PEMs vast storage is like
the museums subconscious. Marianne
Mueller
SWISS ARTIST
TURNS MUSEUM INSIDE OUT, UPSIDE
DOWN
FreePort[No. 002]: Marianne
Mueller Opens at
PEM
On view March 26, 2011 to December
31,
2011
SALEM,
MA Swiss contemporary artist Marianne
Mueller wants to show you a different kind of museum. Opening at the Peabody
Essex Museum (PEM) later this month, her installation Any House is a
Home will combine the artists own photography and video with
selected examples of historic photographs, furniture, shoes, mirrors and glass.
Mueller arranges these objects (297 in all) in unexpected and provocative ways,
casting new light on lesser-seen corners of PEMs
collection.
For Mueller,
exploring combinations of images and objects is as important as taking a
photograph, shooting video, or building something new. The juxtapositions
inspire new ways of looking at things that seem familiar but take on a new
presence when shown in a different context. Muellers intention is to
liberate objects from traditional chronologies and categorizations, inviting
viewers to take them as they
appear.
I want to
show everything with the same measure of distance and closeness, whether it is a
human being or an object, skin or glass. Every image should have the same
intensity. Thus my archive becomes a democracy of images, closer to the dynamics
of poetry than the strictures of the novel, said
Mueller.
And then
theres the monument a massive two-story architectural structure
designed in collaboration with the artist by Los Angeles firm, Johnston Marklee
and covered with photographs from the Peabody Essex collection and
Muellers own ever-growing
archive.
If
weve done our job right, visitors will one day tell their grandchildren
about that time when the gallery was completely transformed by a Swiss artist
who took hidden treasures out of storage, painted the walls in 21 vibrant bands
of color, and built a tower of pictures rising out of the floor, said
Phillip Prodger, Curator of Photography at PEM. Its a completely
fresh approach to exhibitions at PEM. Through FreePort were able to work
between departments to find the common threads that make the museum
sing.
Marianne
Muellers Any House Is a Home is the second project in
PEMs FreePort contemporary art initiative. FreePort invites some of the
most provocative artists working today to interact with PEMs 212-year-old
collection and create works connecting the past to the present, and New England
with the rest of the
world.
PRESS
PREVIEW
Cocktails and Conversations
Question
and answer with Marianne Mueller and curator, Phillip
Prodger
Thursday, March 24, 2011 | 6:30 to
8:30
PM
RSVP to
whitney_riepe@pem.org or 978-745-9500
x3228 by 18 March
2011
UPCOMING
EXHIBITION
Man Ray
| Lee Miller, Partners in
Surrealism
June 11, 2011 to
December 4,
2011
UPCOMING FREEPORT
PROJECTS
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: FREEPORT [No. 003], May, 2011
PETER HUTTON: FREEPORT [No. 004], September,
2011
EXHIBITION CREDIT
Support provided
by the East India Marine Associates (EIMA) of the Peabody Essex
Museum.
ABOUT
THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
The Peabody
Essex Museum presents art and culture from New England and around the world. The
museum's collection is among the finest of its kind, showcasing an unrivaled
spectrum of American art and architecture (including four National Historic
Landmark buildings) and outstanding Asian, Asian Export, Native American,
African, Oceanic, Maritime and Photography collections. In addition to its vast
collection, the museum offers a vibrant schedule of special exhibitions and a
[UTF-8?]hands‐on education center. The museum campus features numerous parks,
period gardens and 22 historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang, a
[UTF-8?]200‐year‐old house that is the only example of Chinese domestic
architecture on display in the United
States.
HOURS:
Open [UTF-8?]Tuesday‐Sunday and holiday Mondays, 10 [UTF-8?]am‐5
pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years
Day.
ADMISSION: Adults $15;
seniors $13; students $11. Additional admission to Yin Yu Tang: $5. Members,
youth 16 and under and residents of Salem enjoy free general admission and free
admission to Yin Yu
Tang.
INFO:
Call [UTF-8?]866‐745‐1876 or visit our website at www.pem.org.
|
April Swieconek
Public
Relations
Manager
Email:
april_swieconek@pem.org
Phone:
[UTF-8?]978‐745‐9500, ext.
3109
|
Whitney Riepe
Senior
Public Relations
Associate
Email:
whitney_riepe@pem.org
Phone:
[UTF-8?]978‐745‐9500, ext.
3228
|
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