On September 9th, our class was able to meet with Saisha Grayson, the time-based media curator at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. Grayson gave us a better understanding of what it’s like to curate time-based media, how her education and interests led her to where she is today, and how she wants to make a difference in the world and curate with a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saisha’s beginnings in public relations work with museums helped her understand that certain museums have goals to achieve specific aesthetics or to reach out to a particular audience. She later went on and mentioned that some museums believe that their shows or pieces are able to capture a “general audience”, but no matter how “generalized” a show is, some party is going to be left out or feel uncomfortable. Personally, I had never really considered these aspects of curating or museums, and I find them to be extremely interesting. Of course certain shows and pieces are going to attract a certain type of people, but at the same time, museums also need to consider who they are pushing away, and how that affects their overall vibe and image that they put out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Grayson joined the Smithsonian, she made it a goal to “accurately represent the current climate of America”, and fixated her efforts towards artists and pieces that are possibly more marginalized. Her efforts to represent female artists and other voices in America that are clear in her exhibits. Along with including a wide selection of voices in her shows, she aims to include new forms of media to expand the horizons of the time-based gallery in the Smithsonian, like video games. Personally, I have never seen a video game and considered it art, although it does take a high level of artistry and skill to create them, but when Saisha described the reasons why she has curated video games, it made sense to me. The games Grayson has curated have a quality about the structure that help you understand a part about the world; it simply isn’t just to finish a storyline or get a high score, but rather have more depth and create a conversation. They can even be used to simulate someone else’s perspective, one that the player may not know about because of their lifestyle. By including this rather new form of art, Saisha is creating an outlet for viewers to engage and understand the world around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number one thing I can appreciate about Saisha is her constant drive to expand the public’s image of art, whether that is how it’s made, presented, or who the artist is. Now that she is in the Smithsonian, I believe she has found a place where she can truly explore what it means to exhibit American art in all of its forms, and will bring new meaning and goals of representation in bigger museums across America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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