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="799" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinPihKsYsFqFf4FpqNK9BQPROeKXwKNf0mKliEwR_BAP1ESwyBwuFvJekRSoZAHAgXd_t8GoiBk7WqLwKEeO36IlF2lmxoSFflfPSkP16zBora-s8qwZsffktioygqdw-Tx1N5elUQXAebqaDYx7scmKeNQK2FuYB5EmH6jU0UMckjEPA-kipIZ3Jyng=w501-h640" width="501" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Rosaleen Norton with one of her paintings, c. 1945-1950. <a href="https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/ebe5de6a-1238-406d-9685-7910d96e3f88" target="_blank">Source.</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1917 and plagued with spiritual visions as a child, Rosaleen had always been fascinated by the otherworldly. What seems now to be an instance of cosmic foreshadowing, at 14 she was expelled from school for supposedly corrupting fellow schoolgirls with her <a href="https://www.talesfromthegrave.org/post/an-artist-who-practiced-the-occult-and-worshipped-pan" target="_blank">“deviant” drawings.</a> By her twenties, Rosaleen was mastering her occult and artistic skills, practicing <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/the-great-beast-666-who-was-aleister-crowley" target="_blank">Aleister Crowley</a> trance magic and creating paintings that fused her search for transcendence with her spiritual beliefs. Being openly bisexual – in addition to her unconventional appearance, love for animals, bohemian lifestyle and penchant for worshipping and painting figures like Pan (a Greek god who resembles and is often mistaken for Lucifer) – made her a true outsider amidst the hyper conservative landscape of mid-century Australia. A 1949 exhibition of her work held at the Rowen-White Library in the University of Melbourne ended with a police raid and charges of obscenity. Later, her book <i>The Art of Rosaleen Norton with poems by Gavin Greenlees </i>(published by Walter Glover in 1952) was heavily censored in Australia and banned in America, and resulted in <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-rosaleen-norton-the-witch-of-kings-cross-was-a-groundbreaking-bohemian-154184" target="_blank">Glover also facing charges.</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwCeKaCkwz5a1rrGD9RWVhJ96G6q_x7km3RYMuXoTDIsQ_pFjQQpRfHN8d_1PhMsiToFWZtppYI1FpCr3QbW8lEjmAgJ_N0Aw2EqSCRNmZfQWc3pJ0IT68YzvoLiH_L5d7bj-LQGJG7nZ7-h8L79wYyVt8hGt_quyy0rDN43eLysaj7trSnpRZL8e8Zg=s547" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosaleen with her cat, c. 1945-1950. Source." border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="374" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwCeKaCkwz5a1rrGD9RWVhJ96G6q_x7km3RYMuXoTDIsQ_pFjQQpRfHN8d_1PhMsiToFWZtppYI1FpCr3QbW8lEjmAgJ_N0Aw2EqSCRNmZfQWc3pJ0IT68YzvoLiH_L5d7bj-LQGJG7nZ7-h8L79wYyVt8hGt_quyy0rDN43eLysaj7trSnpRZL8e8Zg=w438-h640" title="Rosaleen with her cat, c. 1945-1950. Source." width="438" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Rosaleen Norton with her cat, c. 1950. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bookofliesthedisinformationguidetomagickandtheoccult/page/n431/mode/2up?q=rosaleen+norton" target="_blank">Source</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Even though she was admired by visionaries like <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/144377/a-documentary-for-the-witch-of-kings-cross-australias-persecuted-occult-artist/">Carl Jung</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jan/29/kenneth-anger-film-occultism-los-angeles-interview" target="_blank">Kenneth Anger,</a> the scope of Rosaleen’s far-reaching cultural impact has yet to be fully realized and appreciated. She was a subversive, fearless artist who spearheaded a path forward for generations of eccentric and bold female artists to be themselves. Her unprecedented body of work has endured despite decades of backlash and unlawful attempts at suppression. Over half a century later, her art has begun to slowly resurface in various Australian exhibitions— such as one held in 2000 that was solely dedicated to the display of her paintings in Kings Cross, Sydney (where she lived most of her life) by <a href="http://zeroequalstwo.net/the-witch-of-king-cross-rosaleen-roie-norton/" target="_blank">enthusiasts of her work</a>. Others include the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s <a href="https://www.shervingallery.com.au/event/windows-to-the-sacred/" target="_blank"><i>Windows to the Sacred: An Exploration of the Esoteric</i></a> in 2013, and the City Gallery Wellington’s <a href="https://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/occulture-dark-arts-0/" target="_blank"><i>Occulture: The Dark Arts</i></a> in 2017. <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgatIglqHOwRT4THFbCMKMD58tyZk_KoC19Jyk7v_70tQtJ6gxt-jmLsplO5ACOCVoSb7jVlxq4wKYJbSJQJz-Qg8uPe9uPoQdffo6_R5nko_VTFbiYapoiki6Bf7dlAttS9dK_4tXiA3Hfgcp6w-fGPAFFkdp-MmBPe5vX74Sd-wPbOaqem7FSxRvnmA=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1024" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgatIglqHOwRT4THFbCMKMD58tyZk_KoC19Jyk7v_70tQtJ6gxt-jmLsplO5ACOCVoSb7jVlxq4wKYJbSJQJz-Qg8uPe9uPoQdffo6_R5nko_VTFbiYapoiki6Bf7dlAttS9dK_4tXiA3Hfgcp6w-fGPAFFkdp-MmBPe5vX74Sd-wPbOaqem7FSxRvnmA=w640-h496" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Rosaleen Norton sketching, c. 1945-1950. <a href="https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/12aa5015-a5a6-4c3a-8492-2c1e69f8e5fd">Source.</a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Despite renewed interest in Rosaleen, her work is not easy to access. Other than a handful of articles and images on Google, there is no widely accessible digital archive documenting her work, nor is it featured in any permanent exhibitions. Most of it resides in archives, private collections and rare books that are hard to come by. Rosaleen’s legacy and life’s work could have easily been lost to history. That begs the question: how many brilliant female artists have we lost due to museum censorship and government persecution? How can we ensure that the bodies of work produced by visionary artists who challenge the status quo are not lost due to museum practices that support nationalistic agendas? How can we reconcile with the fact that exclusion and censorship remain prevalent issues in museum spaces, and <a href="https://magazine.artland.com/the-fear-of-art-contemporary-art-censorship/" target="_blank">what can we do about it?</a> All of us have the responsibility to continuously challenge and unsettle cultural institutions by questioning what gets to be remembered and who is included.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-3snSmrJwAVvd3sjaCFfhskzorPBZDeqJowecqogo9S_qxEdSmFvB0ONw5q1718ZO7V39lq8h7lqThlIlETPj83Eoez6aqpmBjqkiUiySZpB5rePrFV92nTWiNl21R2bfH963zJwuN7fO8hAkSatTcwRpjmJZ1YqLbNlfN98qnzz1-uh7VFa9B-bf0w=s599" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="467" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-3snSmrJwAVvd3sjaCFfhskzorPBZDeqJowecqogo9S_qxEdSmFvB0ONw5q1718ZO7V39lq8h7lqThlIlETPj83Eoez6aqpmBjqkiUiySZpB5rePrFV92nTWiNl21R2bfH963zJwuN7fO8hAkSatTcwRpjmJZ1YqLbNlfN98qnzz1-uh7VFa9B-bf0w=w498-h640" width="498" /></a></div> Rosaleen Norton in Kings Cross, Sydney, c. 1943. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rosaleen_Norton_1943_SLNSW.jpg">Source.</a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /> References: <br /><br /><a href="https://whatmagicisthis.com/2020/04/10/rosaleen-norton/" target="_blank"> https://whatmagicisthis.com/2020/04/10/rosaleen-norton/ <br /></a><br /><a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-rosaleen-norton-the-witch-of-kings-cross-was-a-groundbreaking-bohemian-154184"> https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-rosaleen-norton-the-witch-of-kings-cross-was-a-groundbreaking-bohemian-154184</a><br /><br /><a href="https://hyperallergic.com/144377/a-documentary-for-the-witch-of-kings-cross-australias-persecuted-occult-artist/"> https://hyperallergic.com/144377/a-documentary-for-the-witch-of-kings-cross-australias-persecuted-occult-artist/<br /></a><br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/bookofliesthedisinformationguidetomagickandtheoccult/page/n431/mode/2up?q=rosaleen+norton"> https://archive.org/details/bookofliesthedisinformationguidetomagickandtheoccult/page/n431/mode/2up?q=rosaleen+norton<br /></a><br /><a href="https://www.talesfromthegrave.org/post/an-artist-who-practiced-the-occult-and-worshipped-pan"> https://www.talesfromthegrave.org/post/an-artist-who-practiced-the-occult-and-worshipped-pan<br /></a><br /><a href="https://magazine.artland.com/the-fear-of-art-contemporary-art-censorship/"> https://magazine.artland.com/the-fear-of-art-contemporary-art-censorship/ <br /></a><br /><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/09/sex-magic-occult-art-and-acid-the-story-of-the-infamous-witch-of-kings-cross"> https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/09/sex-magic-occult-art-and-acid-the-story-of-the-infamous-witch-of-kings-cross<br /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br />Neshan Tunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03181494191958758878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-6121961131219233592021-11-25T15:14:00.005-05:002021-11-25T15:15:29.844-05:00TO BREATHE LIFE INTO THIS SPACE: OBJECTS WITH LIVES AND AGENCY<a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Breaking the Glass Case</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Megan%20Mahon" target="_blank">Megan C. Mahon</a><br />____________________________________________________________________________________<br /><br /><div>CW: This article contains mention of Canadian residential schools.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you’re a Museum Studies student, it’s likely you’ve talked a lot about the ways that museums can better serve Indigenous communities, given that so many examples of traditional Indigenous art and cultural materials reside in Canadian institutions. Repatriation of these items – while one of this author’s favourite topics to expound on at length – will wait for another article. With this piece, I’d like to bring your attention to a novel agreement that’s been struck between an Indigenous artist and a certain (rather infamous, but that’s another story we all know) Canadian museum.<br /><br /> The Witness Blanket is a <a href="http://witnessblanket.ca/#!/project/" target="_blank">large-scale art installation</a> made from hundreds of items reclaimed from churches, government buildings, and residential schools. The artist, master carver Carey Newman, is Kwakwak’awakw from the Kukwekum, Giiksam, and WaWalaby’ie clans of northern Vancouver Island, and Coast Salish from Cheam of the Sto:lo Nation along the upper Fraser Valley. The Blanket he and his team created stands as a <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/picking-up-the-pieces-the-making-of-the-witness-blanket" target="_blank">national monument to the atrocities committed in residential schools</a>, and symbolizes the work of ongoing reconciliation. It’s an incredibly moving piece: in addition to pieces from buildings which ran and operated residential schools, it contains personal items from survivors and weaves it all into a giant tapestry of tragedy, resilience, and hope.<div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8T248uZenGo/YZkmtCqNnjI/AAAAAAAAADM/B-t0EBRlX0Q0V3ZI9cKVSvtwXzELIRWBwCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8T248uZenGo/YZkmtCqNnjI/AAAAAAAAADM/B-t0EBRlX0Q0V3ZI9cKVSvtwXzELIRWBwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h320/image.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Witness Blanket. Source: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights. <a href="https://droitsdelapersonne.ca/histoire/picking-up-the-pieces-the-making-of-the-witness-blanket">https://droitsdelapersonne.ca/histoire/picking-up-the-pieces-the-making-of-the-witness-blanket</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /> The Blanket itself is marvel enough, but what deserves special attention – especially to us Museum Studies students – is the agreement behind its exhibition at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I see you twitching at the mention of that museum’s name, but I promise we won’t get into that whole sorry debacle here. The story is thus: after the Witness Blanket completed its cross-Canada tour, its creators knew that it needed a permanent home to rest and undergo conservation. However, they did not want to give the Blanket to the CMHR in a way that would imply the piece had one owner. So too, in order to reflect the spirit of truth and reconciliation in which the Blanket was created, they wanted to forge an alliance with the CMHR that did not reflect the traditional power imbalance between museums and Indigenous communities.<br /><br /> The <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/article-the-witness-blanket-an-installation-of-residential-school-artifacts/" target="_blank">agreement that resulted</a> was unprecedented among museums. In a traditional gathering place on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, stakeholders and museum workers were invited to witness an oral ceremony that made Canadian museum history. For the first time ever, the Crown had ratified a binding legal document through Indigenous ways of knowing. The agreement struck between the CMHR and creators of the Witness Blanket would be put into effect using both written documents and oral agreements, both of which were given equal weight. Carey Newman described this groundbreaking contract as one that lives in two worlds, and joins Western and Indigenous traditions. But to my mind, that isn’t the only incredible part. The contract dictates that the Witness Blanket itself <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/article-the-witness-blanket-an-installation-of-residential-school-artifacts/" target="_blank">holds its own legal rights</a> – not its creators or the museum where it will reside. This artifact, a physical testimonial to the horrors of residential schools and hope for a better future, has the right to its own story as an independent, living being.<br /><br /> This might sound strange to the majority of us who grew up thinking that museums owned artifacts, which were inanimate objects that were there to teach us about history. I know that’s how I grew up seeing objects in museums. But I think this unprecedented agreement is the first step to seeing artifacts in a different way, one that affords objects more agency. What does this mean for the future of museums?<br /><br /> When I heard about the agreement to treat the Witness Blanket as an object with its own life, I thought of this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smithson" target="_blank">Robert Smithson quote</a>: “Museums…are graveyards above the ground – congealed memories of the past that act as a pretext for reality.” And while I don’t entirely believe that this is true, I can’t deny that sometimes entering a museum does feel like entering a graveyard - not just because of the artifacts taken out of their contexts and placed behind glass cases, but because of the atmosphere of silence and the idea that we should be treating the space with quiet reverence. Quiet reverence doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but the idea that objects are living things with their own spirits – which many Indigenous cultures on Turtle Island have always known – opens up a whole new pathway of what museums can be. <br /><br /> In the context of this agreement, the Witness Blanket isn’t simply an art piece that commemorates those who never came home from residential schools. It’s a living thing with its own spirit and agency; it isn’t owned by a museum but stands as its own being. What would happen if we treated all museum objects this way? If we treated each artifact as something distinct, with its own life, deeply connected to the lives of those who made and used it?<br /><br /> We would be making museums safer spaces for Indigenous communities – and everyone else! We would be injecting emotional and spiritual care into the sometimes-sterile atmosphere of collections care. And we would be taking an important step down the road to museum reconciliation. If we have the courage to unlearn, a whole new era of interacting with objects is at our fingertips. With the precedent of the Witness Blanket set before us, now is the time to consider just how alive museums can really be.</div></div>Megan Mahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366598396071320664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-45930618986463567372021-11-17T07:00:00.001-05:002021-11-17T07:00:00.193-05:00Art and Archive: Reflections from the Information Desk <p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Exhibition%20Reviews" target="_blank">Exhibition Reviews</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Rachel%20Deiterding" target="_blank">Rachel Deiterding</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /><span style="background-color: white;">Having worked in numerous museums and galleries, I somehow always managed to avoid gallery sitting…. until this fall. In September 2021, I was one of two gallery sitters at <i></i><i><a href="https://agyu.art/project/wetrospective/" target="_blank">Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective</a></i> at the Art Gallery of York University. For a month I spent 18 hours a week looking at the show, telling people about the show, and learning more about all its hidden secrets. I can’t think of many exhibitions that I’ve visited more than once, let alone spent more than 72 hours with, but the perpetual proximity of gallery sitting, this long-term visiting, had a way of revealing the life of the exhibition. I was watching it grow and listening to it breathe. It felt personal. Maybe like it was watching me back? <div><br /></div><div>Central to <i>Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective</i> were the ideas of performance and archive. Jess Dobkin is a Toronto-based performance artist whose work facilitates uncomfortable encounters and is often created in dialogue with community. Using relics of past performances, the works were reimagined to produce multiple iterations of what a performance archive might look like. The exhibition was fueled by the tension of simultaneously looking at the past, the present, and the future. Thinking about the afterlife of the archive, the exhibition “demands of archives what we expect from performance: the live encounter of experience in a ritual of transformation.” (<a href="https://agyu.art/project/wetrospective/" target="_blank">Emelie Chhangur, 2021</a>)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaEPl5e4wbxADruMdDn5NNsoRCSw33g63X6Y__8i0YyWg8Lg6ihfFAz_Ap-MC9PRm3ZS-Xo3rmvUZw67_DM7Li3pMXvWNOSYXaEzaCTyOI2goMnI7bavc_-Kj35RHLYRale20Gid1_FrvB8hC4hB89A2V0FCsK9IPmahtCnFT1cw5ZN0L4VTSR4Szu-g=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaEPl5e4wbxADruMdDn5NNsoRCSw33g63X6Y__8i0YyWg8Lg6ihfFAz_Ap-MC9PRm3ZS-Xo3rmvUZw67_DM7Li3pMXvWNOSYXaEzaCTyOI2goMnI7bavc_-Kj35RHLYRale20Gid1_FrvB8hC4hB89A2V0FCsK9IPmahtCnFT1cw5ZN0L4VTSR4Szu-g=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective</i>, installation view, 2021 | Documentation by Yuula Benivolski | <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/677439/jess-dobkin-a-performance-artist-with-a-unique-sense-of-humor/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div> </div>
The thing about spending so much time with a show is that you start to form an intimate relationship with the space. Initially, the space felt overwhelming. There was so much to look at that each time you entered new details emerged, elements I had never seen before. The consistency of these discoveries was almost comical. Like the exhibition itself was consciously sharing these details, leaving these easter eggs, posing questions, and forcing reflection. Soon it felt absurd that someone might visit the show only once, walk through in 20-minutes or less and never return, leaving stones unturned. <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCxJKYXxYh3yCvqwKIztnv7wC4XjikflKY28IxRISJIN3tdE8Ht2DN4Vuy9LXDMAaF1g7GgbKfHHXCdL43mwbNnrq4cZXL3nvDE7-qyYb-K8SrM4yY8KwRWxxv8JCJJhtFrLAxvzvXNBO0nGOmDE40F2cVmsc2AuheO48gIG5Z0joaQTi7JKTG_bZkkA=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCxJKYXxYh3yCvqwKIztnv7wC4XjikflKY28IxRISJIN3tdE8Ht2DN4Vuy9LXDMAaF1g7GgbKfHHXCdL43mwbNnrq4cZXL3nvDE7-qyYb-K8SrM4yY8KwRWxxv8JCJJhtFrLAxvzvXNBO0nGOmDE40F2cVmsc2AuheO48gIG5Z0joaQTi7JKTG_bZkkA=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective</i>, installation view, 2021 | Documentation by Yuula Benivolski | <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/677439/jess-dobkin-a-performance-artist-with-a-unique-sense-of-humor/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
My favourite parts were the corners. Not only is this where many of the plugs were hidden, which I used to power up the exhibition each day and tuck it in for the night, but the corners also housed messy bits of the archive, teeming with life - a mix of loose sketches, notes, another ephemera. A seemingly uncatalogued history, but a history nonetheless.
