MADAMI’MADAM at the Gardner Museum 2002-03

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MADAMI’MADAM at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
2002–03

I did much of the research for MADAMI’MADAM as artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, in February 2001. During my stay I visited the collection almost daily, and it deeply influenced and informed the project.

In 2002–03 I took these works back to the museum. The provisions of the Gardner Trust stipulate that the galleries constitute a permanent exhibit, with nothing removed from place except for purposes of maintenance or loan. I responded to this caveat by creating a virtual exhibition: working in close collaboration with the museum’s conservators on a series of Mondays, when the galleries are closed to the public, I installed my work temporarily on easels and tables and in empty frames or spaces within the galleries. They were filmed, photographed, and then removed. A record of a show that never took place, these images became an exhibition on the Gardner’s website, and a CD-ROM, released in 2004.

I write this update in 2022. Eighteen years is a very long time in digital technology. Several years ago, the coding originally used to make this virtual exhibition became incompatible with the Gardner’s new website, and most newer computers and/or operating systems will no longer run the CD-ROM.

This presentation of the project features photographs by Yoav Horesh of my embroideries installed in the Gardner’s various galleries and spaces.