With Midterm exams approaching, and the weather cooling down, it’s easy to forget about the underappreciated gem on campus, the Tang Teaching Museum. The Tang, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, contains a wealth of modern art, and is a great resource for students looking to experience consistently updated culture on campus. The new exhibit at the Tang is titled Affinity Atlas, and is an absolute must-see.
The description for the exhibit on the museum’s website reads, “Affinity Atlas charts an exploratory path across disciplines built on idiosyncratic treasures from the Tang Teaching Museum collection and punctuated with recent works by a roster of contemporary artists”. When I had the pleasure of visiting the exhibit, the collection of work immediately reminded me of a word that is familiar to all Skidmore students: interdisciplinary. Affinity Atlas, an eclectic and visually appealing collection of modern art, seems to mirror what a Skidmore education is all about. We are taught in the classroom that various areas of academic study can connect in unexpected ways. This exhibit teaches us that seemingly different items and works of art can be brought together in one room to create a diverse but coherent expression of a universal idea. As I walked around the gallery, I was impressed not only with the individual items, but with how they related to each other in ways that I could never have previously imagined. From spending time in the exhibit, I realized that art can be brought together and compared in unexpected ways to make a larger impact than they might be able to as stand-alone pieces.
The exhibit is curated by Dayton Director Ian Berry, and will remain open until January 3, 2016. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5:00 pm, and remains open on Thursdays until 9:00 pm. For more information on the exhibit, check out the museum’s website: https://tang.skidmore.edu/index.php/posts/view/919