Day 6 — National Museum of the American Indian and Pioneer Works
I enjoyed the spacing of artwork at NMAI, and the contrast of contemporary artwork (especially the video art), with traditional expressions. It was nice to watch Native Americans telling children creation myths through art objects on display in the galleries.
The display of the small but very excellent ancient Mexican and Mesoamerican collections was crammed together in comparison to the contemporary exhibition galleries, blending cultures as though they came from the same areas, sites, and cultures. I appreciated seeing the back of some of the objects to see the saw marks from where looters first extracted them from their original places and decontextualized.
The trip to Pioneer works gave us an opportunity to travel on the ferry and visiting the space while it was closed to the public. Although most of the space was in between installations, the extraordinary working environment and creativity was evident. It was like the Google of cultural organizations.
It was a relief to finally get to work on the project with David leading us through activities that stimulated problem-solving and ideas at a fast pace. The tools and brainstorming activities we used to generate a working plan was very helpful and I can see myself utilizing those methods into the future.
