Institute for the Humanities Annual Report, 2020-21

Page 23

Notes on an Exhibition in a Pandemic:

YASMINE NASSER DIAZ During what resulted in an all-virtual academic year, the Institute Gallery facilitated three virtual artist residencies and launched three prominent, public-facing exhibitions, responding successfully to the challenges of the pandemic restrictions. Thanks to the support of the Efroymson Family Fund, our project with Yasmine Nasser Diaz and her new exhibition For Your Eyes Only was completely re-designed by the artist specifically for sidewalk viewing, bringing us together in extraordinary ways under extraordinary circumstances. A continuation of her teenage bedroom series reflecting on her youth as a YemeniAmerican, For Your Eyes Only offered an intimate view into the gallery space from the gallery window on S. Thayer Street. The exhibition included video, neon, a disco ball, and sound. It completely transformed the corner of Washington and Thayer, basking the space in pink color and light, night and day. As part of the project, we commissioned a musical composition by Beirut artist Carol Abi Ghanem, which was used as the backdrop sound for the exhibition, and an essay by Iranian writer Lila

Nazemian was displayed on our front glass window and online. Additionally, Detroit performance artist Ava Ansari presented three performances live in the installation itself, with students and community members gathering around the gallery window. The enthusiastic audience populated the sidewalk and street in front of the gallery, all masked with social distancing protocols in place. Diaz also surprised us by flying in from Los Angeles to attend the event. These meaningful collaborations and cultural exchanges between Diaz and the other artists brought the world to the Institute and connected us to the outside despite our inability to gather everyone together in person. The Institute Gallery also produced a video newsreel about For Your Eyes Only, which was shared with nearly a dozen U-M classes. Diaz and curator Amanda Krugliak followed up with synchronous zoom Q & As, scheduled ongoing throughout the term. Diaz plans to utilize the video in her own teaching practice in California. For Your Eyes Only has already been reexhibited at the National Art Dealer’s Alliance as part of their yearly art fair. 23

Neon piece in the form of the “evil eye.” Part of For Your Eyes Only by Yasmine Nasser Diaz

In the year 2021, when social media such as Instagram and TikTok have blurred the boundary between public and private, For Your Eyes Only was, as Lila Nazemian wrote, an installation “imbued with the experiences of many, yet wholly encapsulating the personal.” –Amanda Krugliak, arts curator


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

About the Institute

1min
page 30

Affiliates and Staff

1min
page 29

Support

1min
page 28

Curating Scholarship Workshop

5min
pages 26-27

The Humanities at Work

2min
page 25

Passionate About the Humanities

2min
page 24

Notes on an Exhibition in a Pandemic: Yasmine Nasser Diaz

2min
page 23

Daisy Chain

6min
pages 20-22

Gallery

3min
pages 18-19

Summer Fellows

1min
page 17

Regaining a Sense of Academic Purpose

1min
page 16

The Connectivity of Connectedness

1min
page 14

Graduate Student Fellows

1min
page 15

Faculty Fellows

1min
page 13

In-Between the World and Dreams

3min
pages 10-11

History, Memory, Forgetting, and Social Justice

1min
page 12

Letter from the Director

3min
pages 4-5

2021 Poetry Blast

2min
pages 6-8

Art and Activism Inaugural Event

2min
page 9
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.