Time Travelers: Foundations, Transformations, and Expansions at the Centennial reconsiders the complex relationships of select artworks in relation to the past, present, and future. On view at the Tucson Museum of Art March 17–October 6, 2024.
Time Travelers: Foundations, Transformations, and Expansions at the Centennial
March 17–October 6, 2024
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson
In 2024, the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block celebrates 100 years since its founding. The museum marks this milestone of exhibitions, collections, and programs by looking at the relationship of art to time in Time Travelers: Foundations, Transformations, and Expansions at the Centennial. This exhibition presents original contexts and offers new interpretations of significant artworks collected by the museum over the past century, reconsidering their complex relationships to the past, present, and future.
Traditionally, museums present works of art in chronological order—guiding visitors from the oldest works of art to those that were recently created. An artwork’s relationship to time is often more complicated, and works are frequently connected to multiple, distinct moments. Contemporary artworks can draw inspiration from the distant past, for example, while an older artwork might find new life in current cultural contexts. Art can speak to the moment when it was made but can also teach about culture at the time when it was collected and exhibited. Artworks change over their lifetimes, as materials, tastes, and ideologies transform. Time Travelers explores the many conditions that connect the TMA collection to multiple eras and perspectives.
This exhibition is organized by three guiding concepts: Foundations, Transformations, and Expansions. “Foundations” includes early and significant acquisitions that formed the core of the museum’s collection, as well as works in which artists look in hindsight to historical precedents. “Transformations” features works that reveal an evolving relevance in the collection. “Expansions” presents new narratives, voices, and perspectives. A series of related interpretative materials and programming will be planned to examine these ideas and artworks.
The TMA centennial is a time to celebrate the museum’s growth, reaffirm the institution’s goals and values, and reflect on its role in Southern Arizona. Committed to inclusion and equity, TMA now approaches its collection in closer dialogue with local communities and partners. It is a site of contemporary intersections of artworks that have multiple connections to many eras and interpretations. Time Travelers continues these efforts by fostering new relationships with collections and audiences, linking the museum’s history with the region, and creating opportunities for conversations about and between artworks across time.
Time Travelers: Foundations, Transformations, and Expansions at the Centennial is presented by Kit and Dan Kimball.
tucsonmuseumofart.org
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