Beyond getting acquainted with the energy of the space, gallery sitting also brings you into an interesting relationship with visitors. Interacting with each person, you learn a bit about them and, through that interaction, a little bit about the show. In the second week of September, as students were returning to campus, a family of four came into the gallery. After I warned them of the show's mature content, the mother and daughter went in, warily, and the father and the young son waited outside. While the father bragged about his daughter entering university and the success she was sure to find as a landscape painter, she emerged from the gallery, eyes wide. “That was vulgar,” she said. “Exactly,” I said. The space told me nothing more was required. We blinked at each other. Sometimes people get it and sometimes they don't.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigePhWv1zMnOS3AcneS1gs_SMek0-xoAKPIlFPFKwyahDDIduZa3UC21LQSFRskV5xhLD00n0qMEPD63jMnJBUh_5akLT_yGl1nnV84SG3FM1aZLp-jnsKqE_bln2VO09LmwL_cthjUd_Z4DwM4nmtChkLHpP7FaefuCCEmFm09F9vauv1Xkw5LDplJg=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigePhWv1zMnOS3AcneS1gs_SMek0-xoAKPIlFPFKwyahDDIduZa3UC21LQSFRskV5xhLD00n0qMEPD63jMnJBUh_5akLT_yGl1nnV84SG3FM1aZLp-jnsKqE_bln2VO09LmwL_cthjUd_Z4DwM4nmtChkLHpP7FaefuCCEmFm09F9vauv1Xkw5LDplJg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white;">Jess Dobkin's Wetrospective</i><span style="background-color: white;">, installation view, 2021 | Documentation by Yuula Benivolski | </span><a href="https://hyperallergic.com/677439/jess-dobkin-a-performance-artist-with-a-unique-sense-of-humor/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Source</a><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div>Perhaps it was the performative nature of the show that made it feel alive. Or the archivists that animated the back room, producing a constant physical presence. But even with the gallery empty and the lights off, there was a sense of tension in the space. Like it was waiting for me to turn my back to come alive, to get into all kinds of archival imagining and experiments. It felt a bit like <i>Toy Story</i>. Of course, this didn’t happen, but at the same time, maybe it did? One evening I got an email from a colleague. It was a "gallery update" that concluded by saying: “I should let you know that one of the boobs in the lactation bar isn’t working very well, so we have one boob working fine and the other is dribbling. I guess it's more relatable? Like its more realistic to actual breast feeding? Idk.” As I was refilling the fish tank that powered the lactating breasts the next morning I knew that the exhibition was alive, that it was playing a bit of a prank on me. I was grateful for it. <div><br /></div><div>These details had almost slipped from my memory. I chalked them up to too much introspection; it’s just gallery sitting after all. It wasn’t until I was in a new gallery, in a new exhibition that I started to feel the viscerality of the space again, a connection being formed. Undoubtedly, exhibitions take on their own lives, and we have much to learn by being attentive to them. So, here I am, sitting in more exhibitions and trying to look and listen closely to uncover just what they might be trying to tell me.
</div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-88860036814230386702021-11-15T22:37:00.003-05:002021-11-15T22:39:50.419-05:00HONG KONG M+ MUSEUM OPENING AMID CENSORSHIP CONTROVERSY <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Muse%20News" target="_blank">Muse News</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Avigayil%20Margolis">Avigayil Margolis</a></span></p><hr color="“black”" size="“1”" /><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I write this article, Hong Kong’s </span><a href="https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">M+</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> museum is scheduled to open in one day. M+ is Asia’s first museum of contemporary art, built to rival the Tate Modern and Metropolitan Museum of Art. On Friday November 12th, the museum will open, displaying 1,500 works from its collections of 6,413 to the public for the first time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two months ago, </span><a href="(https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ai-weiwei-m-website-2006489 " style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">the museum was struck by a controversy</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> regarding its choice not to display Ai Weiwei’s Study of Perspective: <i>Tian’anmen</i> (1997) which features the artist raising a middle finger at Bejing’s Tiananmen Square, in its online collection. Tiananmen was the site of a massacre by the People’s Liberation Army against peaceful pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989, resulting in thousands of deaths, injuries and arrests, as well as a massive government cover-up. This photograph was one of several </span>pieces<span style="font-family: inherit;"> criticized by pro-Beijing politicians and media as inciting hatred against China, a violation of national security law.</span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjavQSgPF72C7tlUXGj4HPPcZqZ3wzSfktTGN8gRQNvtZV5qXxtn9OPuNGTS7SJ0TzW4lqvs-9EaxM5WDKlwV_1TJALc7oYwMXNclyEZEioBWeTLaqp6gfRm_nqE1wd_RWKRJoiCLo0U4nWTCz4X_KRq8kGoHVuKtQMPnyyWl7fXu3zmv6IUbNrFbf_=s1895" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1895" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjavQSgPF72C7tlUXGj4HPPcZqZ3wzSfktTGN8gRQNvtZV5qXxtn9OPuNGTS7SJ0TzW4lqvs-9EaxM5WDKlwV_1TJALc7oYwMXNclyEZEioBWeTLaqp6gfRm_nqE1wd_RWKRJoiCLo0U4nWTCz4X_KRq8kGoHVuKtQMPnyyWl7fXu3zmv6IUbNrFbf_=w640-h302" title="A screenshot featuring Ai Weiwei's work on the M+ website with a Study of Perspective: Tian'anmen replaced with a grey image unavailable square. Courtesy of Avigayil Margolis" width="640" /></a></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A screenshot featuring Ai Weiwei's work on the M+ website with a Study of Perspective: Tian'anmen replaced with a grey image unavailable square. Courtesy of Avigayil Margolis.</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other pieces from the <i>Study in Perspective </i>series remain visible in the online collection even though they are not on display in the museum, so <i>Tiananmen</i>’s absence is glaring. Ai’s 2003 Map of China which features wood from Qing Dynasty temples and celebrates China’s cultural diversity has also been removed from the online collections. However, <i>Whitewash</i> (1995-2000), containing 126 Chinese Neolithic jars painted over by Ai is still being displayed during the museum’s opening and likely serves as a major draw due to the artist’s international fame.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ai Weiwei has always been a highly political artist who criticized the Chinese government. In 2011 he was arrested and detained for 81 days, after which the government continued to watch him and restrict his movement by taking away his passport until 2015 when he was finally able to leave and moved to Berlin, Germany. His documentary </span><a href="(https://www.aiweiwei.com/cockroach" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><i>Cockroach</i> (2020)</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> films the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition protests, </span>empathizing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> with the youth fighting against an authoritarian government. His vocal support of the protests may be one reason his art is being specifically highlighted by politicians and media.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"China faces a massive problem if the youth of Hong Kong continues to protest," Ai said in a 2019 interview with the </span><a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2019/07/30/interview-i-hongkonger-artist-ai-weiwei-supports-citys-brave-clever-beautiful-protest-movement/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Hong Kong Free Press</a>.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> "It is a challenge that alarms the rest of the world as to what kind of society China is. If they don’t stop the protests, the democratic voice will get louder and there will be better conditions for freedom. But how can they stop them? Hong Kong is not just another Chinese city. If that were the case, the military would have moved in and crushed it immediately. There would not be any media coverage or international attention. This already happens all the time in China. Hong Kong is different."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking back to protests against his own secret detention, during which artists posted his picture and name throughout the city to demand his release, Ai describes Hong Kong’s protests as "the most beautiful. They are so peaceful, rational, and those taking part are so young."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH2NxLQ7LfnywgrtXK0iQckZDaukuYtYZgtX_X3WtX-BhmMQQkGyPUQtw0vcDDF9LKQg-zfMimFPojtc3mL6QSM8gdx5ut0QizCj9XK7ft2lRQKQ93Jmz1EYvx54uUVfC-7YgBcH_BOHt25RzaDBYZGBH7vSQ8jodQa32DIAzw5_eQy5hOwIKXAkkm=s605" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="605" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH2NxLQ7LfnywgrtXK0iQckZDaukuYtYZgtX_X3WtX-BhmMQQkGyPUQtw0vcDDF9LKQg-zfMimFPojtc3mL6QSM8gdx5ut0QizCj9XK7ft2lRQKQ93Jmz1EYvx54uUVfC-7YgBcH_BOHt25RzaDBYZGBH7vSQ8jodQa32DIAzw5_eQy5hOwIKXAkkm=w640-h388" title="An activist holds a doll, toy handcuffs and drawing of the detained Ai Weiwei in front of a police officers during a Hong Kong protest demanding his release. Photo: Laurent Fievet/AFP" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An activist holds a doll, toy handcuffs and drawing of the detained Ai Weiwei in front of a police officers during a Hong Kong protest demanding his release. <a href="https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/000_Hkg4829217.jpg" target="_blank">Photo: Laurent Fievet/AFP</a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The museum’s decision to remove the controversial pieces raises serious questions about censorship in the museum field and what our role is as museum professionals.<br /><br />"This is the first contemporary museum in Hong Kong, so therefore, I want to ensure that the message is clear so that people don’t think that we are above the law," Henry Tang, the head of the West Kowloon Cultural District which includes M+ said at the museum’s opening ceremony. But does the argument of just following the law really hold weight when the law is unjust?<br /><br />M+ director <a href="https://www.artforum.com/news/m-bows-to-government-censors-will-not-show-ai-weiwei-work-85417" target="_blank">Suhanya Raffel had earlier said that the museum would have no problem</a> showing works by dissident artists. This has held true in some regards, with local artist South Ho’s photographs of the city’s 2014 Occupy Central protests and Kacey Wong’s Paddling Home installation which represents his exile from Hong Kong to Taiwan to due his democracy activism both featured in the museum. M+’s agreement to remove the criticized artworks may have prevented a harder government crackdown which targeted more art or prevented the museum from opening to the public entirely. On the other hand, there is an inevitable dishonesty to only allowing government approved dissidence.<br /><br />Ai Weiwei has criticized the museum for capitulating to censorship. "When you have a museum which cannot or is incapable of defending its own integrity about freedom of speech, then that raises a question. And certainly the museum cannot perform well in terms of contemporary culture," he told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/hong-kong-opens-new-modern-art-museum-under-national-security-cloud-2021-11-11/" target="_blank">Reuters</a> during a phone interview.<br /><br />This raises the question of where a museum’s obligations to support freedom of speech end. Can a museum choose to break the law of the country where it is situated? Is it worthwhile for a museum to sacrifice a few high attention controversial pieces to allow itself to stay open and display a multitude of other important artworks? <br /><br />There are no easy answers to this question of course. As museum professionals, we must work to maintain our own ethics and integrity, but we are still members of our countries and societies, subject to the laws and punishments that accompany them. Living in Canada with our rights to free speech and a fair trial, it is easy to say that we would defy any government censorship laws that targeted our museums. But how many of us would really risk jail time for our work? And should we even be expected to?</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Avi Margolishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860173868921983376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-6298476016787163822021-11-09T23:17:00.002-05:002021-11-09T23:18:23.266-05:00LANGUAGE ACCESSIBILITY, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, AND INCLUSION <p><br /><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Colour%20the%20Canvas" target="_blank"> Colour the Canvas</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Jingshu%20Helen%20Yao" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Jingshu Helen Yao</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-256dc208-7fff-9ff8-d3ba-d212cea38b59"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the winter of 2020, I worked as a volunteer at <a href="https://www.agincourtcommunityservices.com/">Agincourt Community Services Association</a> for their project <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15qctrJUBX1YCso6TmK64PGnoMUQPmJbw">Recipe for (Climate) Change</a>. The project used video recordings to document senior community members’ knowledge of cooking, food preservation, and gardening, as well as its connection to their personal history. Youth participants then utilized the material to create a series of cooking lessons and a cookbook. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of the senior participants were immigrants with minimum English and I was brought in to be a Chinese translator. While there were second generation Chinese speakers among the youth participants, they either didn’t have or were not comfortable enough using the language abilities required to transcribe full meetings and recipes. During my time spent working with the participants, I realized the challenges of documenting storytelling and oral history in the face of the language barriers, technical difficulties, and the social isolation of COVID 19.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoHoP1UN8SEkhZyeKG1Nb5IwUi4V6m-Lupst8U61q83IuLDEo8WpEcbDRQ8zI3n0gB2TyAFnLKPJrmr4_U6QjRr3_i_2IjzRcFs-eF2L1x2A25n1yBwJd_aJTE3c2wS5WAcsToy21QqlWDuz-55DR7wtkPNv_z3bZh3xu9oiJTjPgdvNGtKj_gc9yj=s1120" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="944" height="655" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoHoP1UN8SEkhZyeKG1Nb5IwUi4V6m-Lupst8U61q83IuLDEo8WpEcbDRQ8zI3n0gB2TyAFnLKPJrmr4_U6QjRr3_i_2IjzRcFs-eF2L1x2A25n1yBwJd_aJTE3c2wS5WAcsToy21QqlWDuz-55DR7wtkPNv_z3bZh3xu9oiJTjPgdvNGtKj_gc9yj=w553-h655" width="553" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Translation sample for a workshop survey. Courtesy of the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had a background in translation studies as an undergraduate student, but I had only been trained to translate written text in an academic context. Translating unscripted speech was challenging and I often encountered unfamiliar vocabularies when cooking ingredients and techniques were involved. The language barrier was intensified by technical difficulties. It was already difficult to communicate with seniors through zoom call; the process became more challenging when we had to instruct them to turn on cameras, set up their phone or laptop at a correct angle, and start recording. It would have been much easier if we were able to communicate with them face to face, help them set up recordings, and give them direct assistance. However, none of these could have happened due to COVID-19 safety concerns. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facing these difficulties, I had to use an extra amount of time to email back and forth with staff members and make multiple phone calls with senior participants. Still, I wasn’t satisfied with my work. Sometimes I failed to translate phrases and sentences during workshops or video calls, which took more time to communicate again later on. The deadline was pushed back once and once again due to these delays. However, the senior participants still expressed their gratitude despite the frustrating communication situation. They mentioned that they often felt isolated and lonely during the pandemic and were grateful to be able to participate in the project. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPuXt4L2Y9mGfGIg6iOlvzB11mrT4nBKI6fOGx437r4KDZfFGhdUi0XAJ44IGaRa1q6IsJ0eBqJ62cto1ahf489-GuwQey_taQ-nCRQXoFpxojGYeyS0zNFzj7w0fpDWQArDJCoGy1JixulSiH-veyA7HYsfLWyeAwLVmIoDt4YIhB4-8CdKX9aPhO=s846" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="676" height="638" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPuXt4L2Y9mGfGIg6iOlvzB11mrT4nBKI6fOGx437r4KDZfFGhdUi0XAJ44IGaRa1q6IsJ0eBqJ62cto1ahf489-GuwQey_taQ-nCRQXoFpxojGYeyS0zNFzj7w0fpDWQArDJCoGy1JixulSiH-veyA7HYsfLWyeAwLVmIoDt4YIhB4-8CdKX9aPhO=w510-h638" width="510" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Example of a transcription for a cooking video. Courtesy of the author. </td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">A year ago, I joined the MMSt program without knowing much about the demographic of museum workers. The summer before my admission, the iSchool conducted research on the diversity and inclusion of the faculty. The working group formed by 3 students identified various issues. The adjustments to the curriculum were made and, in many of my first-year courses, the topic of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in the culture sector was the centre of discussion. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Compared with the previous cohort, I wasn’t feeling as isolated, but I was still overwhelmed initially. Getting to know the statistics of underrepresentation of the BIPOC community and white dominance in art and culture-related careers was a setback. I almost lost hope in being employed at museums as an international student because a lot of institutions specified that the jobs are funded by YCW or Canada Summer Jobs. I also felt confused when we discussed “the lack of representation in the GLAM sector” and “how to diversify the museum field” in class. These conversations made me feel invisible at times and misplaced at others. I wasn’t sure how to approach these topics as a racialized person since it seemed like a conversation about us, not with us. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I thought of diversity and inclusion before, it occurred to me more as recognition and representation, more on a psychological level than a physical level. Working with these senior participants made me realize that language was the key point for their engagement and in this case, the risk of exclusion wasn’t on an emotional but a physical level. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We always discussed engaging the community, sharing their voice, and making them feel included. However, in reality, how could we approach them if we don’t even speak their language, how could we share their voice if their voice is not accessible to the rest of the community, and what is “inclusion” when only the space is shared but not knowledge and thoughts? Through the time I volunteered as a translator, the participants tended to approach me with any questions, including information about compensation and confidential agreement that I wasn’t capable of answering. Even when the staff members sent out translated information through email, they tend to approach me for confirmation. The simple fact of a familiar tongue made me seem more approachable, thus granting me authority and trust. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was with this new understanding that I joined <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mpoc.uoft/?hl=en">Museum Professionals of Colour,</a> students aimed at addressing the lack of racial diversity and representation within the MMSt program and GLAM sector at large. I’ve long followed their activities and was tempted to reach out several times during my first year. I was held back by my fear of not having an understanding of my role as a racialized museum professional as well as what changes I could possibly bring with my effort. The experience working as a translator didn’t fully address my doubts, but it allowed me to realize that diversity and inclusion is not a conversation about big ideas – but, rather, small tasks that could be exhausting and troublesome. That’s why it requires effort from as many individuals as possible, and I need to be one of them. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Jingshu Helen Yaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05287609143375585406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-6398460987289907412021-11-01T00:00:00.017-04:002021-11-01T12:44:39.072-04:00SOAP, SKIN, AND SKULLS: INTO THE MACABRE WORLD OF THE MÜTTER MUSEUM <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Collections%20Corner" target="_blank">Collections Corner</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.4px;">| </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.4px;">Kara Annett</span></p><hr color="“black”" size="“1”" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/4118/4802434274_ed5f62e322_c.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="513" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4118/4802434274_ed5f62e322_c.jpg" width="411" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the skulls at the Mütter Museum. <a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/4118/4802434274_ed5f62e322_c.jpg">Source.</a></td></tr></tbody></table></span><br />As we bid goodbye to October, I’m filled with a sense of dread knowing it won’t be long before stores start blasting Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé again and reminding us how it’s the most wonderful time of the year. To me, Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year and instead of hanging stockings by the chimney with care and visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in my head, I’m wondering how much longer I can get away with playing “The Monster Mash” and keeping the paper skeleton on my door. It’s no surprise then that I decided to write about one of the eeriest museum collections in the world; that’s right, today we’re delving into the marvellously macabre collections of the <a href="http://muttermuseum.org/" target="_blank">Mütter Museum</a> in Philadelphia.<br /><br /> Founded in 1858 by Thomas Dent Mütter, the original purpose of the museum was to improve and expand upon medical education. The original collection of 1,700 objects has grown to over 25,000 and includes oddities such as sections of <a href="http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/albert-einsteins-brain/">Albert Einstein’s brain</a> and the unfortunately named Soap Lady, a poor woman whose body developed a fatty covering following burial (I don’t recommend looking up pictures of her after midnight because it definitely does not look like soap). Fellow bookworms might be interested in the world’s largest collection of anthropodermic bibliopegy, or <a href="http://memento.muttermuseum.org/detail/anthropodermic-book" target="_blank">books bound in human skin</a> (this one is safe to Google, I promise). What’s most iconic, however, is their vast collection of skulls and skeletons.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/LSNL5AEY6AI6TGQW3RKR5JNEHM.jpg&w=916" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="800" height="430" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/LSNL5AEY6AI6TGQW3RKR5JNEHM.jpg&w=916" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glimpse at just some of the skulls. