Would you invite a stranger to your home specifically to pass judgment on it? Would you allow him to stay for weeks and encourage him to analyze your housekeeping, personal hygiene, entertainment habits, and recreational pursuits–in short, to criticize your “life-style”?
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Wilson’s piece is the first in the MCA’s series of “Op-Ed” programs, which, in an inversion of standard order, will allow artists to evaluate the work of the museum.
In another piece Wilson set the museum’s heroic bronze busts of Napoleon Bonaparte, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson at floor level; monumental pedestals stood beside them, empty save for plaques bearing the names of such Maryland natives as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. The piece asks why images of white male historical figures–who likely had no connection to the state–were deemed appropriate for collection while actual Marylanders, particularly those of African descent, appear to be irrelevant.
Fred Wilson’s Op-Ed will be on display tomorrow through August 21 at the MCA, 237 East Ontario St. He will give a lecture on his work Friday, May 6, at 6 PM at the museum. Tickets to the lecture are $5, $3 for members, students, and seniors. Admission to the museum is $4 for adults, $2 for students and seniors; members and kids under 12 get in free. The MCA is open Tuesday through Saturday 10-5 and Sunday noon to 5. Call 280-5161.
