A Space for Dialogue

About the Program

A Space for Dialogue began in 2001 to highlight creative and diverse perspectives on the museum's permanent collection through exhibitions curated by Hood Museum of Art interns. Through the program, students engage intellectually with works of art found within the Hood Museum's collection. They work through all facets of exhibition curation from choosing a topic, creating a checklist of objects, research, writing labels and a brochure, choosing a wall color and framing, and giving a public talk. They work closely with museum staff who provide this in-depth, hands-on experience. Through the A Space for Dialogue program students have curated over a hundred exhibitions with widely varied themes.

Click here to explore past A Space for Dialogue installations.

In March 2021, the program saw its 100th exhibition installed. Click here to read an interview with Conroy Intern Kensington Cochran '20. Her exhibition The Soul Has Bandaged Moments was on view March 6–May 16, 2021.

Virtual "A Space for Dialogue"

There have been two occasions when A Space for Dialogue transitioned from a physical space to a virtual one. When the Hood Museum of Art closed for renovation in 2016, the intern classes of 2016–17 and 2017–18 created websites with the assistance of Dartmouth's DALI Lab. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hood Museum's interns for the 2020–21 academic year worked remotely curating in the online space once again. Current interns will occasionally curate online exhibitions as well.

Virtual Exhibitions 2016–18

1. The Medicine Bear Winter Count
Singer Horse Capture '17, Institute of Museum and Library Services Special Project Intern

2. In Relationship: Finding Balance in Modern American Sculpture
Madeline Thompson '17, Kathryn Conroy Intern

3. DADA Today: Juxtaposing DADA and Contemporary Protest Art
Ameli Klein '17, Homma Family Intern 

4. Self(Hood)
Alison Guh '17, Mellon Special Projects Intern

5. Vanity: Disrupting the Female Nude
Jessica N. King Fredel '17, Levinson Intern 

6. Faces of Rome's Future: Augustus's Numismatic Propaganda of his Chosen Successors, Caius and Lucius
Emily Hunt Carney '17, Kathryn Conroy Intern 

7. The Labor of Art: from Sol LeWitt to the Guerrilla Girls
Kimberly Yu '18, Homma Family Intern

8. Brotherhood: An Exploration of Relationships in War Photography
Gina Campanelli '18, Class of 1954 Intern

9. The Temple Murals
Ashley Dotson '18, Conroy Intern

10. Symbolic Landscape: Exploring the Semiotics of Landscape in Rembrandt's "Three Trees"
Tess McGuiness '18, Conroy Intern

11. Carlos Mérida From México to Montmartre: 1912-1943
Marie-Therese (Motti) Cummings '18, Levinson Intern

These Virtual Space for Dialogue exhibitions were created in partnership with the DALI lab. Generously supported by a gift from Judy and Neil Smiley, Class of 1982.

Virtual Exhibitions 2020–21

12. Overexposure: Photography and the Nude 
Claudia Bernstein '21, Class of 1954 Intern

13. Out of Body 
Aidan Chisholm '21, Conroy Intern

14. In a Gallery, Out of Context: Ancient Art and Academia 
Caroline Cook '21, Erbe Intern

15. No Place like Home 
Halle Dantas '21, Levinson Intern

16. What Are Rites of Passage?
William Hadley Detrick '22, Erbe Intern

17. Contemporary Indigenous Photography and Self-Determination 
Analicia Gonzales '21, Conroy Intern

18. The Rise of Icarus: The Resurgence of The Fall of Icarus as a Modern Myth
Sophie Kamhi '21, Class of 1954 Intern

19. The Craft of Activism: Materialism, Collective Action, and the Subversive Power of Creation 
Courtney McKee '21, Conroy Intern

Virtual Exhibitions Onging

20. Mothers and Daughters: Similarity, Strength, and Strain
Han Bit (Lex) Kang '21, Homma Family Intern