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/this-online-exhibit-of-jaw-tumors-human-skulls-and-cysts-will-either-intrigue-you-or-gross-you-out/2019/06/28/8f221b30-9776-11e9-8d0a-5edd7e2025b1_story.html" target="_blank">Source</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /><a href="http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/hyrtl-skull-collection/">The Hyrtl Skull Collection</a> came into the museum’s possession in 1874 through Dr. Joseph Hyrtl, a Viennese physician who studied 139 skulls to disprove phrenology, a popular theory at the time that stated a person’s intelligence, race, and personality could be determined by the shape and size of their skull. Hyrtl documented his findings on the sides of the skulls and his subjects mainly comprised of the poor and criminals from all over the world. Amongst those on display in the cabinet are Andrew Sokoloff, a Russian man who died of self-inflicted castration, and Francisa Seycora, a famous Viennese prostitute who died at 19 from meningitis. The skulls themselves are just as varied as the people they came from, with no two looking the same. Some have bullet holes, others are partially decayed, and absolutely none of them resemble the perfectly clean and symmetrical skull that Halloween aisles proudly display. As easy as it is to get caught up in the morbid fascination of it all, these were once real people just like you and me.<div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/3224/3085709748_4ff8b93905_c.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="532" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/3224/3085709748_4ff8b93905_c.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The skeleton of conjoined twins. <a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/3224/3085709748_4ff8b93905_c.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /> While it’s easy to dismiss the Mütter’s collection as morbid, it served an important purpose: to improve medical education. The museum is now run by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, who use the acquisitions for research purposes. <a href="http://muttermuseum.org/news/new-exhibit-FOP/">Carol Orzel</a> passed away in 2018 from Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, a rare disease that causes tissue to turn to bone. She donated her skeleton for the purpose of bringing public awareness to the disease and in hopes of researchers eventually developing a cure. Carol is displayed next to <a href="http://memento.muttermuseum.org/detail/fibrodysplasia-ossificans-progressiva" target="_blank">Harry Eastlack</a>, who also had FOP and requested his body be used for research purposes. Harry’s case is still the most well-known when it comes to FOP and his body is still referred to in research. It was because of his skeleton that scientists were able to determine which gene is responsible for FOP, leading to ongoing trials for potential cures.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/8674/16209352240_ba62b88422_b.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="570" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8674/16209352240_ba62b88422_b.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The skeleton of Harry Eastlack. <a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/8674/16209352240_ba62b88422_b.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /> Though not every specimen in the Mütter is used to advance current medical research, it is impossible to deny the importance of this unique and sometimes disturbing collection. It’s easy to dismiss the museum as a cabinet of curiosities, but in reality, the Mütter has led to significant contributions in the medical field. Maybe I’ll keep the skeleton hanging on the door for just a bit longer.<div><p></p></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://live.staticflickr.com/4141/4880971472_5808f6bb9f_c.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4141/4880971472_5808f6bb9f_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close-up of one of Hyrtl's skulls. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jgmundie/4880971472" target="_blank">Source</a> </td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div>Kara Annetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15394598920069389472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-45604204107216865192021-10-30T14:02:00.001-04:002022-02-01T21:38:14.574-05:00MUST BE THE SEASON OF THE WITCH (AND THE OCCULT AND MAGIC)<div><p><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Musings%20Abroad" target="_blank">Musings Abroad</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Molly%20Gosewich">Molly Gosewich</a></span></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />October occupies a special place in the Gregorian calendar and in our hearts. As soon as September 30th becomes October 1st, you must watch Hocus Pocus while drinking Black tea. I don’t make the rules… But, ever since I can remember, I have been a sucker for every type of media that has to do with witchcraft, magic, and general spook.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />So just as Halloween is impending, we travel to Cornwall in south-west England to steal a look at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, the perfect amalgam of the aforementioned and the occult.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Cecil Williamson, a British Neopagan Warlock, founded a Museum of Witchcraft in Stratford-upon-Avon but later moved to the Isle of Man after local opposition in the 1940s.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In 1951, The Folklore Centre of Superstition and Witchcraft opened with Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, who was featured as the ‘resident witch.’ As time went on, Williamson returned to the mainland to set up a succession of witchcraft museums. Eventually, he settled in the Cornish village of Boscastle and opened the Museum of Witchcraft in 1960.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />This brings us to today. With a selection of beautiful and mysterious objects ranging from shamanic amulets, talisman and ouija boards to grimoires and genitalia-shaped vessels, the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic is quite incredible. As a meaningful site for practitioners of Wicca, Paganism, and other esoteric traditions – the non-practicing public is welcomed too, including those interested in folklore, like myself.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />In the spirit of Spooky Season, I present you with the most curious objects present in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic’s collections.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woe29mtn0z8/YXR0dLIHAvI/AAAAAAAAAxY/b8_ERG1eJrYaGydUqYQFsRyIY-DRRA3zgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1872/4117.jpg" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woe29mtn0z8/YXR0dLIHAvI/AAAAAAAAAxY/b8_ERG1eJrYaGydUqYQFsRyIY-DRRA3zgCLcBGAsYHQ/w630-h640/4117.jpg" width="630" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Incense Stick Holder</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brass</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/4117-incense-stick-holder/" target="_blank">Source: MWM</a></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h1C5RRgDH6M/YXR4x9uDvjI/AAAAAAAAAxg/VKO2-8IERAcZ7o_SYkNKk12SJ6VpGtvwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/4098.jpg" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="445" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h1C5RRgDH6M/YXR4x9uDvjI/AAAAAAAAAxg/VKO2-8IERAcZ7o_SYkNKk12SJ6VpGtvwACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h445/4098.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Poppet of a Vicar</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wax, hair, metal, paper, wood, glass</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/poppet-of-vicar/" target="_blank">Source: MWM</a></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />This puppet pictured above is equally creepy and cool. Copyright information states that it is likely from Battle, East Sussex and Victorian, although a slightly later date of c. 1920 seems more likely. The Museum's Director has tried and failed to identify the church depicted in the painting attached to the back of the box. I would not want to be the guy inside the box, someone definitely had it out for him.<br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob6BerSRc_0/YXSAzfrnliI/AAAAAAAAAxo/R3h_0w8xrmwG3_9bb3jgrALYLJGGN65dgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/1983.jpg" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="504" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob6BerSRc_0/YXSAzfrnliI/AAAAAAAAAxo/R3h_0w8xrmwG3_9bb3jgrALYLJGGN65dgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h504/1983.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Photograph</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/photograph-52/" target="_blank">Source: MWM</a></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Perhaps the creepiest object I found is a photograph of a woman named Joan Wytte aka the Fighting Fairy Woman of Bodmin. According to folklore, she was a witch and clairvoyant who lived in Bodmin, Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. Her nickname, the Fighting Fairy Woman of Bodmin, is in reference to her short stature and her even shorter temper. According to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#">Strange Remains</a>, "The legends of Joan Wytte state that she was born around 1775 in Bodmin... She was infamous for her tendency to pick fights. During a particularly nasty fight, she injured a couple people pretty bad and was arrested. She became ill in 1813, while in jail, and died at 38 years-old."<br /><br />The photograph above was taken prior to her burial in 1998, as her bones had been interred for some time. They were also used for seances and other practices, and were eventually hung on the wall of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. </span>Her bones are pictured here within a fleece lined blanket, along with a headstone and dish containing a clay pipe, tobacco, brandy, oils, herbs, and incense.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> It is alleged that while her skeleton was on display, they started to experience disruptive poltergeists... very spooky. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can check out the <a href="https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/search/" target="_blank">MWM</a> Collections for more photographs of her skeleton. If you're brave enough!<br /><br /><br /></span><br /></div>Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-68657312636552923832021-10-27T01:44:00.001-04:002021-10-27T01:44:27.564-04:00INTANGIBLE HERITAGE: PRESERVING IDEAS <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Heritage%20Moments" target="_blank">Heritage Moments</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Annabelle%20Kolomeisky" target="_blank">Annabelle Kolomeisky </a> <br /><hr color="“black”" size="“1”" />As a person studying in Museum Studies, I often think in a very material sense. Thinking mostly of heritage being portrayed through physical spaces, such as protected heritage sites, and traditional objects such as the collections on display in museums, it is easy to forget the larger umbrella that covers what else heritage can be.<br /><br />The overarching <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=define+heritage+&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA906CA906&sxsrf=AOaemvIi7wypCLGdsTCsNqUDLWoP_fIK0g%3A1635176846249&ei=jtF2Yeq_Dv-lqtsP15Od0AI&ved=0ahUKEwjqvsK49OXzAhX_kmoFHddJByoQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=define+heritage+&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEOgcIABBHELADOgQIIxAnOgUIABCRAjoLCC4QgAQQsQMQgwE6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggIABCABBCxAzoJCCMQJxBGEPsBOgQILhAnOgQIABBDOgoILhDHARCvARBDOhAILhCxAxCDARDHARDRAxBDOgcIABCxAxBDOgkIIxAnEEYQ-QE6CAguEIAEELEDOgsILhCABBDHARCvAToLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6BAgAEAo6BwgAEIAEEAo6CggAEIAEEIcCEBRKBAhBGABQ_OHiAliW8eICYKny4gJoA3ACeACAAYgBiAHNDJIBBDExLjWYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz" target="_blank">definition</a> of heritage, according to Google, is: “property that is or may be inherited,” or “valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations.” Meaning, heritage in a broader sense can be understood as something, whether it be physical or not, that is inherited or passed down. It has less focus on what the piece of heritage actually might be physically and has a greater focus on the traditional and cultural impact the piece of heritage may have on society and the communities they originated from. <br /><br />With this understanding of what heritage can include, it provides us an opportunity to take a look at a different type of heritage – intangible heritage. Intangible cultural heritage, according to <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/what-is-intangible-heritage-00003" target="_blank">UNESCO</a>, are “traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants,” with examples including “oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.” <br /><br />Under the lists of "<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists?text=&multinational=3&display1=inscriptionID#tabs" target="_blank">Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of good safeguarding practices</a>," one can explore the different traditions and practices that are being preserved and recorded for the future memory of these cultural valuable intangible heritage pieces. These examples range from commonly practiced and well-known traditions such as the traditional Neapolitan culinary practice of ‘<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/art-of-neapolitan-pizzaiuolo-00722" target="_blank">Pizzaiuolo</a>,' the four phases of preparing traditional Neapolitan pizza (<a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/03/eating-your-history-pasta-and.html" target="_blank">as described by a MMST colleague who wrote about it recently</a>!), to less well-known traditions such as the traditional <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/traditional-vallenato-music-of-the-greater-magdalena-region-01095" target="_blank">Vallenato music </a>of the Greater Magdalena region in Colombia. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H-grMO33Y50/YXbzrtz06dI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/0UYszWuoCp0Sz8VBmVr-6f-hqaz3YlDFQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1000" height="424" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H-grMO33Y50/YXbzrtz06dI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/0UYszWuoCp0Sz8VBmVr-6f-hqaz3YlDFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h424/image.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Performance by traditional Vallenato musician | <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/traditional-vallenato-music-of-the-greater-magdalena-region-01095" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />While some of the traditions may continue to be passed on strongly, many traditions that are listed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage face serious danger of being forgotten and are noted to be in need of urgent safeguarding. For instance, one of these endangered traditions is the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/ma-di-bowl-lyre-music-and-dance-01187" target="_blank">Ma’di bowl lyre music and dance</a> from Uganda. These songs and dances are based on by the community’s ancestors and are traditionally performed in various important community situations. Many rituals are also associated with the creation and use of the lyre as well. These traditional songs and dances were used to strengthen family ties and communities, as well as to educate from generation to generation. However, these traditions are now endangered, with the younger generations seeing them as old-fashioned. If these traditions are not be widely practiced, it may result in the loss of knowledge associated with them – in other words, the historical and cultural significance that is tied to these practices.<div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DcA-VWYadPU/YXbzErJ-78I/AAAAAAAAAnI/xCNXyM3giUERd-j-adnYPsTN9mJD_qsFwCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="480" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DcA-VWYadPU/YXbzErJ-78I/AAAAAAAAAnI/xCNXyM3giUERd-j-adnYPsTN9mJD_qsFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/image.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Performance featuring the Ma'di bowl lyre | <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/photo-pop-up-00973?photoID=10197" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Looking at and preserving intangible heritage is extremely important, especially as we attempt to preserve the histories and traditions of cultures that rely on oral traditions, rather than material ones. Especially as emerging museum professionals, we must understand that different cultures present different traditions that are practiced and understood in different ways. Therefore, as we attempt to represent these cultures and work with local communities to preserve their traditions, we must look at all types of heritage – not just your average material collection in an object-based museum, but, rather, the intangible heritage as well. <br /><br />If you are interested to see what intangible cultural heritage is being protected under UNESCO, you can visit their website and take a look at their <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists?text=dance&multinational=3&display1=inscriptionID#tabs" target="_blank">list</a>. Explore the different traditions from around the world that are being preserved and learn about international heritage from a different perspective!</div>Annabelle Kolomeiskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01952775102378099913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-24516631247819800182021-10-22T10:52:00.006-04:002021-11-03T19:04:34.138-04:00LETTER FROM THE CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF<p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Letter%20from%20the%20Editor" style="color: #339999; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Letter from the </a><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Letter%20from%20the%20Editor" style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339999;">Editors</span></a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search?q=Molly+Gosewich" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339999;">Molly Gosewich</span></a> and <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search?q=Jefimija+Vujcic" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339999;">Jefimija Vujcic</span></a></p><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Sans"; font-size: 15.4px;" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-84f4e4e8-7fff-72ec-fd1c-0ee607e8e1b4"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello Musings readers! Editor-in-Chiefs (Molly and Mia) sat down to chat about our respective summers and what we’re looking forward to this school year.</span></p></span></span><span><span><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cR5hJdOUXgM/YXK_r3hYj3I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/LisBdccsJXoqENPEI4sqeu9CEbh_nfDaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1016/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-10-22%2Bat%2B9.41.23%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="838" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cR5hJdOUXgM/YXK_r3hYj3I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/LisBdccsJXoqENPEI4sqeu9CEbh_nfDaQCLcBGAsYHQ/w330-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-10-22%2Bat%2B9.41.23%2BAM.png" width="330" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQWRmmCQ2pQ/YXLLOzYmdvI/AAAAAAAAAxM/DHbWlN0n4JwiDaFosbAdDWot7Ccr2aAdACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/247204138_3064335427179857_296918010095360817_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQWRmmCQ2pQ/YXLLOzYmdvI/AAAAAAAAAxM/DHbWlN0n4JwiDaFosbAdDWot7Ccr2aAdACLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/247204138_3064335427179857_296918010095360817_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MOLLY:</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> How was your summer, Mia?</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIA:</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Very busy, but very good! From May to June, I completed the summer course </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MSL2303H: ‘Difficult’ Heritages and Precarious Times</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with Prof. Shiralee Hudson Hill. Despite the heavy nature of the topics we were covering (especially the ones which were simultaneously hitting front-page news), I feel much better equipped to tackle these issues with care and accuracy in my research and work. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since June, I have been working at the Ontario Heritage Trust as an archaeology collections technician. I began my internship working from home, reviewing and editing records for collections which will be going online very soon! Later on, I also got a chance to visit some of the Trust’s sites, to work in the lab, and even at a fieldwork site – processing artefacts and cataloguing associated documentation. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, I wrapped up co-curating an exhibit</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at the Oshawa Museum (</span><a href="https://oshawamuseum.wordpress.com/2021/10/15/discovering-leaving-home-finding-home-in-oshawa/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leaving Home, Finding Home in Oshawa: Displaced Persons and Stories of Immigration</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), which I started working on over three years ago! </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And what did you get up to?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHC3-GzE7Kw/YXLKl8I1ThI/AAAAAAAAAxA/f3MthF4Bxv0v-EUEMdwV5TsYP1INJzlhACLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/247026442_415307130243696_3560680719313870584_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHC3-GzE7Kw/YXLKl8I1ThI/AAAAAAAAAxA/f3MthF4Bxv0v-EUEMdwV5TsYP1INJzlhACLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/247026442_415307130243696_3560680719313870584_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Ashbridge Estate (a property of the Ontario Heritage Trust).<br />Photo courtesy of Jefimija Vujcic.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><p></p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></span></span></div><span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MOLLY:</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That sounds great. I was also quite busy... it was quite the summer </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">– </span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I worked as a Research Assistant with Dr. Anna Shternshis on projects relating to Jewry in Soviet Russia and Central Asia. I learned a lot about the Jewish presence in specific places like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Romania, and Ukraine. I’ll definitely have to write an article about it...</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also completed my German Level A1, took an elective course called <i>Managing AudioVisual Material</i>, volunteered at the Ontario Jewish Archives, and <u>finally</u> submitted my thesis proposal. I hear you also submitted yours. What was like that?</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIA: </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looking forward to reading that article! Yes I did, back at the end of May; so much has happened since then that I almost forgot! It was definitely exciting to finally pass that milestone.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MOLLY: </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And work aside, how was your summer? Anything fun?</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIA:</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Nothing terribly exciting! I finally went to the theatre again – I watched </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">R + J</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a production of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Romeo and Juliet</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, at the Stratford Festival. Getting to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the AGO was another highlight! I also chipped away at my current novel writing project and started learning a bit of Italian for fun. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about you? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MOLLY: </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hung out a lot in parks and tried to soak up the sunshine, I did a little day-trip to Thornbury which was LOVELY and the house where we stayed was absolutely bursting with Canadian art... and of course, I started writing for Musings! It has been great so far, I get to explore my favourite topics. My most recent article is on <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/10/what-even-is-jewish-art-marc-chagall.html" target="_blank">Marc Chagall and the School of Paris exhibition</a> that is wrapping up at the</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme</span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in Paris</span>. He is one of my favourite artists and the mahJ is one of my favourite museums ever so it just felt right.