Curated by Centenary students Ben Green & Cadie Hancock

FEBRUARY 28 - MAY 3, 2015

Centenary Communication major Cadie Hancock, class of 2017, and Art History major Ben Green, class of 2015, curated #exhibit to attract a new generation of museum-goers and satisfy existing art patrons. 

With applications like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, users around the world can see and read about the most banal aspects of each other’s lives. We can find out what Beyoncé is doing on her tour bus and what our childhood BFF (“Best Friend Forever”) ate for breakfast. More importantly though, social media allows people to communicate easily and can raise awareness of social injustices. Hashtag trends allow for virtual solidarity and the sharing of ideas around the globe. 

On display are works by artists such as Jean Despujols, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Don Brown, and Alexander Calder, among many others. The exhibition aims to increase audience participation within the museum and present the permanent collection from a digitally fluent perspective. Computer savvy visitors will arrive already familiar with the concept. Others will learn about the function of popular hashtags through interaction and a keen analysis of social media.

PRESS RELEASE

This exhibition reinterprets the Museum’s permanent collection through the lens of social media to encourage cross generational interaction with the museum, to bring more students into the museum, and to teach the public about the function of hashtags (i.e., #). The exhibition design mimics social media posts while the selection raises questions about Generation Z and their social network conventions. 

Over 50 works from the Meadows’ permanent collection are categorized into groupings of popular hashtags. Some of the art included fits the literal meaning of the hashtag, while other arrangements are ironic. They prod the viewer to question the creation, meaning, and usage of popular hashtags. 

Soon all museums will face the question: does social media belong in the gallery? As the first known museum to display its permanent collection in a manner similar to online posting, the Meadows Museum has answered the question with a definitive “yes.” 

Hancock and Green’s idea emerged from an assignment in their Modern & Contemporary Art class. The two students pitched their concept to a panel of jurors from the Friends of the Algur H. Meadows Board and to visiting curator Dr. Nenette Luarca-Shoaf. The two presented their work at the Southeastern Museum Conference in Knoxville, TN in Fall 2014, and at the tenth International Conference on the Arts in Society in London, England in Summer 2015.