When you walk into an exhibit, the finished product is all laid out. The pieces are hung, the labels are up, and you are presented with a personal, unique experience. What you don't often think about is the process of putting that exhibit together. The white gallery walls are so pristine and the pieces are hung so neatly that the chaotic and creative process of getting those pieces up on the walls seems miles away.
Yet, the Tufts Museum Studies Program explored this process in its Exhibition Planning course this past semester. The course, taught by Cara Iacobucci and Kenneth Turino, brought together a group of graduate students from various academic backgrounds. Together they learned the trials and errors that go into the finished exhibition product. The result is "Revolt, Recoil, Response," an exhibition of German expressionist prints that went up in the Tufts University Art Gallery on May 11 and will be on display until Aug. 1.
Each year, Iacobucci and Turino work to secure a body of artwork for their students. This year, they were very fortunate to work with the Boston Public Library's Print Department, which allowed them to use a very important body of lesser-seen prints, with work by artists such as Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Otto Dix, Ernst Kirchner and Käthe Kollwitz.
"Students are using absolutely amazing work from the Boston Public Library, and it will blow a lot of people away when people go and see the quality of work," Turino said. "The students are lucky to work with this type of collection; it's pretty amazing artwork."
The work itself is emotionally charged, documenting the turbulent early years of 20th-century Germany through the tragic aftereffects of World War I. The emotive and haunting quality of the imagery was a good jumping-off point for the exhibition, and Turino was impressed with the quality of the work the students have put in.
"They've done an excellent job in how they organized it … what has come out is not just on artists but how they reacted to the time and circumstances, their reactionary ideals, the changing times," Turino said.
The students weren't experts in the German expressionist field when they started the course, so the first step was researching the subject. With the help of experts and guest speakers, they formed a solid basis of knowledge before jumping into the work of building the exhibition.
"We select the topic, but they have to do the research, select the themes of the exhibition, select the works. They are also marketing it, writing the press release, sending it out … designing the exhibition," Turino said.
The work that goes into the exhibit was shared equally by every member of the class and was truly a collaborative process. Graduate student Tracy Pollock, a member of the class, said that sometimes the cooperative aspect could make things difficult to organize, though the outcome was a positive one. "Trying to incorporate perspectives from people who are in different fields was sometimes difficult … but [it's exciting] when somebody comes up with an idea or suggestion that you wouldn't have that of yourself, it makes it possible to come up with new solutions."
The different backgrounds of the students heavily influenced the creative process, and the result is a unique perspective. Turino said that one of the interesting things about teaching the class was watching the ideas that the students form around the work, which are never quite what he expects.
"Every year, I sort of going into this thinking what the students could do, and it never turns out the way I think it will," Turino said. "That's because we have a group of students who are extremely creative and come up with new ideas … We find our students are tremendously creative and take it in new directions we hadn't thought of."
"It's been a really exciting and also challenging experience," Pollock said. "I came out with a better idea of what parts of exhibition-making I enjoy." Turino, too, has found the process a rewarding one, and he is not only confident in his students' finished product; he believes it has something unique to offer.
"What I'm hoping is that viewers will get an opportunity to see artwork that they haven't seen before, and see it in a fresh light," he said.
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Revolt, Recoil, Response:
German Expressionist Prints
At the Tufts University Art Gallery, through Aug. 1
Aidekman Arts Center
40 Talbot Ave., Medford
617-627-3518
