Seventeenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Museums are makers of knowledge, but aren’t they also knowledge keepers? What does it mean to introduce a form of traditional knowledge into a public space through an artwork, and how should a museum properly steward it? This is a question that The Gund, the contemporary art museum of Kenyon College, is currently facing in response to the reception of This Land, a long-term, site-specific installation by French-Anishinaabe artist Caroline Monnet that expresses indigenous identity in relation to the land on which the artwork resides. Monnet drew from traditional Algonquin basket designs to create geometric patterns that wrap around the glass enclosure of the museum atrium, encoding a history and ecological sensibility built on principles of continuity, tradition, and harmony. Over the 2023–24 academic year, Kenyon students have engaged with the artwork through formal course sessions in many subject areas, and have expressed deep appreciation for how the artwork is inscribed on both the architecture and the surrounding landscape. As the inaugural commissioned work for the atrium, this project has allowed us to extend the museum beyond the physical structure of the building. It is scheduled to close in 2025 to open the space for future commissions, but concerned students have expressed that its removal will again efface indigenous presence. This study addresses the complexities of stewarding of a work of art not commissioned for permanent display, but which has become vitally important to the community’s relationship with the museum and how we reckon with historical erasure of indigenous presence.

Presenters

Jodi Kovach
Pamela and Christopher Hoehn-Saric Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Education, The Gund, The Gund, Kenyon College, Ohio, United States

Daisy Desrosiers
Director and Chief Curator, The Gund, Kenyon College, Ohio, Ohio, United States