MoCP Newsletter

October 17, 2005

Commit to Memory

Collaborating with other cultural institutions is often the most exciting way to see the efforts, ideas, and vision of one’s own organization in a new and inspiring way. Such has been the experience of working with the Gene Siskel Film Center, National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum (NVVAM), Steppenwolf Theater Company, and Pritzker Military Library on a joint marketing effort called Commit to Memory. Commit to Memory has allowed us to co-promote a diverse array of events and exhibitions exploring the impact of the Vietnam War on both the generation that endured it and following generations who struggle with its emotional and cultural legacy. As the nation greets a new group of war veterans home from a conflict with no end in sight, its hard not to look back to the conflict in Vietnam. The arts provide a very specific lens for doing so— a lens I have found adds gravity where it is sometimes lacking.

At our opening last Thursday, over 300 people passed through our galleries, slowly taking in the mesmerizing narratives of 50 Vietnam veterans, whose portraits and personal stories were captured by photographer Jeffrey A. Wolin. The stories have lived amongst us for 30 years, tucked away in the hearts and minds of men and women who to this day rarely have the chance to share them. The content is jaw-dropping; sometimes brutal and controversial, sometimes sublime in its simple dignity. I had recently gone to see Steppenwolf’s Last of the Boys, a play that brings to life similar stories of similar men, and realized that I was now processing both experiences at once: the pent up rage of actor Tracy Letts whose character relives the war in helpless isolation, contrasting with the real-life story of Larry Heinemann’s transition from soldier to author, U.S. Army Specialist to National Book Award winner. I was born after the war and have no close relatives who served. My understanding of it is made up of facts, dates, and names. Commit to Memory ’s events are offering me an intense, personal education that is filling a critical gap in my experience.

This Friday I’m heading out the NVVAM to see Trauma and Metamorphasis II, and will be found at the Pritzker Military Library for an interview of Medal of Honor recipient Col. Wesley L. Fox on Thursday, October 27th. I hope to see you there. Visit www.committomemory.org for a full listing of events. I’d like to thank Borders Books & Music, TimeOut Chicago, and Neoteric Design for supporting this programming.

— Jessica Jahner, Development and Communications Manager

Chicago to NYC: Dinh Q. Le & Binh Danh

Now on view at MoCP is Stages of Memory: The War in Vietnam, an exhibition of work by Dinh Q. Le, Liza Nguyen, Binh Danh, An-My Le, Johnny Miller, and Howard Henry Chen curated by Karen Irvine. If you’re traveling to New York City this fall, stop in at The Drawing Center to see more work by Dinh Q. Le and Binh Danh in Persistent Vestiges, on view from November 5 to February 11, 2006.

New to the Permanent Collection: Pushpins?

Pushpins, and I believe this is a first, are now a part of the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s permanent collection. Three hundred fifty-two pushpins, in fact— the heads covered in half a dozen different colors of oil paint while the pin part is clean and sharp and utterly utilitarian. Just one painting comes along with all these pins, but it is one painting done over a grid of eighty-four gelatin silver photographs plus four ink jet prints. That’s a lot of 8×10s to keep track of. You could see how the pushpins would come in handy.

The piece is Randy Hayes’ Birds of Mississippi and it is tacked to the wall when installed, which is also how the artist went about painting the grid of photographs to begin with. The painted image of a flooded used car lot is itself derived from a photograph and applied so that the underlying photographs of landscapes, interiors, and a few dead birds remain readable. With one image made up of or resting on scores of other, Hayes engages issues of memory as something both composite and selective. Indeed, those concerns are underscored by the Seattle artist’s decision to return to and render his childhood home of Mississippi in this work.

Hayes’ strategy of painting on photographs informs a unique vision and yields a unique object. Birds of Mississippi is a large painting, a painting nearly five feet by ten that can be disassembled and packed into an eight-by-ten inch box you could tuck under your arm. In fact, that’s exactly how Hayes transports it, as just another piece of carry-on luggage. He always hopes someone on the airplane will ask what’s in the unassuming little box. So far, no one has.

Birds of Mississippi was last seen in our Spring exhibition Painting on Photography: Photography on Painting. For the most part, though, if you wanted to see a painting on photographs by Hayes, you’d probably have to know someone who owned one. While well-represented in private collections, the unusual presentation of Hayes’ work has limited its collection by institutions. And there’s good reason for that: both the storage and exhibition of such a work require special care and planning. If you’re going to be a museum of contemporary photography, however, you’ve got to recognize just how expansive photography is and then support work that helps to innovate and reshape the field. You’ve got to respect the power of the photographic image as a means, and you’ve got to remember that the ends take no single final form. Pushing boundaries sometimes causes the marriage of media and sometimes it demands novel presentation. You’ve got to accept that, pushpins and all.

— Kendra Greene, Collections Manager

MoCP Member Photo Excursion

On Saturday, September 24th, Brian Ulrich and I embarked on a walking photography tour of the loop along with a group of photographers from MoCP’s Membership Program. The day began by looking at some prints from the museum’s permanent collection and soon we embarked, cameras in hand. It was great fun to chat with everyone and to share some pointers and tricks concerning street photography. After an hour and a half of photographing, the rain clouds finally moved in and so we retreated to a local pub where we enjoyed some drinks and continued our conversations. Many thanks to those who joined in the fun. Find below a few great images from the event.

— Jonathan Gitelson, Photographer

Image by David Weinberg

Image by John Voris

Image by Kathryn Hanley

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