CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION PROMPTS DEBATE AT BRONTË PARSONAGE MUSEUM
An exhibition of digitally-manipulated photography at The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth is prompting debate amongst museum visitors as to the place of contemporary art within a historical setting.
Funded by Arts Council England, the museum commissioned Swiss artist Annelies Štrba to create new work in response to the Brontës as part of its Contemporary Arts Programme. The resulting exhibition, My Life Dreams, opened in August.
The exhibition features a series of small-scale digitally manipulated works that are displayed unusually within the period rooms of the museum.
Responses in the exhibition’s visitor comments book reveal a wide range of opinions. Some liked the work but feel displaying the images within the period rooms is “inappropriate” and “distracting” arguing that “modern art has no place here”. Others have found the exhibition fascinating. R. Johnston writes “I love the psychedelic colours and the blurred moodiness…for me, they bring the rest of the house into relief” another museum visitor, Kathryn, says the work creates “a real link to the past and the Brontës’ lives through something made in the present”.
Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum said:
“We knew that including such bold contemporary art within the period rooms of the museum would divide opinion – it’s the aim of the Contemporary Arts Programme to highlight how radical the Brontës’ creativity was in their day, and just how influential they continue to be for artists and writers working today. We’re pleased that the work is prompting visitors to think about the Brontës and their former home in new ways and it’s great that they are engaging with the work in such detail – to the point of discussing what Emily would have thought of it”.
Annelies Štrba’s exhibition, My Life Dreams, is on at the Brontë Parsonage Museum until 31 October and is free on admission to the museum.
A new Contemporary Arts Programme of events, exhibitions and workshops is launched in October.
Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum
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