This week, Zavitz Gallery features Velkommen til Nationalmuseet, an exhibition of works by Jordan Pedersen. It opened on Sept. 22 and runs until Sept. 26. I wandered through the gallery with Anna Neustaeter, a Master’s student in Animal and Poultry Science. This is a selection from our conversation:
Will: If this is a museum, what does that make you as a looker?
Anna: Like a visitor to someone else’s culture, experiencing it third-hand through someone else’s interpretation of an actual visit. I could totally be wrong.
Will: What do you think of this person’s culture, from what you see in here?
Anna: I think they’re definitely European. They’re definitely white. Sorry [laughter]. It’s all sort of colonial, imperial, castles and stuff.
Will: What do you think of the different mediums the artist has used?
Anna: I like this person’s sketches the best, the charcoal sketches, but that’s just because I think it’s pleasing to my own eye, it’s my own preference. I didn’t quite understand their photographs. I wish I understood, but they all seem underexposed, like they could’ve used brightening up.
Will: Do you think they made the photos look crappy on purpose?
Anna: I think so.
Will: Why would they do that?
Anna: Maybe there’s no real pride where they’re from. Because I think if this person is Danish, and they like these pieces, they would want to highlight them, like “Yo.” So maybe they’re not proud of where they’re from. It’s almost haphazardly put together, but it’s probably not. That’s probably the point.
Will: Who is this artist? Who decides to put together a replica of the National Museum of Denmark?
Anna: I’m guessing it’s a “he.” It seems masculine to me, it’s very geometrical and masculine looking. He really likes museums. I don’t want to make assumptions. It could be like this petite Asian woman and I’m wrong about everything.
Will: What if none of this was on purpose?
Anna: I would feel really bad. They should’ve known that the pictures look really gloomy, especially with this extra bright light. But I think it’s really cleverly done. I think having the pieces on the ground is a really good way to get close and personal. And is the chair part of the art? I guess that’s also sort of reflective of a museum where you want to have some comfort in the area of observation.
Will: It’s like when you’re in a museum or an art gallery and you can never tell: “Is it art or not and should I be sitting on it?”
Anna: I’ll just leave it alone.