The Section of Disapproved Books is an art project and data compilation by the artist Daniel McCarthy Clifford in collaboration with the Director of Data Management & Access at the University of Minnesota Libraries Besty Friesen, and multiple other actors. The installation consisted of over 600 publications banned in Department of Correction (DOC) facilities across the United States. All of these books were pulled from the University of Minnesota Library system for the duration of the project.

This July in the Edith Carlson Gallery, WAM opens State Your Intentions: New Works in the WAM Collection. The exhibition showcases not only notable recent additions to the collection but also the intentionality of WAM’s collecting practice. In 1981 when Lyndel King became the director and chief curator, she openly asserted her resolve to even the gender score by fervently collecting women artists.

I’ve just spent a year sitting on the couch, in a deflated C shape, terribly still, feeding my mammal child. This is a posture I will very likely fill again at an older age, as so many older adults do. I had gotten comfortable, as a body-based artist, being a person who is looked at, knowing the strength of this exposure, the strength of my body. But I am now only a soft surface. Invisible as furniture. And my energy is fugitive. Dancing seems far-fetched. Dance shows are long after bedtime, mine and the small mammal’s.

A few weeks ago, we launched a new project. It’s called Songs with Baggage, and it’s all about the songs that make us feel a little something extra.

They greet you at the door, they wave as you go, they lead tours, organize events, sweep the galleries, guard the art, and run the shop. They create, educate, question, consider, and challenge the museum to reach new heights. The heart of WAM, they are our student staff — many of whom will be leaving the University as brand new graduates to venture out and take on whatever lies ahead!