A year of contemporary work at the Hood Museum

Series of exhibitions reflect most ambitious effort yet

Published December 1, 2003; Category: HOOD MUSEUM OF ART

In 2004 the Hood Museum of Art will explore the art of our own times through a year-long series of exhibitions and programs focused on contemporary art. The Hood has dubbed this series New Art Now. This year will mark the most intensive, diverse and ambitious programming that the Hood has ever attempted.

"For many museum-goers, the art being made today is complex and takes some effort to comprehend," notes Derrick R. Cartwright, Director of the Hood Museum of Art. "We should hardly be surprised by this. Our contemporary moment is characterized by its social complexity and inflexible systems. This year we are committing ourselves to the art of our own time, representing our own best creative impulses and defining our most pressing issues for history."

Beginning this winter with Lateral Thinking: Art of the 1990s, one exhibition each season will focus on contemporary art. Other exhibitions for the year include a selection of works by African American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cote d'Ivoirian artist Ouattara that ponder African colonial and postcolonial histories and cultures (spring); large-scale color photography and booming sound sculptures by Cuban American artist Luis Gispert (summer); and new work by seven artists who explore the use of art to cross cultural boundaries between the East and the West in Beyond East and West (fall). Two programming series, Personal Perspectives and Dialogues, will continue throughout the year. Personal Perspectives will bring internationally renowned artists, critics, and scholars to the Hood. Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, will begin the program on Jan. 16. Dialogues will include lunchtime gallery talks, book groups, a Thursday-night Loew film series in the fall, a series of inquiry-based gallery guides, a comment and response book, and educational activities for both children and adults. A comfortable seating area will debut in the galleries, stocked with contemporary art periodicals from around the globe and will serve as a space for relaxation, contemplation, and discussion.

"We are really striving to think outside the box this year, which is both a strength and a great challenge for our small museum located at some distance from world art centers," Cartwright says. "At the Hood, rather than shrink before such an unfamiliar challenge, we will embrace these contemporary representations of our common culture with both arms. While the art may not always be easy to absorb, it will be rewarding to confront and, of course, our always-strong educational outreach efforts will aim to be still more engaging and inclusive. The excitement of studying today's art, now, is worth all of this and more. We are eager to share these representations with the community here in Hanover and beyond."

New Art Now is made still more relevant by the creation of a new purpose-specific endowment at the museum designed to enhance programming in the area of contemporary art. The Dr. Allen W. Root Contemporary Art Distinguished Lectureship has been established.

"Allen is himself a distinguished graduate of Dartmouth College (Class of 1955), and he and his wife, Janet, are longtime friends of this museum," says Cartwright. "I was thrilled when their children approached me with the idea of creating a resource that would allow us to concentrate on bringing the best speakers on contemporary art issues to the Hood for the benefit of Dartmouth students and the entire Upper Valley community. We are all grateful to the Roots for their uncommon generosity and their deep public spirit." The Root gift was announced in early October 2003, and the first programs to be sponsored by this new endowment are planned for fall 2004.

The Hood Museum hours of operation are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with hours on Wednesday until 9 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free. The museum galleries and the Arthur M. Loew Auditorium are wheelchair accessible. For more information, directions, or to search the collections, visit the museum's website, www.hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu, or call 646-2808.

BY SHARON REED