2017 Summer Exhibit | Curator’s Choice: Points of Interest
With Ruth Boden, Kevin Haas, Taiji Miyasaka, and Linda Russo
Reflections on Place through WSU Faculty and the Museum Collection
May 16 – June 30, 2017
“The intersections of nature, culture, history, and ideology form the ground on which we stand—our land, our place, the local.” –Lucy Lippard
ABOUT | In his essay Towards a Critical Regionalism, architectural historian Kenneth Frampton denounced the prevailing “international” style of architecture—modular, rational, often partly pre-fabricated—for reducing regional variance to the point that new buildings in cities across the world were beginning to look altogether and everywhere the same. As an ensuing extension of Frampton’s argument, artists of various disciplines have taken up the challenge of balancing regional difference within a hyper-connected, globalized world. Today’s culture-makers have an opportunity to benefit from burgeoning avenues of information exchange and de-centralized seats of power, while critically responding to local conditions; reflective of their community’s histories, cultural-makeup, and the particulars of the surrounding land.
Points of Interest brings together four Washington State University faculty members—Ruth Boden, Kevin Haas, Taiji Miyasaka, and Linda Russo—whom each, in their own way, provide a lens onto the multi-faceted idea of “place.” Through their creative practices and current research these individuals probe themes of uniqueness as it pertains to locale, but also, degrees of sameness and shared commonalities through cultural synthesis. Supplementing and providing context to their inquiries will be selections of place-based works drawn from the museum’s permanent collection of over 3500 objects.
The Museum of Art is committed to the idea that a museum has a responsibility to recognize the creative talent of its region. Anna-Maria Shannon, Interim Director of the museum adds, “Our over-arching goal is to support creativity and innovation in students who can seek out divergent opinions, examine complex issues from a variety of perspectives and find meaning in the world.”
LOCATION | The Museum of Art is located on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium in the Fine Arts Center on the WSU Pullman campus. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. For more information please contact the museum at 509-335-1910.
