Ithaca College

The Handwerker Gallery is pleased to announce that John Hanson, director of Hope College's DePree Gallery, will give a gallery talk on contemporary media at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, October 6. Hanson's talk will focus on issues associated with the installations on display in the exhibition "Light Boxes/Dark Rooms," which opens on Thursday.

“If you hang something on a wall, does that make it art? I am not sure what the answer to this one is, but am sure that hanging something on the wall, and also the way in which you hang it is a political act. That is, the process of installing an exhibition always carries with it complex subtexts about hierarchy (whose work lands in the best places?); about marketing (do we stack works like cans in a grocery store, or showcase them like precious treasures?); and about representation (does an exhibition crown champions or celebrate communities?). Ways of hanging art have gone through styles, just as the artworks themselves have. Contemporary media, such as the installations, video art, and sound pieces that appear in ‘Light Boxes/Dark Rooms’ bring with them peculiar new problems that we must confront in the ‘brave new world’ of art that you can no longer hang on a wall.”

-- John Hanson, director, De Pree Gallery, Hope College, Michigan.