Director's Message: Spring 2023
It’s almost spring 2023. On view until March 12 is a whimsical solo exhibition by the artist Autumn Knight, Nothing #26: The Potential of Nothing is Everything (wallach). With this endeavor, we launch an exciting annual exhibition series that will support an individual artist with the time, space, and resources to move their practice into a new direction or to deepen the central focus of their creative endeavors. Our exhibition program is eclectic: selections from Columbia’s art collection, contemporary exhibitions with global perspectives, exhibitions based on cross-disciplinary academic research, and projects featuring local and emerging artists. This initiative makes space for a deeper level of support to an individual offering our audiences a first look at work made with the Wallach in mind. The series is one example of us embracing the excitement of research and experimentation.
Most of our exhibitions are organized by guest curators and, increasingly, by curatorial teams. The spirit of openness that grounds this approach encourages risk, even the risk of failure, and is highly valued. We purposely shift the energy in the gallery from one exhibition to the next and believe that varied experiences in the same exhibition space serve a pedagogical function. We highlight each of these values when partnering with curators, scholars, and artists with the goal of realizing truly original exhibitions that will stick in viewers’ memory long after their embodied experience in the gallery.
It’s almost spring 2023—more than three years since I returned from California to New York. Alas, my vision for what we can accomplish at the Wallach Art Gallery was interrupted by the pandemic, and its attendant fallout in all directions. When the summer of 2022 rolled around, things were opening up, but slowly. September arrived and the energy in New York shifted. This time it wasn’t the flighty exuberance of the previous fall. The vibrancy was settling into a more familiar rhythm. Audiences were appreciatively spending more time with exhibitions. Throughout this evolving post-pandemic era art as reprieve took on a new meaning. As the energy evens out a new sense of what is normal takes hold and settles in. But the uncertainty remains as we’ve been changed by lockdowns, illness, and death. Yes, I’m looking ahead with a little less fear and a little more boldness.
I can’t speak to its shape or how this renewed bravery will manifest. This transitional moment isn’t easily revealing what will come next. As I sit together with the gallery staff, with this not knowing, we keep it practical. The student shows are coming up at the end of March and the Uptown Triennial rolls in over the summer. The preparations for those near-term exhibitions keep us grounded. We have a good idea of why what we do is important. Not as impactful as a worldwide climate summit. But important, nonetheless.
Another step into the future. The Wallach Art Gallery has just launched its website on a new platform. You’re on it right now. I invite you to check out our current show and then explore other content. Many of our recent exhibitions are now documented through a tour where you can virtually move around an exhibition. You will also find our archive of video and audio recordings of lectures, interviews, and panel discussions as well family-friendly activities. It’s one example of our effort to make our exhibitions and programming accessible to the many people who are not able to participate with us in person. We’ve also made an extra effort to provide a record of our past exhibitions and publications and will continue to build the digital archive as we convert our analog files to digitally deliverable content. Currently historical content is available for exhibitions and publications going as far back as Abigail Solomon-Godeau’s 1988 exhibition Sexual Difference: Both sides of the Camera and its related catalogue.
Our work requires we look to the future, attend to the present, and preserve our past. I’m inviting you into our space–in person or virtual–to journey with the curators, artists, and scholars who partner with the Wallach. I also hope you’ll share with us your thoughts and suggestions, and think of yourself as an essential partner in our enterprise.