Montana Blanco November 2009

Re-Imagining the Museum

In 2006, the RISD Museum opened

Wunderground: Providence, 1995-Present.

The exhibit, organized by Judith Tannenbaum (Curator of Contemporary Art) exploredthe poster art and material culture of the Providence arts scene. The featured worksrepresented a number of mediums. Each artist employed a similar thread of foundmaterials, low-tech production, and handmade aesthetics.

Wunderland

was a means toexpose standard ‘museum-goers’ to artistic expression outside the expected canon. Theinitiative was successful in that it effectively integrated previously ‘unacknowledged’artists into the museulogical dialectic, and coalesced a bridge between the museum andthe larger Providence community.

Wunderground

is particularly interesting because of Tannenbaum’s choice todisplay the posters side-by-side, covering the walls of Main Gallery in their entirety. Theworks appeared as if they were postered on the exterior of a building. Not only was thisan efficient way to incorporate a high volume of images, but it also remained true to thevisual language in which the posters would have originally been encountered. Thecuratorial voice was that of facilitator. The audience was free to look as they wanted, inthe order they pleased, making nuanced connections between juxtapositions that were particular to each viewing experience. The exhibit fostered a democratic ‘looking’environment that encouraged co-authorship and audience participation.Immediately after

Wunderground

closed, the Main Gallery underwent renovation.The space reopened in 2008, revealing vibrant blue walls, covered floor to ceiling with