Crowd Shyness non-medical face mask by artist Germaine Koh.
In crown shyness, trees grow with distinct space between their crowns to avoid spreading pests, to avoid damaging their own fragile tips and to leave room for their peers. They make small, individual sacrifices for collective health. These natural processes are analogous to societies making adaptations rooted in mutual care: “crowd shyness” as a form of conscious citizenship.
Guided by a vision of collective care, artist Germaine Koh has been working alongside Belkin staff to workshop a comprehensive approach to public interaction. This includes protocols for re-opening the Belkin, but also ongoing workplace procedures that emphasize teamwork and acknowledge both the essential work done by visitor services staff and the fraught character of the gallery threshold. We are continuing as a team to look widely at topics such as exhibition staging, the Belkin’s location on traditional Musqueam territory, and how the Gallery can become more transparent and responsive to diverse publics.
In crown shyness, trees grow with distinct space between their crowns to avoid spreading pests, to avoid damaging their own fragile tips and to leave room for their peers. They make small, individual sacrifices for collective health.
[more]The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of work by the 2020 graduates of the University of British Columbia’s two-year Master of Fine Arts program: Matthew Ballantyne, Alejandro A. Barbosa, Rosamunde Bordo, Sam Kinsley, Nazanin Oghanian and Jay Pahre. This program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory is limited each year to a small group of four to six artists, who over the two years foster different sensibilities developed within an intimate and discursive working environment.
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