Collection Ensemble is the first major reinstallation of UMMA's historic entry space in over a decade. The reinstallation highlights the breadth and variety of the Museum’s collection and juxtaposes works of art from a diverse set of artists, periods, areas, and media—sometimes in startling ways. The works of art are grouped in scenes between and around the tall white columns of the entry, and the entire installation becomes a series of distinctive vignettes leaving open for the visitors a range of interpretations. Information on the printed labels is deliberately minimal. The goal is to share an expansive and mutable understanding of art, that forefronts art’s radiant properties and engages the audience in multi-layered dialogue.

Join Vera Grant, UMMA’s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and curator of Collection Ensemble, for a discussion of how the vignettes may work in a variety of ways, and how art museums are rethinking their collection displays, in ways that demonstrate art’s powerful capacities and connections.