Richard Barnes, the Institute for the Humanities' 2009 Paula and Edwin Sidman Fellow in the Arts, presents innovative new work inspired by the University of Michigan Exhibits Museum's paleontology and anthropology collections, and the Museum of Zoology's ornithology collection.

In this unique installation, Barnes considers the nature of things from collection and display to extinction. A prehistoric skeletal whale juxtaposes a mound of rubber molds and resin casts, examining questions of replication and authenticity, what we save and what we lose. Both lyrical and visceral, Barnes' work engages us in a provocative conversation about museological practice from behind the scenes, capturing the inextricable relationship between human gesture and the inevitability of extinction.

This exhibition will coincide with the UM LSA Theme Semester Meaningful Objects: Museums and the Academy. The Institute's exhibit is part of a three-venue project highlighting different aspects of Barnes's work in partnership with the UM Museum of Art and, at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, an exhibit called Artology.

Opening reception following the Penny Stamps Lecture