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIA: </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m also excited to get writing for my column </span><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Museum%20Mysteries" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Museum Mysteries</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> again! </span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">else are you looking forward to this year?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MOLLY: </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OMG... getting into writing our theses will be fun. I’ll (fingers crossed) be going to Germany in March to do some archival research so I seriously can’t wait for that. And of course, being able to actually be on campus is quite nice – I’m loving the Inforum. Who can forget seeing my cohort IRL. Happy to be back!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">MIA: </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, totally agree, can’t wait to get started on writing itself! So far this year, I’ve also been loving popping into the library to get some work done, just like old times. I’m also looking forward to finally meeting everyone in person and to exploring museums together (with people who just 'get' it!). </span></div></span></span></div></div>Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-77360283283533864082021-10-08T00:00:00.042-04:002021-10-25T14:39:38.936-04:00WHAT EVEN IS JEWISH ART? MARC CHAGALL AND THE ÉCOLE DE PARIS AT mahJ (PART 2)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Musings%20Abroad" target="_blank">Musings Abroad</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Molly%20Gosewich" target="_blank">Molly Gosewich</a></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nyj5WApvn5U/YUzYPPXSHsI/AAAAAAAAAvg/6zlTZvWyo0o3vW-vSXjzr9eyLAbz1PqiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s902/Marc_Chagall%252C_1913%252C_Paris_par_la_fene%25CC%2582tre_%2528Paris_Through_the_Window%2529%252C_oil_on_canvas%252C_136_x_141.9_cm%252C_Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum%252C_New_York.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="902" height="614" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nyj5WApvn5U/YUzYPPXSHsI/AAAAAAAAAvg/6zlTZvWyo0o3vW-vSXjzr9eyLAbz1PqiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h614/Marc_Chagall%252C_1913%252C_Paris_par_la_fene%25CC%2582tre_%2528Paris_Through_the_Window%2529%252C_oil_on_canvas%252C_136_x_141.9_cm%252C_Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum%252C_New_York.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Paris through the Window</span></i></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Marc Chagall, 1913</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-43200d25-7fff-a57c-4f72-b31bd146bb41" style="font-family: inherit;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/10/what-even-is-jewish-art-marc-chagall.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, I brought up the influence of Jewish iconography, culture and even language on Chagall's work and on the School of Paris. Though Paris played an influencing role in his oeuvre, Chagall was a Jewish artist, and many of his paintings were inspired by Jewish life — specifically life under the heel of tsarist Russia and the Russian revolution. Despite his immersion in this Russian-Christian culture throughout his early life and the charming, kitschy work from his time in Paris, his art was emphatically and recognizably Jewish. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Straying away from Paris as a setting for his paintings, Chagall’s most revered works are actually set in his hometown of Vitebsk. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marc Chagall, then Moishe Hatskelev Shagal, was born in 1887 into a poor Hasidic family living on the outskirts of Vitebsk, Russia — a moderately sized, conservative Jewish shtetl now located in modern-day Belarus. Vitebsk had also become a center of Hasidism, a populist branch of Judaism that embraced a more egalitarian approach to religion, eschewing the “elitist intellectualism of Talmudic Judaism” for a more spiritual, intuitive, and devotional relationship with the immanent God (Koch, 61). This bled into his work – heavily. Chagall is the truest representation of two worlds – the old traditional world of Russia (evident in his work of the shtetl and relevant figures) and the new world of Paris, complete with figuration and abstraction. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Besides the undeniable Jewish allegories, imagery, and iconography, his association with the School of Paris is clear, Chagall is almost synonymous with quasi-deformations of the face and physique; phantasmagorical arrangements of objects in space, foreseeing surrealism. We can find a Fauvist-inspirited use of colours, either unworldly, romantic, or outside the natural bounds of objects and forms; abstract shapes and semi-geometric depictions of figures, drawn from Cubist tradition. Also present in various works are: Orphism’s fondness for expansive light and colourful circles, the focused chromatic shapes of Suprematism, the dynamic movement and distinct diagonal lines of Futurism, and abstraction of Russian Rayonism (Harshav 35). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a61RJZHyRZU/YUzaQA2oKdI/AAAAAAAAAvo/rpT6Bfa1hfkX85bFpzo6p_XWk8rUTqTRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s930/the-marketplace-vitebsk-marc-chagall-1917-c901590e.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="930" height="438" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a61RJZHyRZU/YUzaQA2oKdI/AAAAAAAAAvo/rpT6Bfa1hfkX85bFpzo6p_XWk8rUTqTRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h438/the-marketplace-vitebsk-marc-chagall-1917-c901590e.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Marketplace, Vitebsk</i></span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Marc Chagall, 1917</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chagall was not an artist who focused on physical perfection or idyllic images in the ways other artists were; those who are familiar with Chagall will find that the mood of his work changes with the passing of time. His pictures can be exuberant, tender, frightened, cynical, emotional, intense, witty or sorrowful, depending on the timbre and circumstances of his life at a given time. During the early years of his happy marriage with his wife Bella, his paintings, frankly sensorial and gratifying, reflect the depth of his love for her. His colour, resonant, vivid, and wild during his happier days, became appropriately hollow, dissonant, and fatigued recalling his work from the more sombre environment of Vitebsk. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wut5OILubI/YUza9zOd2SI/AAAAAAAAAvw/LWTAJdjf6Gw0H-yINkwT88_z8fK7isn9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/27-1024x640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wut5OILubI/YUza9zOd2SI/AAAAAAAAAvw/LWTAJdjf6Gw0H-yINkwT88_z8fK7isn9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h400/27-1024x640.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <i>The Falling Angel</i><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> Marc Chagall, 1923-47<br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here I’ll circle back to the question I posed in <u>Part 1 of this article</u>: What is Jewish art? Scholars, critics, and historians alike have pondered this term, which has been in use for around one-hundred years but has never been explicitly defined or used without prejudice. Avram Kampf, one of the foremost Jewish art historians and scholars of modern and Jewish art, once defined it in terms of "content, in terms of iconography, in terms of the specific use to which objects were put, or the fact that the artist happened to be a Jewish birth."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chagall happened to do all of the above — his connection to and experience with Judaism was crucial to his work. To some, Chagall’s work might be seen as kitschy, naive, childish or fantastic, but he was an unconsciously conscious artist. Although Chagall’s work can certainly be studied through the lens of imagination, yearning, and love, the motifs that make his visual language so distinctive have their origins in something much more mystical, divine, and richly complex. Chagall was an individualist who played with assorted modernist motifs, icons, and themes unbeknownst to some rooted in his Jewish nature — which were of course highly stigmatized and subject to virulent attacks of cultural racism much later in his career (See “Entartete Kunst”) (Griffin, 9). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where Chassidic spiritualism, the shtetl, and other Jewish themes are present in Chagall’s work, the same is true for Litvak-Jewish artist Emmanuel Mané-Katz. But some who joined La Ruche, such as Pinchus Kremegne, Michel Kikoine, Soutine and others, developed different approaches, influenced by French motifs and contemporary currents such as Cubism and Fauvism, which dominated both the Salon d’Automne and Société des Artistes Indépendants </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-jewish-artists-who-helped-create-a-new-school-of-art-in-paris-1.10000122" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Levin, 2021</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). Chagall’s fantastic rendering and use of colour and space ultimately evokes contemporary French and Russian avant-garde styles as well as the ecstatic practice of Hasidic Judaism and the traditions of folk art associated with shtetl culture. Despite attacks from Antisemites and French Nationalisms set on the purity of French Art, mahJ's exhibition pays homage to and illuminates the legacy of this generation of artists unique to the city. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To answer the question, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what is Jewish art?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> — you might have to start in Paris to understand.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span></span></p><!--more--><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p></span><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Click </span><a href="https://www.mahj.org/fr/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-pour-ecole-1905-1940-75360" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> to visit mahJ's website and read more about </span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">"Chagall, Modigliani, Soutine ... Paris pour École, 1905-1940"</span></span></h4><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><hr /><p></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consulted Sources: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://outline.com/zDuGqv" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://outline.com/zDuGqv</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-evolution-of-the-school-of-paris" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-evolution-of-the-school-of-paris</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-jewish-artists-who-helped-create-a-new-school-of-art-in-paris-1.10000122" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-jewish-artists-who-helped-create-a-new-school-of-art-in-paris-1.10000122</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.mahj.org/en/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-as-a-school-1905-1940-75361" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.mahj.org/en/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-as-a-school-1905-1940-75361</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://archive.org/details/marcchagalllostj00hars" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://archive.org/details/marcchagalllostj00hars</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10477/80898/Koch_buffalo_0656A_16647.pdf?sequence=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10477/80898/Koch_buffalo_0656A_16647.pdf?sequence=1</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=etd" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=etd</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/41431161">http://www.jstor.org/stable/41431161</a></span></p><br /></span></div>Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-89602251915543433572021-10-06T00:00:00.009-04:002021-10-25T14:39:50.771-04:00WHAT EVEN IS JEWISH ART? MARC CHAGALL AND THE ÉCOLE DE PARIS AT mahJ (PART 1)<p><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Musings%20Abroad" target="_blank">Musings Abroad</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Molly%20Gosewich">Molly Gosewich</a></span></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div></div></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How long has it been since the world effectively shut down? As restrictions loosen (and I say that loosely), jabs administered, and life begins to show </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>some</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> signs of normalcy, I cannot be the only one who has been plotting (more like pining for) their return across the Atlantic. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Musings Abroad</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, continuing this year, I’ll continue to spotlight the goings-on of international museums/galleries with a deeper dive into specific exhibition topics, and to hopefully provide some travel inspiration for when we can step foot inside international museums again. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To start us off, we have the mahJ – formally known as the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Museum of the Art and History of Judaism) – which I was fortunate enough to visit back in 2019. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UeVIlXyt4Q/YUzTsJDJSaI/AAAAAAAAAu4/y6Lk1GfIZMcefuENqZ_vdlmzLF1AFtZ6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1528/IMG_9132.jpg" style="font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="1013" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UeVIlXyt4Q/YUzTsJDJSaI/AAAAAAAAAu4/y6Lk1GfIZMcefuENqZ_vdlmzLF1AFtZ6QCLcBGAsYHQ/w424-h640/IMG_9132.jpg" width="424" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px;">Photo courtesy of the author (2019)</span></span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Located in the Marais District, once the Jewish hub of Paris, the mahJ is home to the largest collection of Jewish art and antiquity in France – documenting the rich history and culture of Jews across Europe and North Africa, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Among other stunning Judaic objects, archival manuscripts, and works of art, the mahJ’s collection includes pieces by the legendary </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Chagall" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marc Chagall</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amedeo Modigliani</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which are conveniently on display until </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">October 31 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in an </span><a href="https://www.mahj.org/en/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-as-a-school-1905-1940-75361" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">exhibition</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> focusing solely on Jewish artists within the “École de Paris” (School of Paris). The term coined sometime before 1925, was in fact tinged with antisemitism, due to the tendency to lump foreigners together in this way (Fayard, 2001). </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many Jewish émigré artists from major European cities and the Russian Empire (plus Asia and Africa) belonged to the cosmopolitan generation of the School of Paris (or Paris School), one without a common style but with a shared desire for freedom amid pogroms and creative internment (see </span><a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/explore-entartete-kunst-the-nazis-inventory-of-degenerate-art" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Entartete Kunst</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for how art was stifled under the Nazi regime). As we know, Paris was the artistic epicentre of Europe — from La Ruche (“The Hive”) building or on Cité Falguière, in the streets near the Boulevard Raspail to the cafés of Montparnasse. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q2BXzlACRSQ/YUzT_YCUc2I/AAAAAAAAAvE/iYb76Sqdo_0Ji2_mcTx0rxP_2E_zsXY4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s480/image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="454" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q2BXzlACRSQ/YUzT_YCUc2I/AAAAAAAAAvE/iYb76Sqdo_0Ji2_mcTx0rxP_2E_zsXY4ACLcBGAsYHQ/w606-h640/image.jpg" width="606" /></span></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/La-Ruche-et-Montparnasse/FFC6968C418DA6C0" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">La Ruche et Montparnasse</span></a></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Marc Chagall</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-evolution-of-the-school-of-paris" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sotheby’s</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> posits that the School of Paris first appeared at the turn of the century and ended roughly after the conclusion of World War II. However, this “school” was completely abstract, including luminaries associated with several assorted avant-garde movements (such as les Nabis or Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism). Because of the diversity of abstract genres part of the School of Paris, it begs the question: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>what is Jewish art? </u></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, there are many other</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jewish artists within the Paris School (Jules Pascin, Otto Freundlich, and Chana Orloff to name a few) that are captivating in their own right. But, especially to me, as a student in the Jewish Studies Collaborative Specialization, Marc Chagall is of a particular interest to me. Why you may ask? His artistic archive and legacy is deeply imbued with Jewish signifiers and signals a certain collective memory.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A prominent figure in the School of Paris, the Jewish artist Marc Chagall had lived in the city from 1910 to 1914, and quickly absorbed many of the stylistic influences of the avant-garde working in the French capital. Chagall’s “</span><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/492730" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bride with Fan</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” of 1911 is simply enchanting and is indicative of the very delight and radiance typical of his work at this time. Naturally, he became a leading artist of the School of Paris during this time and after his exile from Russia in 1923. In the School of Paris, around 200 artists, most of them being foreigners, had occupied La Ruche at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was a legendary building in the Passage de Dantzig where Yiddish (the language of the Central and Eastern Ashkenazi Jews) reigned supreme. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Marc Chagall arrived in Paris, he settled there with sculptor Zadkine and artists Michel Kikoine and Chaïm Soutine. It is said that Soutine, the native of a small village in Belarus, knew only Yiddish and it was in La Ruche that he learned a few new words in Russian, perhaps in conversation with Chagall (Levin, 2021). Essentially, there was an obvious Jewish influence on a movement that encompassed many Jewish artists, though not calling itself outright a "Jewish" School of Art.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Below you will be two of Chagall's paintings, one of a praying man and one of a shtetl, which both evoke a collective Jewish memory that would have been understood by the Yiddish speakers in the movement.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2nEys8BHTs/YUzUzLsBaLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/52BGBifXKKwmph6rEllnjl0vQIMFreTPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/6lfMyjrXGc4dVlwgCANgIg_chagall2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2nEys8BHTs/YUzUzLsBaLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/52BGBifXKKwmph6rEllnjl0vQIMFreTPgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/6lfMyjrXGc4dVlwgCANgIg_chagall2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Source: <a href="https://bit.ly/3iljGO3" target="_blank">artsy.com</a><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To understand the full extent of Chagall’s contribution and participation in the School of Paris scene, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> his contribution to Jewish art — we have to look back into his earlier days, before he became (to many) one of the greats of art <span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">—</span> that'll come in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Part 2.</u></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br style="font-size: medium; white-space: normal;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consulted Sources: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://outline.com/zDuGqv" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://outline.com/zDuGqv</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-evolution-of-the-school-of-paris" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-evolution-of-the-school-of-paris</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-jewish-artists-who-helped-create-a-new-school-of-art-in-paris-1.10000122" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-jewish-artists-who-helped-create-a-new-school-of-art-in-paris-1.10000122</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.mahj.org/en/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-as-a-school-1905-1940-75361" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.mahj.org/en/programme/chagall-modigliani-soutine-paris-as-a-school-1905-1940-75361</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://archive.org/details/marcchagalllostj00hars" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://archive.org/details/marcchagalllostj00hars</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10477/80898/Koch_buffalo_0656A_16647.pdf?sequence=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10477/80898/Koch_buffalo_0656A_16647.pdf?sequence=1</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=etd" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=etd</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/41431161">http://www.jstor.org/stable/41431161</a></span></p><div><br /></div>Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-7917680265345797982021-09-09T00:00:00.000-04:002021-09-09T00:00:00.206-04:00OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO.... VISIT IN TORONTO<p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-de4b857c-7fff-3a6a-da69-3c13427a6dad"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Beyond%20Tradition" target="_blank">Beyond Traditions</a> | By <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Sarah%20Cozzarin" target="_blank">Sarah Cozzarin</a></span></p></span><a name='more'></a></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">As September and the start of a new semester begins to draw closer, so does the arrival of new students who have never lived in or visited Toronto. As a museum studies student, you may be instantly drawn towards the ROM and the AGO, which lie steps away from campus and the Bissell Building. Both museums contain large and diverse collections and provide a fun experience. As you settle into your new home and begin to explore the city, remember that Toronto holds a treasure trove of museums, untraditional museums, and non-museum experiences for everyone to enjoy! Whether you are a newcomer, a frequent visitor, or a Torontonian, below you will find a list of 5 places to visit that go beyond the traditional ROM and AGO experience.