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Kimia Shahi, the Levinson Intern and a member of the Class of 2009, delivers her gallery talk in front of her Space for Dialogue installation Discomfort Zone: Fluxus and Performance Art from the 1960s and 1970s in the Hood galleries.
Since 2001, the Hood Museum of Art has given the walls in its entrance lobby to its senior student interns for mini-exhibitions drawn from the museum's collections. A Space for Dialogue is a unique aspect of the museum's senior internship program, which includes positions in curatorial, programming, public relations, and the Arts at Dartmouth Web site. Interns have the opportunity to choose objects from the Hood's permanent collection, research the objects, write descriptive labels and a brochure, work with staff to design the installation, and conduct a public gallery talk.
There have been more than fifty of these student-generated exhibitions since they were first inaugurated in 2001. The subjects of the Space for Dialogue exhibitions have ranged as far and wide as the interns' imaginations and the scope of the Hood's very rich and extensive collections. From Consuming Life: On Ideals of Beauty and Assuming Identity in a Culture of Fear by Paula Bigboy '03 to Picturing Family in the "South": Legacies of the American Civil War by Sophia Hutson '06 and The Quest for Printed Tone: The Origins of Mezzotint in the Seventeenth Century by Alex Vespoli '09, these exhibitions have reflected brilliantly the intellectual curiosity and critical thinking of an amazing group of Dartmouth students.
The interns are mentored by professional staff of the museum in their selection of works--they are, for instance, required to select objects that have not been on display recently. We ask each student to conceive of a provocative, thoughtful grouping of works. The students are encouraged to perform independent research for the exhibition, develop their own interpretive strategies for the objects they have chosen, and express their ideas in their own voices. In this way, they gain invaluable insights into curatorial practice while the public gains access to objects and ideas that would not otherwise appear in the museum. The program continues to be one of the most successful ventures the museum has undertaken in relation to undergraduate education and our internship program.
Visitors from other museums have applauded the initiative that the Hood has shown with this project, and these installations have established themselves as a valued contribution of the museum. This would not have been possible without outside funding for A Space for Dialogue. Since 2002, yearly funding from the Class of 1948 has enabled A Space for Dialogue to thrive and allowed the museum to offer students the opportunity to produce an illustrated color brochure as well as plan a new design for the space with each installation. The Hood Museum of Art is extremely grateful to the Class of 1948 for making this wonderful program possible and indebted to them for their commitment to support the museum's role in enhancing the lives of students who plan future careers in the arts or a related field. In 2006, the Hood Museum of Art was recognized for this innovative program by museum studies scholar Janet Marstine, who delivered a paper at an ICOM (International Committee on Museums) college and university conference in Mexico City about the Hood's special role in foregrounding student curatorial and intellectual work in such a prominent place within the museum.
As part of a strategic plan developed under the leadership of current director Brian Kennedy, the museum has sought to strengthen this program for future interns. The director has worked with the Class of 1948 to identify new patrons for this well-received exhibition series. With the support of Hood Board of Overseers member Hugh Freund, museum benefactor David Lowenstein, and class president Sam Ostrow, the Class of 1967 has signed on to be A Space for Dialogue's next sponsor, along with Bonnie and Rick Reiss, Class of 1966, through the Hood's new Educational Access Endowment. Bonnie Reiss is also a member of the Hood board. Individual members of the Class of 1948, who have been very committed to this project, will also continue to support it.
