Sympathies: Producing, Experiencing, Interpreting Art

What do aluminum-flashing strips have to do with Frank Gehry’s grand facades on the new Weisman? How can silk help illuminate the meanings that exist deep within furniture from a far away land? For Sympathies, Weisman Art Museum (WAM) commissioned two contemporary artists to present and respond to work in its collection. Sympathies is a part of the Weisman’s yearlong focus on the collection and addresses the popular question of the relevance of museum collections in the twenty-first century.

The Sympathies series of exhibitions began as invitations to contemporary artists whose work seemed in some way sympathetic to aspects of the museum’s collection. WAM asked artists Sharon Louden and Eun-Kyung Suh to create a new work in relation to the collection. Louden, a New York based sculptor, installation, and public artist, will work with the Frank Gehry designed building. For her installation, she chose spaces and details of the building as ground for her large-scale installation. Installation artist, Eun-Kyung Suh of Seoul, Korea and Duluth, Minnesota agreed to work with WAM’s renowned Korean furniture collection.

Review in Art in America on Louden’s piece, Merge.