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span></span><br /><b>1. Little Canada<br /></b><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OC-Qnlo6PU8/YSuk-b_6Q-I/AAAAAAAASGk/wqNMCKa4YgM7Ec5zncQL04QQYNlsS_n_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-29%2Bat%2B1.08.19%2BAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="2048" height="361" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OC-Qnlo6PU8/YSuk-b_6Q-I/AAAAAAAASGk/wqNMCKa4YgM7Ec5zncQL04QQYNlsS_n_wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h361/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-29%2Bat%2B1.08.19%2BAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Little Canada Website | <a href="https://little-canada.ca/" target="_blank">Source</a></span></p><div style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></div></span></span><i>Location:</i> Lower Level of 10 Dundas St. East<br /><br /><i>Price: </i>Adult (13-64) $29+HST<br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Children (4-12) $19+HST</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Senior (65+) $25+HST</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><i>Transit:</i><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">1. Walking</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> a. Approximately 20 minutes from Union Station</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> b. Approximately 1 minute from Eaton Centre</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">2. For the subway, take Line 1 (Yonge/University Line) and get off at Dundas station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">3. The Dundas streetcar stops at Yonge St., Little Canada can be found on the northeast corner of the intersection</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">4. 10 Dundas St. E is connected to the underground PATH, located in the G1 quadrant on the map.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">5. Parking is very limited</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><i>Description: </i>Inspired by Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, Little Canada was created by Jean-Louis Benninkmeijer, an immigrant to Canada, and Dave MacLean, a civil engineer and model enthusiast. Little Canada seeks to take visitors of all ages through the Canadian landscape on a miniature scale, celebrating and connecting people to Canada. The extreme detail of each destination makes the miniature’s landscape a work of art. The exhibit represents the current landscape by including construction sites and seasonal décor for Christmas, TIFF, Pride, Caribana, etc. Their current destinations include Niagara, the Golden Horseshoe, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec, the North, and more to come! During your visit and for an additional cost, guests can get themselves scanned and have a 3D “Little Me” printed and placed anywhere within Little Canada.<br /><br /><i>Website:</i><a href="https://little-canada.ca"> https://little-canada.ca</a><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"></p><br /><br /><b>2. Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit Toronto<br /></b><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlMKN1Gk19w/YSumYu7rgXI/AAAAAAAASGs/hJDiPL_XVwEnog2oKSVmC8fGyD63K0rtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/50567700793_9eea32febb_b.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="425" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlMKN1Gk19w/YSumYu7rgXI/AAAAAAAASGs/hJDiPL_XVwEnog2oKSVmC8fGyD63K0rtwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h425/50567700793_9eea32febb_b.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by Can Pac Swire | <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/18378305@N00/50567700793/" target="_blank">Source</a></span></div></span></span><br /><i>Location:</i> 1 Yonge St.<br /><br /><i>Price: </i>Changes between Off-Peak and Peak periods<br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Children (6-16) $24.00</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Basic (17+) 34.99 or $44.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Premium $49.99 or $54.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> VIP $79.99 or $94.99</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><i>Transit:</i><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">1. Approximately 11-minute walk from Union Station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">2. Paid Parking Available at 1 Yonge St.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">3. The closest subway station is Union station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">4. Streetcar and Bus stops:</div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> a. Queens Quay at Yonge St</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> b. Yonge St. at Queens Quay East North</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> c. Yonge St. at Queens Quay West</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> d. Queens Quay East at Freeland St.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><i>Description:</i> The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit is an immersive digital art experience that brings the art of Vincent Van Gogh to life. The captivating and engaging experience first started in Paris, designed and created by Massimiliano Siccardi. Viewers are engrossed in the projection of some of Van Gogh’s most famous works, including <i>Sunflowers, The Bedroom, The Potato Eaters, Starry Night</i>, and much more!<br /><br /><i>Warning</i>: There are sequences of bright flashing lights that may affect those susceptible to photosensitivity and epilepsy.<br /><br /><i>Website:</i><a href="https://www.vangoghexhibit.ca"> https://www.vangoghexhibit.ca</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>3. </b></span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Museum of Illusions</b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1J_WPoyQz4/YSuq_ZHhKwI/AAAAAAAASG8/tobUz6vwZpsnZn522dIvn64F6WB9OeTxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2653/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-29%2Bat%2B11.40.26%2BAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="2653" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1J_WPoyQz4/YSuq_ZHhKwI/AAAAAAAASG8/tobUz6vwZpsnZn522dIvn64F6WB9OeTxwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h285/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-29%2Bat%2B11.40.26%2BAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Museum of Illusions |</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="https://museumofillusions.ca/" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Source</a></div></span><i>Location: </i>132 Front St. East<br /><br /><i>Price: </i>Adult (16+) $24.50<br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Seniors (65+) 21.50</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Child (3-15) $19.50</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><i>Transit:<br /></i></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">1. Approximately 14-minute walk from Union Station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">2. Streetcar and Bus stops:</div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">a. King St. East at Jarvis St. East</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">b. King St. East at Jarvis St West</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">c. King St. East at Sherbourne St.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><i>Description:</i> The Museum of Illusion provides multiple engaging, innovative, and educational experiences for people of all ages. Exhibits include an Infinity Room, Anti-gravity Room, Vortex Tunnel, Infinity Tunnel, a Rotated Room, and much more!<br /><br /><i>Website:</i><a href="https://museumofillusions.ca"> https://museumofillusions.ca</a><br /><b><br /><br /><br />4. Beyond Monet<br /><br /></b><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_GhqPWQnPbs/YSuqocSNNnI/AAAAAAAASG0/fLwDcZZT3LgMJ09YiDLelvUbDeLTVJ6dQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Metro_Toronto_Convention_Centre%252C_Toronto%252C_Canada_%252821652155098%2529.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="479" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_GhqPWQnPbs/YSuqocSNNnI/AAAAAAAASG0/fLwDcZZT3LgMJ09YiDLelvUbDeLTVJ6dQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h479/Metro_Toronto_Convention_Centre%252C_Toronto%252C_Canada_%252821652155098%2529.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><span><span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Metro Toronto Convention Centre | <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metro_Toronto_Convention_Centre,_Toronto,_Canada_(21652155098).jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></div></span></span></span><i>Location: </i>255 Front St. West (Metro Toronto Convention Centre)<br /><br /><i>Price:</i> Changes between Off-Peak and Peak periods<br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Child: $29.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Adult: $39.99 or $49.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Student/Senior: $35.99 or $45.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Premium: $54.99 or $59.99</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> VIP: $99.99</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><i>Transit:<br /></i></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. Approximately 6-minute walk from Union Station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. Closest subway station is Union Station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Street car and Bus Stops</div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">a. Spadina Ave at Front St. West North</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">b. King St. West at John East</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">4. Parking available at Convention Centre in North and South Building. Other parking available in surrounding area </div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div></span><i>Description: </i>For a limited time, Beyond Monet brings Monet’s artwork to life through an audio-visual experience that takes visitors on a journey through impressionism. It is a 3-part multi-sensory experience using music, sound effect, and projection. Some of Monet’s works included are <i>Poppies, Water Lilies, and Impression: Sunrise.</i><br /><br /><i>Warning:</i> Possible sequence of bright flashing lights that may affect those susceptible to photosensitivity and epilepsy.<br /><br />Only available until October 3rd.<br /><br />Website:<a href=" https://monettoronto.com"> https://monettoronto.com</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><br /><br /><br />5. The Distillery Historic District<br /><br /></b><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XlOpEi7atE/YSujiMmzSwI/AAAAAAAASGM/1Mbxmbt4ubo8L5GSFQ8aJKvshxSQr9DAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/toronto-2286659_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1280" height="359" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XlOpEi7atE/YSujiMmzSwI/AAAAAAAASGM/1Mbxmbt4ubo8L5GSFQ8aJKvshxSQr9DAgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h359/toronto-2286659_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Distillery District Heart |</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/toronto-heart-distillery-district-2286659/" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Source</a></div></span><br /><i>Location: </i>55 Mill St.<br /><br /><i>Price: </i>Free (Unless you buy something)<br /><br /><i>Transit:</i><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">1. Approximately 20 minute walk from Union Station</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">2. Streetcar and Bus</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">a. Parliament at Front St. East</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">b. Front St. East at Cherry St.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">c. Mill St. at Cherry St.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">3. Parking</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">a. 33 Mill St.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">b. Along Distillery Lane</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">c. 70 Distillery Lan</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">d. 83 Tannery Road</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">e. 40 Rolling Mills Road</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">f. 100 Cooperage St.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><i>Description: </i>The Distillery District opened in 2003 as a mix between Victorian industrial architecture and modern design. It hosts retail shops, restaurants, and several galleries. Though the Distillery District is not technically a museum, it represents part of the city’s history and is a space for art and culture. Several tours are available, including guided walking, Segway, and a haunted tour. A self-guided tour is also available on their website.<br /></p><br /><i>Website:</i><a href="https://www.thedistillerydistrict.com"> https://www.thedistillerydistrict.com</a><br /><br /><br />I hope everyone can explore Toronto and visit one of the places on this list! Luckily Toronto is filled with unique museums and non-museum experiences for everyone to enjoy. If you have gone to one of these locations, please share your experience with us below! <br /><br /></div><br /></div>Sarah Cozzarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856296481720156961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-17938703313363232162021-09-08T00:00:00.001-04:002021-09-08T00:00:00.201-04:00INTERNSHIP CHECK-IN: AUGUST 2021<p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Internship%20Check-In">Internship Check-in</a> <span>| </span><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Jingshu%20Helen%20Yao" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Jingshu Helen Yao</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /></div><div><br /></div>For this month’s Internship Check-in, I interviewed Loren Wong. Our conversation also inspired me to reflect on my own job searching and internship experience.<br /><br />Loren is working as an intern at the <a href="https://ottawa.ca/en/arts-heritage-and-events/public-art-and-city-ottawa-art-collection/public-art#:~:text=The%20Public%20Art%20Program%20collects,Professional%20Development%20and%20Public%20Education">Public Art Program for the City of Ottawa</a>. While her work includes the installation of artworks in public spaces around the city, Loren’s main responsibility is collections management. Loren targeted opportunities in Ottawa, the city she lives in, during her internship search. She didn’t find many formal job postings online, so she made a lot of cold calls and sent out several emails to potential employers instead. <br /><br />Research is the main part of Loren’s daily tasks, where she looked up information on artists and artworks. For example, she collected background information of pollinator gardens for a meeting on future installations in the city. She is currently compiling a document for her department, consisting of a contact list of artists working in the area for reference and for future commissions. Aside from independent research and writing, Loren also took part in labelling art pieces and deductive tags. Recently, she also did social media posts to promote artworks.<br /><br />Loren admitted that she didn’t like working from home. The main challenge is “one million and one technical difficulties,” as Loren described. To complete her work, she needs access to the city’s database and software. It took weeks to process an application for a computer from the city; access to software licenses and shared drives had become barriers during her internship. Loren believes that work from home also leads to inefficiency of communication, which adds to the potential for problems.<br /><br />“There were weeks when I just sat on my hands and couldn’t do any work because I didn't have access to the database…", Loren related. “Then, after five hours on the phone with IT, I finally gained access and completed all the work in three days.”<br /><br />Since galleries were not open during the time of her internship, Loren couldn’t visit any sites to view the artworks she was working with, but could only rely on her computer.<br /><br />“It’s just me and my dying laptop against the world,” Loren quipped.<br /><br />Even with the advantages of not having to commute and having flexible working hours, Loren still much preferred working in-person.<br /><br />Having a background in visual art, Loren really enjoys that she could write about art for her internship. Museology and the process of collection are two of her areas of interest, and she appreciates that she had the chance to look behind the curtain of how an art gallery works.<br /><br />Loren gave a piece of advice for future students in the internship course to not rely solely on the opportunities posted by the MMSt program, especially if they want to work somewhere outside of Toronto. She had a positive experience doing cold calls and felt that many institutions are open minded and happy to take on interns.<br /><br />“A mistake I’ve made, and I hope other people could avoid, is selling yourselves very short during the job search process,” Loren added. She mentioned that imposter syndrome is what always made her freeze at interview questions such as, “Why would you be better at this job than the others? Why should we hire you?” Self-confidence is a simple concept but one which is the most difficult in practice, especially for people from marginalized communities. I resonate with Loren’s sentiment and instead of interviewing another fellow student, I decided to continue this discussion with my own experience.<div><br />I started with very little hope of finding an internship for the summer. The past year of trying to find opportunities in museums had strongly discouraged me. Most jobs I found in the arts and cultural sectors are reserved for Young Canada Works, which require applicants to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents. I am an international student on a study permit, which disqualified me from applying for any of those openings. The fact that I had no background in visual arts or history added to my worries and, at many points during the last year, I had doubted my decision of pursuing museum studies in general.<br /><br />In January, I decided that if I am not able to work during the summer, I might as well go home to visit my family. Later that month, an iSchool email about the <a href="https://www.acontario.ca/">Architectural Conservancy of Ontario</a>’s NextGen Job Shadowing Program caught my attention. It was only a short program consisting of virtual meetings with a host, but I was open to every little opportunity. </div><div><br /></div><div>Among the hosts, I found the<a href="https://www.languagemuseum.ca/"> Canadian Language Museum</a>, an institution that I had previously connected with and always wanted to volunteer for but wasn’t able to due to COVID. Although I applied for the job shadowing program without many expectations, the virtual meetings with museum director Dr. Elaine Gold gave me the chance to ask for an opportunity to work for the museum during the summer. I was surprised by how accommodating they were, developing my internship together with me. I was given the responsibility to conduct research for an upcoming exhibition on Chinese Languages in Canada – related to my background in linguistics and language abilities. I initially worried that my trip back to China would result in a 12-hour difference from Toronto, and even if I could work remotely, it wouldn’t be ideal. But my hosts were willing to do our weekly meetings first thing in the morning at 9 am, which allowed me to return home while still being able to work a regular schedule.</div><div><br />I appreciated my host’s efforts to help me get the most out of my internship experience, and I started to think about ways in which I could use my situation to benefit to the work I was doing. I was also in charge of updating a list of language museums around the world, among which several museums are located in China. However, language barriers and internet restrictions made it difficult to research them. I reached out to <a href="http://en.shisu.edu.cn/">Shanghai International Studies University</a> (SISU) and visited their language museum to make the connection. It turned out to be a surprising experience and you can read about it in <a href="https://langmusecad.wordpress.com/2021/06/29/museum-of-world-languages-at-shanghai-international-studies-university/">my blog post here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NZW8gl2cD1s/YSA5eZLU0hI/AAAAAAAAA-o/s399jJ_p3gkpZcbMq0nDYeKiDBI9uKctQCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_6022.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Museum of World Languages at SISU | Photo courtesy of the author. </span><br style="text-align: left;" /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />My international status was one of my disadvantages from the beginning, but it ended up becoming a unique opportunity. It gave me hope that I may bring something different to my studies and in my work experience in Canada, and my internship helped to explore different possibilities to make the most of my museum studies experience. </div>Jingshu Helen Yaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05287609143375585406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-85312789177714625512021-08-19T00:00:00.001-04:002021-08-19T00:00:00.217-04:00WHAT WE CHOOSE TO REMEMBER: REMOVING MONUMENTS AS A STEP TOWARDS RECONCILIATION<br /><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Breaking%20the%20Glass%20Case" target="_blank">Breaking the Glass Case</a> | <a href="https://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Megan%20Mahon">Megan C. Mahon</a><div>___________________________________________________________________________________</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> Content Warning: Residential Schools <br /><br /><br />On July 1st, in my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a rally was held in support of Indigenous peoples and residential school survivors in lieu of Canada Day celebrations. During this peaceful rally, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684" target="_blank">a statue of Queen Victoria which sat on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature was toppled</a>. Participants wrapped the statue in ropes and covered it in red paint, and brought the old queen of England crashing to the ground. In her place was left a sign which read, “We were children once. Bring them home.” Today, a month and a half later, the statue is gone but the plinth remains, covered in red handprints as a poignant reminder of the so-called country of Canada’s colonial past.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5TcfKGGM_AA/YRrWM0j9sKI/AAAAAAAAACA/m9DYbu40c3wmUulgzS_GJlF-mgI4-O0gwCLcBGAsYHQ/s780/queen-victoria-statue-down.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5TcfKGGM_AA/YRrWM0j9sKI/AAAAAAAAACA/m9DYbu40c3wmUulgzS_GJlF-mgI4-O0gwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h362/queen-victoria-statue-down.webp" title="Protestors topple the statue of Queen Victoria. Source: Travis Golby, CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Protestors topple a statue of Queen Victoria at the Manitoba Legislature. Source: Travis Golby, CBC. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684</a></span></div><br /><br />Predictably, after this happened, a group of people who had likely never given this statue a second glance came out of the woodwork, arguing that Vandalism Is Bad and Statues Deserve Human Rights. Encouragingly, they were met with a great number of detractors who countered that the statue of Queen Victoria was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-winnipeg-statues-residential-schools-colonialism-british-empire-1.6090322">a horrible reminder to Indigenous peoples</a> of Canada’s genocidal policies towards them, and that removing her likeness was a small step towards truth and reconciliation. I’m sure you know that this author – a white settler of British descent – believes that the latter view is the correct one. However, far more relevant to this discussion than the author’s views is the question: what’s to be done with this statue, now that history has finally caught up with it?<br /><br /> It needs to be noted that this is <i>not</i> the first time this statue has been subject to protests. In the summer of 2020, during a rally in support of Black Lives Matter, it was dashed in red and white paint. If this history is any indication, then Manitobans have already made their feelings about the statue perfectly clear. So, clearing the statue of its paint, removing the messages of support for Indigenous people from its plinth, and reinstating Queenie V isn’t an option. It would be a slap in the face to those fighting for truth and reconciliation (also, objectively speaking, the statue is an eyesore). What, then, is to be done with it?