Museum Gives Staff The Freedom To Come Up With Artworks For Latest Exhibition

Instead of displaying pieces by renowned artists, The Noguchi Museum in Queens, New York, is heading in a different direction. For its summer exhibition, the institution handed over the reins to its very own gallery attendants, curators, project managers, and more to contribute the artworks.

The unique project, which has culminated in a show titled A Living Mechanism, will see the museum showcase over two dozen art pieces to the public. These creations range from paintings to sculptures and installations across diverse aesthetics and subjects.

According to Artnet News, the showcase came to be after the museum’s Anti-Oppression Committee, spearheded by gallery attendant Trasonia Abbott, petitioned the higher-ups. Co-curator Orlando Lacro emphasized that this wasn’t a “performative gesture” but a real gallery project for gallery attendants.

In fact, Noguchi offered the artists a budget with “no strings attached,” allowing them free reign in terms of creativity and logistics to do as they deemed fit. Such a spirit, in its essence, portrays the way in which the museum’s namesake—Isamu Noguchi—worked.

“This was a museum-wide collaboration. We all played a part in it. I want it to be known that Trasonia fought for it, and we worked to make it a true collaboration in the spirit of Isamu Noguchi,” said Lacro. 

The famed Japanese-American creator was always in search of collaborators, be it in Greenwich Village in the heart of New York City or in Mure in Shikoku, Japan. As such, the show plays on the artist’s life-long ethos of relying on all components of space to “create a harmonious environment.”

“The exhibition celebrates The Noguchi Museum as a total work of art and the diverse artistic perspectives of its staff that continuously energize and sustain it,” the organization explained in a press statement.

“With a memory towards Isamu Noguchi’s own eagerness in collaborating with an astonishing range of other artists, architects, manufacturers, gardeners, photographers, craftspeople, and others in realizing his visions, A Living Mechanism nods to how this spirit of collective effort continues today,” it added.

Take a look at some of the staff works on display below and head here for more details on the exhibition.

[via Artnet News and Astoria Post, images via The Noguchi Museum (for press use)]