Clothes, Collections and Culture…What is a Curator?
A new exhibition at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures gives visitors an insider’s perspective into the curatorial process. In Clothes, Collections and Culture…What is a Curator?, Lori Hall-Araujo, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Communication and Culture, utilizes Royce Collection of Isthmus Zapotec Textiles and Clothing Collection to examine the behind-the-scenes activities that make exhibitions possible.
The exhibition uses traditional Zapotec garments to illustrate the curatorial process from collection to protection, and explores the cultural and historical context of the garments. In addition to this presentation of ethnographic objects, the visitor is invited to view the exhibit from a curator’s perspective. Hall-Araujo has recreated the collections work area to explain how curators make decisions that turn artifacts into exhibitions.
Clothes, Collections and Culture…What is a Curator? will be on display at the Mathers Museum through Sunday, December 20, 2009.
The Mathers Museum is located at 416 North Indiana Avenue in Bloomington, and is open Tuesdays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free. Free visitor parking is available by the entrance on Indiana Avenue, and on surrounding streets (during weekends). Metered and IU Permit parking spaces are available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue.
An access ramp is located at the corner on Ninth Street and Fess Avenue, at the entrance to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology adjoining the Mathers Museum. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-1696 for assistance.
For more information, or to schedule a guided group tour, please call
812-855-6873 or e-mail mathers@indiana.edu.
