The performance by Aoki will be held in The Turner gallery and is free for students and the public to attend. The exhibition currently on display is “In Focus: Asian American Artists at The Turner.”
After the performance she will be speaking about her artwork and taking questions from the audience.
“She [Aoki] is an incredible, multidisciplinary, feminist artist … she will be doing a performance in character as the curator of the Museum of Historical Makeovers,” said museum director Rachel Skokowski.
Aoki will also be hosting a meet-and-greet with students Wednesday morning from 11 a.m. – noon in the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center in Meriam Library room 172.
This is the first exhibition at The Turner focused solely on the Asian American community. There are around 200 pieces in The Turner’s 4000-piece collection that were created by Asian American artists. The current exhibit displays work from 24 artists.
“Doing an identity-based exhibition can be a challenge, because there are some really diverse stories to tell with the term ‘Asian American,’ and so one of the goals of the exhibition is to show just how different the experiences and lives of these artists were,” Skokowski said.
One of the ways they tried to highlight that was through the creation of an audio guide. It is the first time The Turner has included that addition. The guide was created by 11 Asian Pacific Islander students, faculty and staff who selected a piece from the exhibition and then wrote and recorded their own personal reflections.
Sangmin Lee, an assistant professor in the art history department, contributed to the audio portion of the exhibition. The hands-on element of exhibition work helps students “learn about their creative art expression, conceptual development and even community engaging practices,” Lee said.
The Turner is still actively acquiring pieces for its collection. The Turner acquisitions endowment, which goes to purchasing pieces for the collection, is funded entirely by donations.
“We’re really committed to expanding and diversifying our collection,” Skokowski said.
Anyone interested in donating to The Turner can do so now through their Giving Day page.
Sean Shanks can be reached at [email protected].