</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5m93KnECNuc/YRrXiSWZDZI/AAAAAAAAACQ/KbRaqbSTxAEcmpw26VaqVU1xqRPVgEhqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/red%2Bhandprints.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5m93KnECNuc/YRrXiSWZDZI/AAAAAAAAACQ/KbRaqbSTxAEcmpw26VaqVU1xqRPVgEhqgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/red%2Bhandprints.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Red handprints adorn the plinth where the statue of Queen Victoria once stood. Source: Gary Robson, CTV News. <a href="https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/statues-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-queen-victoria-toppled-at-manitoba-legislature-1.5493572">https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/statues-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-queen-victoria-toppled-at-manitoba-legislature-1.5493572</a></span></div><br /><br /> From a Museum Studies perspective, I would love to see this plinth remain as a marker in our history: a representation of the people’s will and a reminder to settler Canadians that Canada’s genocidal past is not past at all. The statue of Victoria can be melted for scrap, for all I care – it's not the important part anymore. The plinth, with its multitude of red handprints, can rest on the legislature along with other important figures in Manitoba’s history (most of which, it must be said, are white and male) as a call to action, and a reminder that until the truth is uncovered and reparations are made, there can be no reconciliation at all. <br /><br /> What are statues, after all, besides physical manifestations of that which a nation chooses to remember? A monument stands as a representation of history: a Sparknotes summary, if you will, of the most important bits. People can observe these relics and see what about their country’s identity is important enough to be cast in stone. By showing Queen Victoria, <a href="https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/statues-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-queen-victoria-toppled-at-manitoba-legislature-1.5493572" target="_blank">we were celebrating our history of British colonialism</a>. By tearing her down, we were indicating that we no longer value what she represents. If the Manitoba government decides to leave the plinth as it is, red handprints and all – as I sincerely hope they do – it will serve as a marker of the chapter in our history where settler Canadians were forced to reckon with a past that has been not hidden, but rather ignored for far too long.<br /><br /> The most important thing that we can do about this statue, however, is to <i>ask Indigenous communities what they believe should be done with it</i>. There’s no situation where the status of reconciliation improves if Indigenous people are not consulted about the ways that the history of this land should be portrayed. In fact, it’s not just reconciliation that’s at stake: Indigenous people need to be included in all aspects of our decision making for the future of our world. Indigenous land and water defenders have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change for decades, <span><a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/whats-happening-in-fairy-creek-an-explainer-on-the-fight-over-b-c-s-old-growth-forests" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">including at Fairy Creek in Pacheedaht Territory.</a></span> So, no, this issue isn’t just about an exceedingly ugly statue. It’s about ensuring Indigenous involvement in re-shaping the ways we view our past, so we can save our future. <br /><br /> Although there’s no word on what’s to be done with the statue as of yet, we can only hope that the Manitoba government – and governments all across Canada who are facing similar situations – will heed the words of those who tore Queen Victoria down: this statue no longer represents who we want to be. Let’s create new monuments, to a better and more equal future, together.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Further Reading</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div>Devon McKendrick. "Statues of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria toppled at Manitoba Legislature."<div><a href="https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/statues-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-queen-victoria-toppled-at-manitoba-legislature-1.5493572.">https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/statues-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-queen-victoria-toppled-at-manitoba-legislature-1.5493572.</a></div><div><br /></div>Rachel Bergen. "Mother figure or colonial oppressor? Examining Queen Victoria's legacy after Winnipeg statue toppled." <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-winnipeg-statues-residential-schools-colonialism-british-empire-1.6090322">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-winnipeg-statues-residential-schools-colonialism-british-empire-1.6090322</a><div><br /></div><div>Nia Williams. "What's happening in Fairy Creek? An explainer on the fight over B.C.'s old-growth forests." https://nationalpost.com/news/whats-happening-in-fairy-creek-an-explainer-on-the-fight-over-b-c-s-old-growth-forests.<div><br /></div>"2 statues of queens toppled at Manitoba Legislature." <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-winnipeg-1.6087684</a><div><br /></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><u><br /></u></div></div>Megan Mahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366598396071320664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-54939932488002734292021-08-17T20:26:00.002-04:002021-08-17T20:26:40.377-04:00GROUNDWORK AND THE ANIMACY OF STONE <p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Exhibition%20Reviews" target="_blank">Exhibition Reviews</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Rachel%20Deiterding" target="_blank">Rachel Deiterding</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /><span style="background-color: white;">In human timescales, stone signifies unwavering permanence. As <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/pmed.2009.1" target="_blank">Jeffery Jerome Cohen</a> unearths the animacy of stone, he asks “if stone could speak, what would it say about us?” While seemingly speculative, his inquiry asks us to re-imagine our relationship to the earth and introduces us to rock bodies as agents. When I first encountered this question it was earth-shattering. It shifted the way that I understood the world and my position within it. I was no longer a scientific ecological observer, but a collaborative member of a vast network of ecosystems made up of complex relations. This was the first step in a continued journey of confronting and unlearning colonial understandings of land, ownership, and extraction. My research has since been focused on bridging the gap between the human and the non-human, learning from Indigenous stewards of the lands on which I am a guest, and building relationships that are based in deep localized reciprocity. I have a new language to learn – we all do – and stone has much to teach us if we could only learn how to listen. <div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DIVeVak4-k/YRlATnLXWpI/AAAAAAAAB3U/422Ly96RBkkekBUHUlvPQDqa2z-OP8bVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s610/screens%2Ball%2B3%2B%252BTSema.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="610" height="432" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DIVeVak4-k/YRlATnLXWpI/AAAAAAAAB3U/422Ly96RBkkekBUHUlvPQDqa2z-OP8bVgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h432/screens%2Ball%2B3%2B%252BTSema.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Groundwork</i>, installation view, 2021 | Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid | <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/groundwork/#more-15462" target="_blank">Source</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Exploring extractivism as a physical process and a mindset, <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/groundwork/" target="_blank">Groundwork</a> is on view at <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/" target="_blank">Critical Distance Centre for Curators</a> (from May to August 2021). The exhibition goes beyond merely drawing attention to extraction to think about how performance can be mobilized to challenge and reconfigure our relationships to land using methods of camouflage and infiltration. </div><div><br /></div><div>Upon entering, an ambient soundtrack flows through the exhibition space. Its uncanny and alien resonances set the tone for the barren landscapes decimated by extraction and the uneven power relationships between human and non-human beings that underpin the work. <a href="https://alanabartol.com/home.html" target="_blank">Alana Bartol’s</a> Orphan Well Adoption Agency (2017–ongoing) manifests an oil and gas company interested in the decommissioning and reclamation of abandoned oil wells that continue to pollute the landscape. In her video TOTAL FIELD (2017), she is dressed in blue, her vision is blocked with ping pong ball goggles, and she is carrying a mysterious forked branch. She is dowsing, a practice linked to her ancestry where a tool of divination is used to help locate water, oil, and minerals through the pull of the earth. Her performance has a dual function, she explores her own complicated familial relationship with extraction while also performing a close reading of the land to assess its levels of contamination. As an alternative mode of understanding the land, dowsing requires deep listening and a body attuned with the earth to identify and decipher the language of the land that circulates outside of human vocabularies. The work calls for new methods of listening rooted outside of colonial modes of understanding.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYcf-isktQk/YRlD5y7o0UI/AAAAAAAAB3c/8yruhsG_VGI8GBpuLB_71_4rc2WpbHINQCLcBGAsYHQ/s838/OWAA%2BUniforn%2BBartol%2B-%2BToni.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="610" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYcf-isktQk/YRlD5y7o0UI/AAAAAAAAB3c/8yruhsG_VGI8GBpuLB_71_4rc2WpbHINQCLcBGAsYHQ/w466-h640/OWAA%2BUniforn%2BBartol%2B-%2BToni.jpeg" width="466" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alana Barol, <i>OWAA Uniform and Tools, </i>2017 | Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid | <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/groundwork/#more-15462" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>As caretakers and stewards, how can we better learn to listen to the earth and find the patience to undergo the process of translation? In English, a noun-based language, we classify the earth as a thing, something to possess and act upon rather than something that acts itself. We don’t have the language to understand the behaviour of the earth, its non-human inhabitants, and their animacy. In <i><a href="https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass" target="_blank">Braiding Sweetgrass</a></i>, Robin Wall Kimmerer describes her experience learning Potawatomi, pointing out that 70% of the language is verbs. In this context, language shifts everything, bringing the world to life. Suddenly a rock is not simply a rock but is in the act of being a rock, illustrating the underlying animacy of all non-human things.</div><div><br /></div><div>If the earth is alive and speaking to us, do we not have the responsibility to listen? <a href="https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass" target="_blank">Tsēmā Igharas</a>' <i>to protect the womb from x-rays and colonization</i> (2017) features armour constructed from moosehide and copper pennies. The discontinued Canadian currency, extracted from Igharas' home territory of Tahltan Nation where copper mines have wreaked environmental havoc, draws attention to violent histories of extraction and land use. Furthermore, it draws on the potential for constructing realms of safety and balance when natural materials are accessed consciously and with respect for the broader network of relations to which they belong.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byOS75cklAo/YRlG55und2I/AAAAAAAAB3k/HnuZ2ntF49Eqk5-ffo6VUR5b_24eICZBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/Tsema%2Bx2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="610" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byOS75cklAo/YRlG55und2I/AAAAAAAAB3k/HnuZ2ntF49Eqk5-ffo6VUR5b_24eICZBgCLcBGAsYHQ/w488-h640/Tsema%2Bx2.jpeg" width="488" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tsēmā Igharas, Photograph: <i>Re Naturalize no. 7, </i>2015-2016, Sculpture: <i>to protect the womb from x-rays and colonization, </i>2018 | Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid | <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/groundwork/#more-15462" target="_blank">Source</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Returning to Cohen’s question of “if stone could speak, what would it say about us,” <a href="https://ileanahernandezc.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Ileana Hernandez Camacho</a>'s <i>Corps roca</i> (2018–ongoing) gives voice to stone, taking it on as a character and playfully interrogating the relationship between humans and the earth. Presenting rocks as living thinking beings, Hernandez Camacho constructs an alternative understanding of extraction, one where the earth has the agency to speak back, to voice its opinion, and to make its agency visible and naturalized. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QzluQow5o7M/YRlH6ILO4bI/AAAAAAAAB3s/QVwNY3G6570AHycQ6sh8ysuQWVRw_I_igCLcBGAsYHQ/s610/IHL%2Brocks%2Bangle%2B-%2BToni.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="610" height="445" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QzluQow5o7M/YRlH6ILO4bI/AAAAAAAAB3s/QVwNY3G6570AHycQ6sh8ysuQWVRw_I_igCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h445/IHL%2Brocks%2Bangle%2B-%2BToni.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ileana Henandez, <i>Corps roca, </i>2018 | Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid | <a href="https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/groundwork/#more-15462" target="_blank">Source</a><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div>Throughout the exhibition, the artist's bodies are directly evoking and distilling alternative conceptions of land. The viewer is invited to participate by standing on <i>Corps roca</i>’s vibrating platform alongside one of the stone costumes. </span><span style="background-color: white;">As the buzz of stone vibrated through my feet, I was reminded that I have much to do.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">The work not only challenges the way we think about land, but it also calls us to action. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;">Stone has been on earth far longer than any of us, and it is a teacher that holds a wealth of knowledge. How can we be better listeners and learners? Beyond listening, how might we speak back and be better participants in the relations that support and sustain us? All in all, how might the alternatives displayed together in this show assist in reframing the hierarchical language of extraction which dominates colonial societies? While the impact of listening alone has proven limited, </span><i>Groundwork </i>reminds us of our responsibility to the earth and <span style="background-color: white;">asks us to take up deeper listening, a shift in language, and a change in mindset. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><div><div><div><br /></div></div></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-88595479425044433752021-08-03T00:06:00.008-04:002021-08-03T16:00:34.117-04:00SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?: CONTEMPLATING THE LONGEVITY OF VIRTUAL MUSEUMS AND AT-HOME PROGRAMMING<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Beyond%20Tradition" target="_blank">Beyond Traditions</a> | Sarah Cozzarin</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><hr color="black" size="1" /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Museums have always provided opportunities for culture and education to their communities, with many prioritizing involvement with students and others yearning to learn. Since March 2020, museums have adapted to a new socially-distant world, one forcing them to change the way they reach and engage their audiences. Many organizations turned to social media and other digital platforms, shifting from a primarily physical environment and in-person experience to a digital and distant one.</div><br />Before 2020, museums and other GLAM organizations were integrating various technologies – including virtual and digital experiences – into their in-person exhibitions and programming. With the COVID-19 pandemic putting the brick-and-mortar museum experience on pause, museums needed to move beyond traditional in-person programming. The implementation of online virtual programming met the needs of museum audiences in the isolated comfort of their own homes. Some of these programs include virtual tours and field trips, social media challenges, livestreams, video tutorials and much more!<br /><br />With increasing vaccinations and decreasing case numbers, a post-pandemic world appears to be drawing closer. Currently, museums and other GLAM organizations are beginning to reopen and welcome back visitors. This begs the question: What does the future holds for these new virtual at-home programs?<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k9pVWL_7U1I/YQSrL3zeEeI/AAAAAAAASDM/wLvOO3EzCsU_fLd7EOiNeO4aLAGy744gACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Untitled%2Bdesign-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k9pVWL_7U1I/YQSrL3zeEeI/AAAAAAAASDM/wLvOO3EzCsU_fLd7EOiNeO4aLAGy744gACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/Untitled%2Bdesign-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Design by Sarah Cozzarin on Canva</span></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>It is difficult to imagine museums and GLAM organizations fully abandoning virtual at-home programming for several reasons, the first being the uncertainty of the pandemic. Secondly, organizations have spent over a year investing and redistributing staff and resources to provide a variety of virtual offerings and experiences. It would be foolish to completely abandon this financial, and probably labour intensive, investment. Thirdly, virtual programs allow for numerous benefits including access and interaction with fragile objects not suited for display and the ability to reach a wider geographical audience. People have the ability to participate in virtual programs in cities, provinces and countries other than their own. <div><br /></div><div>In early 2019 (well before the COVID-19 pandemic), Carly Straughan discussed the potential of virtual museums in her article titled, <a href="https://www.museumnext.com/article/is-the-future-of-museums-online/">“Is the future of museums online and what might a virtual museum look like?”</a>. After over 18 months locked away from the physical museum space, people are eager to go out and visit museums again. Could the reopening and the surge of in-person visitors threaten the longevity of virtual museums? <br /><br />With the ability to host in-person visitors, museums may be inclined to decrease or stop producing and providing at-home virtual programming for operational and financial needs. Museums and GLAM industries rely heavily on support through fundraising during social events, so, it is no surprise to learn that the museum and GLAM industry has taken a large financial hit after being closed for nearly 18 months. Angel Adegbesan’s article <a href="https://skift.com/2021/07/14/reopened-museums-lean-into-local-tourism-boom/">“Reopened Museums Lean Into Local Tourism Boom”</a> reveals that visitors and museums are both ready to abandon the remote museum experience and renter the physical museum world. In-person visitors spend more money on entrance tickets and merchandise than at-home visitors, where an abundance of virtual programming is free or available at a lower cost. Reopening the physical museum could shift the operational needs of museums, supporting the needs of in-person visitors. With revenue a main motivating factor for most organizations, in-person visitors and programming will likely move the focus of museums away from the virtual world. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEFh5LfZIOg/YQSv8YKFWLI/AAAAAAAASDc/MbeJiB7E6sgDrQbyMB7Ju-zeoguWEJqqACLcBGAsYHQ/s1198/796px-Crowds_in_Vatican_Museum_%25285789666941%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="796" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEFh5LfZIOg/YQSv8YKFWLI/AAAAAAAASDc/MbeJiB7E6sgDrQbyMB7Ju-zeoguWEJqqACLcBGAsYHQ/w426-h640/796px-Crowds_in_Vatican_Museum_%25285789666941%2529.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crowds_in_Vatican_Museum_(5789666941).jpg" target="_blank">Crowds in Vatican Museum</a> | <a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/97006177@N00" target="_blank">Michal Osmenda</a></span></span></div><br />It is hard to imagine that museums and other organizations may abandon virtual at-home programs partially or fully, but with the increase of in-person visitors, available resources and staff will need to be redistributed to accommodate both virtual and in-person visitors. Trying to balance these two spheres of audiences may be a difficult challenge for museums. However, as the last 18 months have taught us, if we can persevere, we are more capable than we think.<br /><br />What are your views on the longevity of virtual museums and at-home programming?</div>Sarah Cozzarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856296481720156961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-36007359874788733042021-07-22T00:00:00.004-04:002021-07-28T21:29:45.515-04:00CAESAR, WHAT'S GOOD?: THE COMPLICATED LEGACY OF CLASSICAL ART<br /><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Breaking%20the%20Glass%20Case" target="_blank">Breaking the Glass Case</a> | Megan C. Mahon<div><div>__________________________________________________________________________</div><div><div><br /></div><div>In almost every <span style="background-color: white;">so-called universal</span> museum in the world, the department of classical art takes pride of place. The most well-known museums – like the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Met – are famous for their vast collections of Greek and Roman art, the pinnacle of the classical period. But what does the term “classical” really mean, especially when museums use it to describe a certain form of art? How is this term implicated in creating a hierarchy of artistic achievement?</div><div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ENOQbscmLaA/YPy1cH4SUPI/AAAAAAAAAAg/P7JekuWFZYEKQ4mXL0-VZyzGellfKoXywCLcBGAsYHQ/BD0CB339-B2BD-4396-9F3C-B2380E947305_1_105_c.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1184" height="358" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ENOQbscmLaA/YPy1cH4SUPI/AAAAAAAAAAg/P7JekuWFZYEKQ4mXL0-VZyzGellfKoXywCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h358/BD0CB339-B2BD-4396-9F3C-B2380E947305_1_105_c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Figures from the East Pediment of the Parthenon at the British Museum. Image courtesy of author.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The beginning of the answer to that question will be very familiar to Museum Studies students. In a process parallel to the inception of modern museums, the term “classical” was first applied to art during the Enlightenment, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/magazine/classics-greece-rome-whiteness.html" target="_blank">when white European scholars were beginning to run into myriad forms of artistic expression in the places they colonized</a>. As a way to enforce the notion of white cultural superiority, these European scholars established<span style="background-color: white;"> their own standard for what the pinnacle of creative achievement should be.</span> Ancient Greek and Roman art – statuary, paintings, mosaics – was positioned as the highest artistic standard, with every other work of art judged in comparison. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, an 18th century antiquarian often named “the father of art history,” even declared that Greek sculpture was <a href="https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/context/interdisciplinary-seminar/whitewashing-antiquity">“the summit of human achievement, past or present.”