The New York Times featured an upcoming exhibition at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon’s Eugene campus in a story titled “10 Campus Museums Shine a Spotlight on Democracy.”
The article, published April 24 as part of a special section of the Times, highlights universities “tying exhibitions into the 2024 elections and the broader issue of extreme political polarization in the United States.”
“At a time when higher education leaders are facing relentless criticism over their handling of free speech and political protests,” Alina Tugen writes for the Times, “10 university museums have planned nonpartisan shows focused on democracy, with the goal of getting students more engaged.”
The exhibit, “Necroarchivos de las Americas: An Unrelenting Search for Justice,” opens June 15 and runs through Dec. 8.
The museum’s executive director, John Weber, told the Times that the show “offers a cautionary warning about what could happen when the rule of law breaks down.”
Adriana Mirmontes Olivas, curator of Latin American and Caribbean art and curator of the upcoming show, said the “exhibition adopts a critical lens toward historical accounts and official rhetoric to highlight erased narratives and censored stories.”
Coverage by The New York Times “signals the urgency of engaging in dialogue to examine diverse forms of political violence in the country,” Mirmontes Olivas said.
“From an art-related perspective,” the curator added, “this publication turns the eyes of the art world toward the Pacific Northwest, and the UO in particular, where important work is being done to question and address the issues of our time.”
The UO art museum opened its doors to the public in 1933. The mission of the museum is to foster global understandings of art and cultural histories working with faculty, students and communities to contribute to a more just, equitable and sustainable world.
The museum features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the Americas as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is one of seven Oregon museums — and the only academic art museum — accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
