Exhibits are a critical component for every museum. That may seem obvious, but contemporary art museum staffs are beginning to understand that exhibits are just one part. While exhibits can be interactive, they still offer a somewhat static experience. To activate a museum and the community, public programs are key, so as we plan some exhibitions related to our Northern Initiative, we have embedded an effort to simultaneously develop a concept for the programs that will be concurrent with the exhibition—how to get people talking AROUND the exhibit—in the planning. Below are some exhibitions that will be part of the Northern Initiative.
TERRY ADKINS: NUTJUITOK (POLAR STAR)
May 2 through September 14, 2014
Brooklyn artist Terry Adkins takes a contemporary look at Northern exploration and exploitation through the story of Matthew Henson. Henson was an African American explorer and associate of Robert Peary on various expeditions, the most famous being a 1909 expedition during which Henson may have been the first person to reach the geographic North Pole. Although Peary received many honors, Henson was largely ignored. In 1944, Congress awarded him a duplicate of Peary’s silver medal. Adkins re-examines this story by undertaking his own Northern expedition: spending time in the Arctic landscape and researching Henson’s immersion in Inuit culture. Adkins melds sculpture, music, video, literature and ritual to preserve the legacies of his subjects, including Sojourner Truth and Ralph Ellison. Adkins’s work is in the permanent collections of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Our goal is to travel this exhibition to other art museums in the U.S. and the Circumpolar North.
QANGA: DRAWING THE PAST November 17, 2013 through January 12, 2014
Music, comic art, storytelling and archaeology combine to explain human migrations from Canada to Greenland. The exhibit showcases two graphic novels by Greenlandic artist Nuka Godtfredsen. A close collaboration between the artist and scientists from the Greenland Research Center at the National Museum of Denmark, these graphic novels present a fictional narrative of early human migrations to Greenland, inspired by both Inuit oral lore and archaeological evidence. They tell the story of epic journey, survival, and spirituality. The art is accompanied by specially created musical compositions. Public programs associated with the exhibition include: “The Fist Steps,” a talk by the exhibition curator Bjarne Gronnow from the Arctic Centre at the National Museum of Denmark; Teen Studio, Between Science and Imagination, and a musical performance by Greenlandic song drummer Hivshu Peary, featuring traditional stories and songs accompanied by a qilaat, an oval drum covered with the bladder of a polar bear.
NORTHERN INITIATIVE VIRTUAL AND EXPERIENTIAL EXHIBITION 2016
A major exhibition featuring the artists and research involved with the Northern Initiative will be presented at the Anchorage Museum in 2016. Simultaneously, a virtual and interactive exhibition will be launched. A major publication featuring the outcomes of the Initiative (artwork and essays) will also be developed. These products will emphasize the contemporary Arctic, highlighting the role of artists in research and in the future North.
ARCTIC DESERT & DESERTS BY DESIGN
This exhibition is a photographic look at the Kobuk Valley National Park is in northwestern Alaska, 25 miles north of and entirely above the Arctic Circle. It is noted for the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes and caribou migration routes. There are no designated trails or roads in the park, which at 1,750,716 acres (2,735.49 sq mi; 7,084.90 km2), is approximately the size of the state of Delaware. No roads lead to the park. It is reachable by foot, dogsled, snowmobile, and chartered air taxis from Nome and Kotzebue. The park is one of the least visited in the National Park System. The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes comprise the largest active Arctic dune field in North America. An exploration of this distinct landscape feature of the Arctic will include connections to arid deserts and exhibition-related programs will include a desert symposium, which brings artists and designers from arid desert communities to Alaska a discussion of how environmental distinctions can define place.
CABIN FEVER, November 2014
Using photographs from the Anchorage Museum archives, this exhibition will look at how winter and the Arctic and sub-Arctic environments affect housing, clothing, and human behavior. With humor, irony and clarity, the images explore the hysteria associated with the term “cabin fever,” which suggests boredom, restlessness, and irritability that results from a lack of environmental stimulation, as from a prolonged stay in a remote, sparsely populated region or a confined indoor area—something ubiquitous to the North.
POLAR LAB: A SERIES OF INSTALLATIONS AND INTERVENTIONS IN PERFORMANCE, PRINT, & NEW MEDIA
Artists from Alaska and around the world are invited to activate museum public spaces, indoors and out, virtual and real, and to create print materials that document research, engage the public and explore ideas related to the North. 2015 will focus on the Anchorage Centennial.