</a> Winckelmann had obviously never gazed upon the temples of Angkor Wat, or even eaten a taco. But, more seriously, it’s<span style="background-color: white;"> worth</span> noting that this is the same man who, when speaking of once-painted Greco-Roman statues which faded to white over time, also said “the whiter the body is, the more beautiful it is." Racism has been a part of the classical discipline since its inception.</div><br /> So, how<span style="background-color: white;"> is this a problem </span>for museums today? Well, in many institutions – the British Museum being a notable example – the “classical world” is set apart from the art and artifacts of other regions and times. Even the title “classic” suggests that this art is separate, other, original, something to aspire to rather than be judged in its own right. It’s also true that few other works of art, even those from the same time period, are deemed classical: only works from Greece and Rome are granted this title. Many museums also place Mediterranean art in the best, most expensive galleries, while many other works of art, particularly those that have a purpose beyond aesthetic value or those which do not come from Europe, are judged as “artifacts” or “ethnographic items” and relegated to less desirable locations. Feel free to argue with me if you’d like, but the truth is that museums have a lot of work to do in unpacking the connections they’ve reinforced between classical art and white European superiority.</div><div><br />Because the fact is that classics and white supremacy are inextricably linked. Mary Beard, a <span style="background-color: white;">well-known archaeologist and popular non-fiction author</span>, has commented in the past that the classical world is a “vocabulary that can be used for good or ill by would-be emancipators and oppressors alike.” Sure, but isn’t it also true that the classical tradition has been used and re-used by those in power even up to modern day? <a href="https://origins.osu.edu/article/beware-greeks-bearing-gifts-how-neo-nazis-and-ancient-greeks-met-charlottesville." target="_blank">Dictators and white supremacists across time</a> have used the classical world as an inspiration or a rallying cry for their so-called higher purpose. The discipline itself was started by people with an agenda; museums aren’t neutral, and art isn’t either. <br /><br /> The art world, in many ways, defines itself by what we call the classical tradition, but how can museums move beyond this? How can we remove all defining markers, and display art with no standard, no status quo, and no measure of superiority?<br /><br /> The very first thing to do is to do away with the word “classical” entirely, as it implies a standard by which all other art is judged. Using the terms “ancient Roman” or “ancient Mediterranean” instead will change nothing about the art except for the way that we look at it, and it’s a relatively easy thing to do. The second – and far more difficult – task is to incorporate the voices of Indigenous people into museums, particularly in Canada. When Indigenous art is interpreted by Indigenous people (such as at the <a href="http://haidagwaiimuseum.ca/" target="_blank">Haida Gwaii Museum</a> at Kay Llnagaay), it can be understood outside of the settler-colonial context, and outside settler-colonial, Enlightenment-based hierarchies. Allowing Indigenous people to tell their stories, in their own voices, will create more opportunities for reconciliation in Canadian museums.<br /><br /> The final, and most difficult thing that museums everywhere can do is acknowledge where the importance is placed in their collections. The viewing of ancient Mediterranean art is often seen as an escape from the modern world, a journey back to a time of pure, neutral beauty, removed from everyday politics. This neutral, universalist notion, as we all know, is a shield for white supremacy to hide behind. An obvious way to combat this is to include more Indigenous voices and stories in cultural institutions, so that all art can be understood in its own context. When museums can learn to place all art on the same pedestal, we’ll have true artistic and epistemic equality. Until then? Someone get Johann Winckelmann a taco.<br /><br /><br /><br />Further Reading<br /><br /></div><div>Rachel Poser (2021). “He Wants to Save Classics from Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?” The New York Times. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/magazine/classics-greece-rome-whiteness.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/magazine/classics-greece-rome-whiteness.html</a><br /><br />Denise Eileen McCoskey (2018). “Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts: How Neo-Nazis and Ancient Greeks Met in Charlottesville.” Origins 11, no. 11. <a href="https://origins.osu.edu/article/beware-greeks-bearing-gifts-how-neo-nazis-and-ancient-greeks-met-charlottesville">https://origins.osu.edu/article/beware-greeks-bearing-gifts-how-neo-nazis-and-ancient-greeks-met-charlottesville</a>.</div><div><br />Krishnan Ram-Prasad (2019). “Reclaiming the Ancient World.” Eidolon. <a href="https://eidolon.pub/reclaiming-the-ancient-world-c481fc19c0e3">https://eidolon.pub/reclaiming-the-ancient-world-c481fc19c0e3</a>. </div></div></div></div></div>Megan Mahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08366598396071320664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-44056076666907045862021-07-22T00:00:00.002-04:002021-07-22T14:16:35.949-04:00INTERNSHIP CHECK-IN: JULY 2021<p><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Internship%20Check-In">Internship Check-in</a> <span>| </span><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Jingshu%20Helen%20Yao" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Jingshu Helen Yao</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" /></div><div><br /></div>For July's internship check-in, I got in touch with Beatrice Hunter, who is currently working at the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Mississippi Valley Textile Museum</a> in Almonte, Ontario, and Sarah Cavaliere, who is interning with the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Association of Nova Scotia Museums</a> (ANSM).<div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /><div><i>1. Beatrice Hunter and the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum</i></div><div><br />Beatrice was surprised to find out about the location of the Mississippi River in Ontario Canada, and the museum itself is situated about 30 minutes away from Ottawa. Although Beatrice is currently working remotely as a research assistant, she will be traveling to Almonte in a few weeks to continue this internship in-person.</div><div><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-H-u3843mc/YPF48jwBfJI/AAAAAAAAA80/WAJOdGCUrtoDm4LGdSV0nZz7KaDJxh3qwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/46074509601_4dcb36e04e_k.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1422" data-original-width="2048" height="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-H-u3843mc/YPF48jwBfJI/AAAAAAAAA80/WAJOdGCUrtoDm4LGdSV0nZz7KaDJxh3qwCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h444/46074509601_4dcb36e04e_k.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><div><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario | </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiless/46074509601">Flickr</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>The main task for Beatrice’s position is to establish a historical timeline of mills and woolen mills in the Mississippi Valley by consulting primary and secondary research documents. [rearranged] She is responsible for organizing her findings into an Excel spreadsheet and coding the data. Later on, when she is on site, she will collaborate with the volunteers at the museum to create a research binder. [reworded]<br /><br />What most intrigues Beatrice about her role at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is the working class aspect of Canadian history that she gets to explore.<br /><br />“Since I began working in the museum profession as a volunteer, most of the history I've gotten to explore and interpret has been [that of] upper-class Canadians,” Beatrice explained. “This project dealt with working class Canadians, which I was very interested in.” She has been able to apply research skills, collaborative skills, and especially critical analysis skills to produce accurate research accessible for the public.</div><div><br /><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NSDP_TMvrCY/YPF49cFkL3I/AAAAAAAAA84/nxTaVKTpp14CEVKTJpIOCuYgMN9uEo8UgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/48245912356_0ee62186df_k.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="2048" height="437" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NSDP_TMvrCY/YPF49cFkL3I/AAAAAAAAA84/nxTaVKTpp14CEVKTJpIOCuYgMN9uEo8UgCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h437/48245912356_0ee62186df_k.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artifact on Display in <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mississippi Valley Textile Museum | <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiless/48245912356/in/photostream/">Flickr</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span><br />Beatrice found this opportunity through Symplicity, the internship recruitment platform provided by iSchool. She had applied for a dozen positions and didn’t think that the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum would consider her due to her having aspirations in a different area of the museum field than the position encompassed. However, she was thrilled to be offered this opportunity and to connect with various museum professionals during her work. Thus, she would like to suggest other emerging museum professionals approaching the internship course to be open to any opportunities, even when they aren’t aligned with your exact career goal. <br /><br />“You will get to meet some really wonderful people who are very supportive and empathetic and generally really fun to talk to,” Beatrice said. “The skills you learned will be transferable.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>2. Sarah Cavaliere and the Association of Nova Scotia Museums (ANSM)<br /></i><br />Sarah found out about the internship through the emails sent by the Careers Office at the iSchool. Cold-emailing was also a strategy that she took during the job searching process. She specifically reached out to institutions that were affiliated with the university for student internship opportunities.</div><div><br /> <span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"></p></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AlSFde2235A/YPF7A0q_qsI/AAAAAAAAA9c/dp60tlSAX-4w8SXuJvarzszEYbmXWsS7QCNcBGAsYHQ/s300/ansmlogomedium-600x0-c-default.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="300" height="173" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AlSFde2235A/YPF7A0q_qsI/AAAAAAAAA9c/dp60tlSAX-4w8SXuJvarzszEYbmXWsS7QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h173/ansmlogomedium-600x0-c-default.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">Association of Nova Scotia Museums (ANSM) | <a href="https://lamns.ca">LAMNS</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Sarah described ANSM as a small organization. Therefore, her role involved many different aspects of the museum’s operation, where collections and educational programming were the main focus.<br /><br />“I work with the Association’s 56 member museums’ databases, and I also create educational resources based on the collections to be posted on ANSM’s collections website, <a href="http://novamuse.ca">novamuse.ca</a>,” Sarah stated. “For my collections work, I have been doing a lot of data cleaning and entry. I go through each site’s database, where I merge duplicated donor records as well as ensure that data has been entered consistently. I’m also working with a subject matter expert from the community to help enrich the descriptions and object histories recorded in the museums’ object records. Most recently, I’ve started working with the collections management system’s IT person to develop new features for the database’s condition reporting function.”<br /><br /> Sarah's work also involves the creation of diverse educational activities.<br /><br />“I have been selecting photographs of the museums’ objects from novamuse.ca and turning them into colouring pages to add to the website, and I have also been creating object-based lesson plans for teachers in Nova Scotia to use with their students,” she explained. “So far, I have created a math/social studies lesson about the Canadian census, a math/art project about patchwork quilts, an art project about hooked rugs, and an English Language Arts/French assignment about samplers. I’ve been having a lot of fun with them!”</div><div><span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uJiVd-ItrMY/YPF56S0SooI/AAAAAAAAA9I/x0M4m_oSmTQUa47ux_WLPHO5A_Z6pRGOACNcBGAsYHQ/s2537/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-15%2Bat%2B3.42.36%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="2537" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uJiVd-ItrMY/YPF56S0SooI/AAAAAAAAA9I/x0M4m_oSmTQUa47ux_WLPHO5A_Z6pRGOACNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h314/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-15%2Bat%2B3.42.36%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 48px;">Example of <span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sarah’s work. Screenshot courtesy of Sarah Cavaliere.</span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p></span><br /><br />Sarah believed that the different roles she took up during the internship gave her the opportunity to learn about diverse aspects of museum professions, as well as to gain insights that will benefit her in future career. <br /><br /> “My position combines my two major interests – collections and educational programming – which was not something I expected to be able to find,” Sarah said. “Being able to work in both of my interest areas has helped me understand the things I like best about both.” <br /><br />“Even though I haven’t been able to physically handle any collections, I’ve discovered that I enjoy data entry more than I expected to.” Elaborating on her experience with the two separate subfields, Sarah concluded the following: “My internship projects have also confirmed my ideas that my passion in the museum field lies in creating collections-based educational programming for schools.”<br /><br />Similarly to Beatrice, Sarah worked from home for her internship. She had originally hoped to live in Halifax for the summer, but was forced to change her plans due to the new restrictions in May. <br /><br />“As disappointing as that was, the best part of working from home is how convenient it is. Everything I need is always really close at hand and, instead of commuting, I can spend that time on other things. And, best of all, I can still play with my cat on my breaks!” Sarah said when I asked about the disadvantages and advantages of her online internship. “One of the biggest challenges of working from home, though, has been achieving a good work-life balance. It’s easy to feel like I’m constantly in intern-mode, since there isn’t much of a boundary between where I work and where I do other things. The time difference between the GTA and Halifax has also been a bit of a learning curve. Halifax is only an hour ahead of Toronto, but sometimes it takes more mental gymnastics than I expected to translate the times my co-workers mention in meetings and emails!”</div><div><br /><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DTETmlZk8Vc/YPF58THRCPI/AAAAAAAAA9M/xKZqW6BgQEUSjDCQbZwF3NbtUkOZ_373QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/06.28%2B-%2BFinding%2BCurriculum%2BConnections%2B%2528ft.%2Bmy%2Bassistant%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DTETmlZk8Vc/YPF58THRCPI/AAAAAAAAA9M/xKZqW6BgQEUSjDCQbZwF3NbtUkOZ_373QCNcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/06.28%2B-%2BFinding%2BCurriculum%2BConnections%2B%2528ft.%2Bmy%2Bassistant%2529.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sarah’s workspace at home (feat. Leo)</span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span><br />Lastly, Sarah gave the following suggestions to future students: “Don’t be afraid to take chances! I almost didn’t apply to the position I’m working in now since it seemed like a big risk to do my internship somewhere I’m unfamiliar with. I am so glad that I decided to take a chance on ANSM – it has turned out to be an incredible experience!”<span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div></div></div>Jingshu Helen Yaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05287609143375585406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-26319533442412063372021-07-20T02:00:00.001-04:002021-07-20T02:00:00.261-04:00YOU JUST HOLD YOUR BREATH: BATHING, SWIMMING, AND STATES OF BODILY IMMERSION AT THE PLUMB<p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Exhibition%20Reviews" target="_blank">Exhibition Reviews</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Rachel%20Deiterding" target="_blank">Rachel Deiterding</a></p><div><hr color="black" size="1" />As a child, I was obsessed with the lake. <span style="background-color: white;">The allure of the water lies in its dichotomy of sustenance and destruction, along with its role as a liminal space that calls for transformation and reflection, joy and loss.</span> My grandfather had a complicated relationship with lakes and rivers, the natural architectures of bathing. On a hot July day, you might have caught him dipping his toes in the shallows of Lake Ontario, hanging on tightly to the metal staircase we installed for ease of descent. After losing two siblings to the tides, the shallows where my sister and I played, pulling zebra mussels off the rocks, sparked a steadfast and enduring fear. I was always excited to see him there on the steps, wondering if he might enter our joyful watery realm. But he always retreated, and I always felt that he was profoundly missing out. The watery architectures of self-care and the complexities of liquid leisure explored in <a href="https://theplumb.ca/" target="_blank"><i>You Just Hold Your Breath</i></a> point out that there is much to be uncovered in watery spaces.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tB6jSmU75e8/YPNNJA3x-9I/AAAAAAAAB1I/fJ0BoXrsvsQKVi94GqvNEUOpYczRrit2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/plumb%2Binstallation%2Bview.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tB6jSmU75e8/YPNNJA3x-9I/AAAAAAAAB1I/fJ0BoXrsvsQKVi94GqvNEUOpYczRrit2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/plumb%2Binstallation%2Bview.jpeg" width="400" /></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>You just hold your breath</i>, installation view, 2021 | Photo documentation by Alison Postma and Miles Rufelds | <a href="https://theplumb.ca/" target="_blank">Source</a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>On view at <a href="https://theplumb.ca/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">the plumb</a> until July 27th, <i>You Just Hold Your Breath</i> “focuses on aesthetic experiences of bathing, swimming and states of bodily immersion, invoking the porous and soluble relationships that exist between self and environment” (<a href="https://laurademers.com/You-just-hold-your-breath" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Laura Demers, 2021</a>). Taking public bathing spaces as a starting point, <i>You Just Hold Your Breath</i> provokes an unexpected and nuanced exploration of water, bathing, and leisure in our public and private lives. <div><br /></div><div>Damp spaces of gathering promise a certain kind of togetherness as they merge the public and the private, lodging us into a state of vulnerability where we are at the whim<span style="background-color: white;">s</span> of the people and the places that surround us. This corporal experience is evoked throughout the exhibition, beginning with <a href="https://www.jovian.website/" target="_blank">Jovian’s</a> <i>POOL</i>, a psychoactive custom blended diffuser oil that recalls the interior of a well-used wooden sauna. With scent-triggered memories, steamy glasses, and sweat on my neck from the bike up to St. Clair, I am primed to enter <a href="https://www.oliviaboudreau.com/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Olivia Boudreau’s</a> <i>L’Étuve</i>. Walking down the dark tiled hallway feels a bit like wandering down the winding corridors of a community pool. The only thing missing is the sound of wet feet slapping the tiled floors. Boudreau’s 20-minute video work takes its time, transporting the viewer into the timelines of leisure, reflection, and individualized self-care. As time passes, more bodies appear in the steam and the viewer is made a participant. Caught up in their own lives, the women sit idly. Still, except for the occasional twitch of a toe, shift of a knee, or hair adjustment. I stand, also waiting, also silent, also shifting. In this case, the sauna, a shared space of leisure and rejuvenation is punctuated with the individualism of daily life that persists both within and outside of leisure. Dale Barbour, a historian of bathing in the Don River from 1890 to 1930, reveals how a communal spirit of leisure was prominent, connecting the bathers and protecting them from the undertow and irregular riverbed (<a href="https://muse-jhu-edu.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/article/777316#bio_wrap" style="text-align: center;">Barbour, 2019</a>). In this example, an embodied relationship with one’s environment and an awareness of one's neighbours were essential to bathing practices. Reflecting on the silent steam room, how do we build modern moments of community that disrupt our individualistic pursuits of self-care? And how might self-care also translate to communities of care?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csPzWtdwXHE/YPNNSaQdtpI/AAAAAAAAB1U/Qgkfmn4PYqEqtigAub984vKiT6zNT1OPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/the%2Bsteam.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1534" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csPzWtdwXHE/YPNNSaQdtpI/AAAAAAAAB1U/Qgkfmn4PYqEqtigAub984vKiT6zNT1OPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/the%2Bsteam.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia Boudreau, L'Éteuve, 2011, video still | <a href="https://theplumb.ca/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Turning to exit the hallway, I pause to read the textual portion of <a href="https://alexborkowski.net/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Alex Borkowski’s</a><span style="text-align: center;"> <i>The Hydrocephalus Suite</i>. An audio narration of the piece spills from the second gallery, drawing the spaces together. I am struck by Borkowski’s ritual description of bathing <span style="background-color: white;">as</span> rooted in the familiar memory of her grandmother, the necessity of a particular tub, and of particular objects. The ritual connection associated with self-care is further developed in </span><a href="http://www.izzymink.com/" style="text-align: center;">Izzy Mink’s</a><span style="text-align: center;"> unfired clay sculptures. Studies of the development of her personal relationship with her body, self-care, and bathing, these works render the familiar uncanny and subvert notions of clean and grotesque. Among the lineup of objects, I keep returning to <i>crestfallen</i>, a pair of dentures in a glass of water. The submerged unfired clay teeth are visibly deteriorating as they split away from the beeswax gums.</span></div><span style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PJi22PiePI/YPNNJKao6SI/AAAAAAAAB1E/YtkjYDgMyew2yavdoQVpC3yen4gkI7fqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1125/image1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1113" data-original-width="1125" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PJi22PiePI/YPNNJKao6SI/AAAAAAAAB1E/YtkjYDgMyew2yavdoQVpC3yen4gkI7fqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Izzy Mink, <i>crestfallen, </i>2021 | Photo documentation by Alison Postma and Miles Rufelds | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CRGx_GctVUG/" target="_blank">Source</a> </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The glass is not dissimilar from the case in which my grandfather stored his own dentures. Perhaps his <span style="background-color: white;">acts of </span>community building <span style="background-color: white;">were</span> not based in watery environments of leisure<span style="background-color: white;">,</span> but in watery architectures that support community as a means of<b> </b>collective care. A man who experienced disability throughout his life and was outfitted with dentures, a glass eye, and limited use of his right hand, his rituals of bathing and self-care were deeply dependent on love and community support. For years he built networks of relationships, connecting family members, close friends, nurses, and personal support workers through his unending good humor and the acts of rinsing his eye, cleaning his catheter, and performing other intimate tasks. Perhaps he was never missing out at all.