My First Two Days at the DAM!

Unfortunately, for the last couple of days my internet at home has been out; however, we are back in action! Both yesterday and today have been incredibly enriching days, as I have begun my internship at the Denver Art Museum. My first surprise of this internship has been the fact that the museum (comprised of both the old “North” building and the new Hamilton building) does not actually house its administrative offices. That being the case, I actually work in the “Tremont” building, an old school administrative office just a few blocks northwest of the museum. It’s a quirky building with large blue exclamation points positioned across its façade. Needless to say, I didn’t have a hard time finding the building! ! ! ! ! ! !

Upon arrival, I met with my internship mentor—Sonnet Hanson. We immediately began our introductions, and I received a quick briefing on what I would be working on over the summer. I found out that within the education department at DAM, there are over 20 interns working in various capacities. I am labeled “Intern M,” which is slightly ironic since I go by the nickname “Em” most of the time. The major plus to being Intern M is that I have a sweet desk away from the long line of interns’ desks in the room adjacent to mine. Little things like this make me happy.

I then spent most of the afternoon going through a pile of paperwork already at my station, while also managing to set-up each of my numerous computer accounts and stock up my desk with office supplies. Nothing too exciting as far as actual work goes, but I could tell by my interactions with Sonnet, her personality, and the details of my projects which I will outline further in this post that this summer is going to be an extremely worthwhile experience. I’m so glad that I ventured outside of Indianapolis! Oh, the work day concluded with Sonnet, another museum employee, and I having a meeting about the upcoming exhibition entitled Embrace!

As previously mentioned, Embrace! is a special exhibition the Denver Art Museum will open in November of this year, which focuses on using the architecture of the new Hamilton building as inspiration for artistic creation. 17 artists will be included in this show, including Rupprecht Matthies…more on him later. I’m amazed at how strikingly similar this show is to a show done at the Indianapolis Museum of Art with Adrian Schiess. Like the IMA’s show, contemporary artists will create site-specific installations throughout select portions of Hamilton. As for the scope of my internship, the majority (if not all) of my work will focus on Embrace! and its associated interpretive content.

Beginning my second day at the DAM, Sonnet took me on a tour of the Hamilton building, pointing out exactly where each artist’s installation will be placed. Since the exhibition is all about place and space, this proved to be a great exercise in catching me up to speed not only on the nature of the project but also on the major themes weaved throughout its composition. After this meeting, we were joined by another education staff member to iron out some details about the installation to be done by Rupprecht Matthies.

Rupprecht Matthies is a contemporary German artist, whose body of work centers on the human encounters he experiences within various communities. Upon bringing these communities together, Matthies prompts these individuals to generate words that describe their interactions with one another (or other themes). Using these words, Matthies creates large (approx. 40-ft-long) word sculptures, which he places within various communities as well as in highly-visible public settings. By doing so, he sparks conversations among community members; in other words, Matthies’ work serves as a catalyst for the exchange of ideas between community members as well as a tool in the construction of community building. In addition to these word sculptures, Matthies also constructs word towers, word windmills, and word mobiles. Underlying his entire creative process, Matthies’ work is more about the process and his inclusion/cultivation of human relationships than it is about a final product. As my mentor states, “Matthies’ work underscores the power of art as inexhaustibly generative, as viewers bring their own life experience and associations with words to their art encounters.”

In the meeting mentioned above, our team discussed the possibilities of Rupprecht ‘s installation in the current gift shop area of the museum (it will soon be relocating). We discussed primarily the quantity of works Rupprecht could/should have, as well as decided which types of works should dominate the space and where they could be located. Our main conclusions were the following:

1) Rupprecht’s mobiles should be the most numerous type of artwork in the space, as they are easy and cheap to construct as well as visually appealing due to the amount of glass/windows in the space.
2) 2-3 word towers should anchor the space.
3) Wall paintings should be located on the one large, extended wall so as to close in the space and bring some level of intimacy to it.
4) Limit the number of word pillows (literally pillows in the shape of community-generated words) to a minimum due to fabrication concerns. Create a “bowl” atmosphere.
5) Columns should be used for our visitor response areas. As anchors to the space, they convey a sense of how important visitor input is to the exhibit as well as the institution.
6) I was assigned to return to take pictures of the space, especially the intriguing nooks and crannies, so we could create renderings to be approved by Rupprecht. Done.

Another meeting I went to today focused on the interpretive area for the exhibit as a whole. “The Lounge” as we call it is structured in the form of a living archive, where patrons will be able to see and do 3 main things:

1) View time lapse footage of the installation of 8/17 artists’ works (video)
2) View photographic documentation of these installations (scrapbook)
3) Complete an interactive that deals with using the rendering of the Hamilton building as inspiration (under construction).

After this meeting, I went to a security briefing to obtain my badge. Upon completion, I set off to begin an assignment all interns have to complete: a gallery observation of all the spaces of the museum…perhaps more on that later. I’m not entirely excited about it.

There is so much to say! Let me conclude today by listing the major tasks I will be working on:

1) Coordinating aspects of Rupprecht Matthies’ community project, as well as components of his actual gallery installation.
2) Developing a facilitated, interactive gallery experience within Rupprecht’s installation that has to do with visitor word generation.
3) Assist in editing the cell phone tour content for Embrace!
4) Working on ideas for “The Lounge.”
5) Developing the biographies of the 17 artists in the show, so that the interpretive writer has content to pull from.

My life is pretty awesome right now.