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C/C Past Installations

Weird Art, Fuller World

Curriculum / Collection
Anthony Goicolea, Last Supper, dye destruction print on paper, 40 in x 77 in (101.6 cm x 195.6 cm), Museum purchase made possible by the W. Hawkins Ferry Fund

RCCORE 100 – Residential College

Faculty Curators: Darcy Brandel (Residential College / Semester in Detroit / Creative Writing and Literature)

On view: Winter 2022

“Weird Art, Fuller World” explores the idea that art makes the world more just and joyful by challenging conventions, questioning norms, and overturning preconceptions. By looking at works that upset the dominant narratives of power and subvert our traditional understanding of art, we confront discomfort, uncertainty, and irreverent play, allowing new possibilities to open up in the process.

For Curriculum / Collection, we selected a provocative set of puzzling and humorous objects. A rooster on a hat. A thimble and a tuft of horse hair. Photoshopped clones eating white bread. How do these eclectic and weird assemblages help us make sense of the world and expand our understanding of its complexities? What do these objects mean individually and, in this installation, collectively? How do they challenge normative notions of art, identity, ideology, and power? How does their weirdness spill out into the rest of the gallery? And do they allow us to see the world in a new way?

Works Included In This Collection

The Collector
2004
Mark Dion
taxidermied rooster, tar, imitation jewelry, dime store trinkets, and wooden column stand
scripted
1997
Ann Hamilton
gold thimble, silver thimble, horsehair, wood and glass
III
1994
Lorna Simpson; 21 Steps; Jeff Ryan
wood box, waterless lithographed felt, and ceramic, rubber, and bronze wishbones
Untitled (Medusa Marinara)
1999
Vik Muniz; Bernardaud Manufacture de Porcelaine
photograph on glazed porcelain

SUPPORT

Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Erica Gervais Pappendick and Ted Pappendick, the Eleanor Noyes Crumpacker Endowment Fund, and the Oakriver Foundation.