<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b>You just hold your breath</b> is on view until July 27th. As we recover from a year of online school, I urge those in Toronto over the summer to make time for this impactful show. Much like the communities of leisure and care that the show evokes, the plumb itself is a DIY artist-run space administered by a collective made up of 15 artists, writers, and curators. Providing 1000 square feet of exhibition space, the plumb’s programming showcases the work of emerging artists, putting them in dialogue with established voices in the artistic community. </i></div><div><br /></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-86581661461604373712021-07-13T00:00:00.002-04:002021-10-03T21:00:06.606-04:00IN THE DARKROOM: EXPLORING TOM OF FINLAND'S ENDURING INFLUENCE<div><i><br /></i></div><div><p><a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Musings%20Abroad" target="_blank">Musings Abroad</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Molly%20Gosewich">Molly Gosewich</a></p><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Whenever I was depressed or disgusted, I would feel him, that spirit inside, urging me back to living, back to drawing, I believe there is a lot to the world that can’t be seen or touched, and if you turn away from that — especially if you are an artist — you are avoiding an important part of life, maybe the very heart of it.” - Tom of Finland</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Tom Of Finland, Double Life Of The Gay Icon Who Changed A Nation - Worldcrunch" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" height="289" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://worldcrunch.com/assets/img/original/tom_of_finland_worldcrunch.jpg" style="height: 278.056px; margin: 0px auto; width: 385px;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Tom of Finland aka Touko Laaksonen</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><br style="text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">Collage credit to <a href="https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/tom-of-finland-double-life-of-the-gay-icon-who-changed-a-nation" target="_blank">Worldcrunch</a>. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Touko-Laaksonen-1959.jpg" target="_blank">Photo source.</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Museums, be it local or international, are considered the arbiters of culture, keepers of history, and especially systems of representation. <span style="background-color: white;">As an extension of such, exhibitions have become increasingly important to engage with many existing intersections of identity and to, in good faith, seek to advance conversations surrounding LGBTQ2+ iconography and representation in particular.</span></div><div><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="exhibit-gallery__image" height="315" src="https://fotografiska-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2021/05/05180137/4-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/tom-of-finland" target="_blank">Fotografiska</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>My first grasp with queerness in the field of Museum Studies was with persons, both historical and contemporary: theorists like Judith Butler and artists such as <a href="https://www.queerportraits.com/bio/haring" target="_blank">Keith Haring</a>, <a href="https://bordercrossingsmag.com/article/mickalene-thomas" target="_blank">Mickalene Thomas</a>, <a href="https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/meet_the_artist/a-101-guide-to-the-work-of-catherine-opie-queer-photography-icon-56282" target="_blank">Catherine Opie</a>, and my personal favourite, bisexual painter <a href="https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2016/12/29/tamara-de-lempickas-legacy" target="_blank">Tamara de Lempicka</a> (I have a tattoo inspired by her work). <a href="https://arquives.ca/">The ArQuives</a>, which was established to aid in the recovery and preservation of Canadian LGBTQ2+ histories, has also been a key window into queer museological knowledge, agency, and identities.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">However, </span>an artist I’ve always found to be equal parts seductive and intriguing throughout my experience as a Master of Museum Studies student is Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen, 1920-1991). Though fairly characterized as graphic, provocative, and pornographic through his tangible association with kink and eroticism, his work is a refreshing reprieve from the puritanical Western art often kept by mainstream museums. Highly stylized and recognizable by muscled bodies, bulging appendages, leather fetish gear, and uniforms inspired by blue-collar workers and military men, Tom of Finland occupies a distinct, subversive space in the queer visual culture canon.<br /><br />As someone with both an academic and personal interest in portraiture, I was even more enthralled with <a href="https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/tom-of-finland"><i>The Darkroom</i></a>, a current exhibition (located in New York City, from April 30-August 20, 2021) that serves as an intimate look into the prolific artistry of Tom of Finland, curated by Berndt Arell of Fotografiska in collaboration with the Tom of Finland Foundation. As Pride 2021 celebrations looked a little different this year, The Darkroom is a fascinating way to engage with Tom of Finland’s 100 year legacy of queer art and never-before-seen, boundary-pushing, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9638563/" target="_blank">sexually powerful</a>, homoerotic photographic portraits that served as references for his drawings.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Oppressed by the persecution of queerness in his native Finland, Laaksonen clandestinely photographed his muses/models as references for his drawings. They were kept under the cover of darkness and would become highly-coveted works in underground gay subcultures and communities. With the increasing openness found in the West, he would spend time in Los Angeles, where both freedom and his art were able to flourish. There, he would <span>draw inspiration from American bodybuilding and develop a burgeoning interest in depicting Black men (some of his later illustrations would feature Black men and interracial sex scenes). </span>This inclusion is doubly interesting, if not slightly problematic: Laaksonen had the general tendency to depict cis, white men, and more and more academics have touched on the hypermasculinization/hypersexualization and presence of Black men in visual culture. Though, it can be noted that, to some, he had helped to increase the visibility of "<a href="https://www.out.com/art/2019/6/28/tom-finlands-sketches-black-men-star-new-no-sesso-collaboration?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=art&fbclid=IwAR1FEy6iQK_ianfapBNoeASWw4MXBOoimJ_KvXqLQ85pDccZp7NvpvTwiiY" target="_blank">black gay male subjectivity</a>" towards the culmination of the 20th century, the end of his career, to which critics characterize this period as his most <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/legal/tom-of-finland/" target="_blank">overtly political</a>. With Tom of Finland, all men were created equal.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="http://www.worldoftomoffinland.com/tomsblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/89-11_800.jpg" style="background-color: #e6e6e6; cursor: zoom-in; margin: auto; transition: background-color 300ms ease 0s; user-select: none;" width="280" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tomoffinland.org/what-is-it-exactly-we-cant-do-in-india-again/#&gid=1&pid=1" target="_blank">Untitled, 1989. From Tom of Finland Foundation</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Left to right: Untitled, 1984 (Val Martin); Untitled, 1986, Untitled, 1986 (above), Untitled, 1986 (below). Tom of Finland Permanent Collection" data-fallback="https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1460w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg" data-src="https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1680w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg" height="267" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 90vw,
(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) 70vw,
(min-width: 1025) and (max-width: 1400px) 60vw,
80vw" srcset="https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_770w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 770w,
https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_920w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 922w,
https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1200w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 1200w,
https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1460w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 1460w,
https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1680w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 1680w,
https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/wp_extra_large/s3/pro-capture-one-0088-1_2.jpg 2500w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>Untitled, 1984 (Val Martin); Untitled, 1986, Untitled, 1986 (above), Untitled, 1986 (below).</div><div><a href="https://www.wallpaper.com/art/tom-of-finland-the-darkroom-fotografiska-new-york" target="_blank">Tom of Finland Permanent Collection</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>A statement from exhibition producer Jessica Jarl says, “To Fotografiska, this is a brilliant example of how photography – besides standing on its own – often plays a part in many different kinds of creating. The story of <i>The Darkroom</i> – the first art exhibition where Tom of Finland's photographs are also being shown – is in many ways a journey through time. From dark hidden rooms or parks, to open, well-lit salons. In some places, strong forces are now pushing this art – and the lifestyles it reflects – back into the darkness. One more reason to lift the importance of free art. And it feels right to have Tom's voice be heard.”<br /><br />The very premise of this exhibition is born out of the sexually repressive environment of 1950s Finland. Laaksonen set up a darkroom in a closet of his home in Helsinki to develop the photographs he took. <span style="background-color: white;">Not only racy and homoerotic, </span>they were outlawed. <i>The Darkroom</i> displays his portraits on black walls with red accents; t<span style="background-color: white;">hey are the star of the show, featuring hyper-masculine hunks, clad in uniforms or leather gear, all distended muscles and members. They act to fearlessly confront a system that even today continues to deny freedoms, legality, and basic rights to queer, gay, and trans communities — bringing to light the current relevancy of their struggle for liberation. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="’The Darkroom’, until 20 August, 2021, Fotografiska New York" class="media-element file-wysiwyg" data-delta="5" height="267" src="https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_1460w_scale/s3/pro-capture-one-0033-edit_3.jpg?itok=U8GQ0qG5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div><i>Tom of Finland: 'The Darkroom' <br /></i><a href="https://www.wallpaper.com/art/tom-of-finland-the-darkroom-fotografiska-new-york" target="_blank">Wallpaper</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Even during the height of the AIDS crisis, Laaksonen continued to create positive images of gay culture, and in 1987, made a now-famous drawing encouraging the <a href="https://www.artspace.com/tom-of-finland/use-a-rubber">practice of safe sex.</a> The title of the exhibition <i>The Darkroom</i> just feels so apt. To end off, here is a quote by longtime Whitney Museum curator Richard D. Marshall (Quoted in <a href="https://doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1080/00918369.2018.1514206" target="_blank">Ferguson, 2019</a>) that illustrates the impact and significance of not only Tom of Finland's work, but also of the very concept of The Darkroom:<br /><i><br /></i></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>“Tom of Finland emerged in the 1950s to deliver us from the repressive, fearful, and disguised sexuality of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Tom made the idealized male beauty of the Greek gods become contemporary, real living gods, with no judgmental distinction between active and passive sexual roles. Tom made the artificial Roman breastplate into lively skin and muscle; Tom made Christian sado-masochism positive, desirable, and enviable; Tom made Michelangelo’s saints naked and aggressive; Tom brought honest, ribald, consensual, enjoyable, and delirious male sexuality back into twentieth century art. (1997, p. 252)”</i></div></div></blockquote><div><div><br />Suffice to say, as travel restrictions begin to lessen, I recommend visiting this exhibition if you’re interested in studies and imagery of sex positivity, masculinity, countering heteronormativity, queer culture, and unapologetic art. If you find yourself in New York City, go see for yourself.<br /><div><p><br /></p><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Sources Referenced and Further Reading</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Alan Sinfield (2004). On Sexuality and Power. Columbia University Press, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7312/sinf13408">https://doi.org/10.7312/sinf13408</a>.</div><div><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.type=webpage&rft.title=The%20Photography%20of%20Tom%20of%20Finland&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaycitynews.com%2Ftom-of-finland-photography-art%2F&rft.aufirst=Nicholas&rft.aulast=Boston&rft.au=Nicholas%20Boston&rft.date=2021"></span></div></div><div><br /></div>Leena-Maija Rossi (2019). From arousing drawings to art to behold: Tom of Finland’s long and winding road to the art world, Porn Studies, 6:4, 459-463, DOI: <a href="https://doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1080/23268743.2019.1580450">10.1080/23268743.2019.1580450</a><br /><br /></div><div>Michael Ferguson (2019) Tom of Finland, Journal of Homosexuality, 66:6, 857-862, DOI: <a href="https://doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1080/00918369.2018.1514206">10.1080/00918369.2018.1514206</a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Nicholas Boston (2021). The Photography of Tom of Finland. Gay City News, </span><a href="https://www.gaycitynews.com/tom-of-finland-photography-art/" style="text-indent: -2em;">https://www.gaycitynews.com/tom-of-finland-photography-art/</a><span style="text-indent: -2em;">.</span><br /><br /><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<div class="csl-entry">Thomson Reuters Institute (2020). Out of the Shadows: Remembering ‘Tom of Finland,’</div><div class="csl-entry"><a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/legal/tom-of-finland/">https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/legal/tom-of-finland/</a>.</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.type=webpage&rft.title=Out%20of%20the%20shadows%3A%20Remembering%20%E2%80%9CTom%20of%20Finland%E2%80%9D&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thomsonreuters.com%2Fen-us%2Fposts%2Flegal%2Ftom-of-finland%2F&rft.date=2020"></span></div><br /><br /></div></div>Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477730106254300631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2279702635216618752.post-88306199092738860282021-04-16T00:00:00.121-04:002021-04-16T00:00:00.222-04:00SO LONG, FAREWELL, AU REVOIR: GOODBYE LETTER FROM THE EDITORS<p> <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Letter%20from%20the%20Editor" target="_blank">Letter from the Editors</a> | <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search?q=jaime+meier" target="_blank">Jaime Meier</a> and <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/search/label/Erika%20Serodio" target="_blank">Erika Serodio</a></p><hr color="black" size="1" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today is the last day of mine and Erika’s reign as Editors-in-Chiefs and while we are sad to bid everyone adieu, we are excited to look back at the articles created by our talented team of writers. Over the past year we had 16 fantastic permanent and guest writers to cover a huge variety of museum topics, from collections to MMSt classes. If you weren’t able to catch all of our publications, we have made a list of highlights. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wdp8Eoo9XJU/YHkIcH8Cx5I/AAAAAAAAAZE/AuMvonKqk-U40Nq7hMXkdd0ij-lwUDWMQCLcBGAsYHQ/Pink%2BBlue%2BIllustrated%2BUnicorn%2BThank%2BYou%2BPostcard.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1747" height="454" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wdp8Eoo9XJU/YHkIcH8Cx5I/AAAAAAAAAZE/AuMvonKqk-U40Nq7hMXkdd0ij-lwUDWMQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h454/Pink%2BBlue%2BIllustrated%2BUnicorn%2BThank%2BYou%2BPostcard.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We appreciate your ongoing support! | Courtesy of Jaime Meier</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/just-few-clicks-away-conversation-with.html" target="_blank">Collections Corner</a>, Martin interviewed recent CDP grad, Karen Macke, to discuss her collections related insights and her hugely popular Facebook group that focuses on collections. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Madison brought fresh perspectives to the <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-nose-knows-historic-scents-as.html" target="_blank">Heritage Moments</a> column with her article on preserving historic scents and their important place as intangible heritage. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With the pandemic changing how we view exhibitions, Rachel brought us comforting <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-community-is-gallery-three-thirty.html" target="_blank">Exhibition Reviews</a>, such as the “Three-Thirty” show at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, and how cultural institutions are seeking to adapt rather than cease creation. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Brooke made our <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-museum-strikes-back-moments-from.html" target="_blank">Research Column</a> better than ever with her in-depth series on critical conversations happening in museum and the rights of museum workers that have been challenged by “neoliberal economic strategies” and ongoing resistance from museum workers. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-to-survive-pandemic-museum-edition.html" target="_blank">Museum Innovations</a>, Sara brought us examples of how the cultural sector has continued to engage communities on new platforms like Twitch and Tiktok. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Annabelle highlighted the Jewish community's many accomplishments through <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/frieda-schiff-warburg-female-voice-of.html" target="_blank">Walk of Fame</a>, including the crucial role of Frieda Schiff Warburg in the creation of the Jewish Museum in New York City, one of the first and oldest to focus on Jewish history. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2020/11/fall-internship-check-in.html" target="_blank">Internship Check-in</a>, Annie brought us the inside scope on working in cultural institutions, including Lauren at the Royal Botanical Gardens and Leora at the Robertson Davies Library. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Caitlin created a new column, <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-to-turn-your-fixation-on-obscure.html" target="_blank">Final Project Reflections</a>, to highlight the many accomplishments of students completing their thesis and exhibition projects, including her own and the inspiration behind it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For<a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/what-now-museum-technology-post-pandemic.html" target="_blank"> Technology Tuesday</a>, Jaime explored what the future holds for interpretation in museums after the pandemic ends and many of the new approaches significantly aid in accessibility for all visitors. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Melissa used <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2020/10/0-results-found-tips-and-tricks-to.html" target="_blank">GLAM Gets Mindful</a> to bring us resources to help in our success and reduce stress, with a very timely one with tips on how to conquer job search anxiety. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We have been so lucky to have Museum Professionals of Colour contribute a <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-year-in-mposeasons-reflections-on.html" target="_blank">Special Edition</a> each season, with their most recent article highlighting their successes and delivering handcrafted memes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The MUSSA President & Co-President also contributed a <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/we-are-glam-orous-mmst-students-take-on.html" target="_blank">Special Edition</a> where they gathered and shared student experiences from working in the field and all of our wonderful memories together. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Natalie is a student like none-other and wrote for two whole columns, <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/03/sustainability-in-18th-century-style.html" target="_blank">Sew What</a> and <a href="https://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/03/eating-your-history-pasta-and.html" target="_blank">A Muse Bouche</a>. She delved into her Italian heritage to explore and re-create disappearing pasta forms and also explored the sustainable history of 18th century clothing through fabric reusing - the duality! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Erika continued to highlight outside-the-box spaces for arts and culture, like Underpass Park, in the <a href="http://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-unexpected-at-underpass-park.html" target="_blank">Beyond Tradition</a> column.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In <a href="https://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/03/museums-as-portals-between-worlds.html">Museum Mysteries</a>, Mia has kept us wildly entertained with stories of horror, fictional fantasy, and eerie holiday traditions. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Helen took us to museums all around the world with <a href="https://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2021/02/smell-in-museums-around-world.html" target="_blank">Musings Abroad</a>, where she looked at how international museums work with topics like black culinary culture, scents, and women's history. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jrodhWZvLVI/YHkIrInCuCI/AAAAAAAAAZM/5JHDLo5blJIUcR55kgpNcX7vVljYsdyZwCLcBGAsYHQ/How%2Bit%2Bfeels%2Bto%2Bsuccessfully%2Bfinish%2Ba%2Byear%2Bof%2BMusings.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jrodhWZvLVI/YHkIrInCuCI/AAAAAAAAAZM/5JHDLo5blJIUcR55kgpNcX7vVljYsdyZwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/How%2Bit%2Bfeels%2Bto%2Bsuccessfully%2Bfinish%2Ba%2Byear%2Bof%2BMusings.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.sound-of-music.com/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It has been a very "online" year for all of us, with museums closed for the majority of our school year. Finding inspiration to write has been challenging and has made the accomplishments of this year's writers even more impressive. We look forward to someday running into each other in museums again, and finally meeting the writers who we've been working with all year but have never met in person. The articles from this year will be remembered as small tokens of resilience. We know it has been anything but easy and we are so very grateful for everyone that's written with us and followed along. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Signing off,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jaime & Erika</div></div>Jaime Meierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11701684147543636161noreply@blogger.com0