Las Hermanas Iglesias and the ACME Lab team at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) invite visitors to experience and collaborate on HERE, HERE, an interactive installation in which community members transform and contribute to a work in progress.
HERE, HERE debuts Saturday, August 26, when the UMFA reopens to the public after more than eighteen months of building upgrades and remodeling. This is the first exhibition in the ACME Lab, a new space dedicated to community engagement and art experimentation in the Museum’s Emma Eccles Jones Education Center.
Las Hermanas Iglesias, a collaboration between sisters Lisa and Janelle Iglesias, describe the project as an “invitation to every museum-goer to become a museum-do-er.” Each element of the ever-changing exhibition is designed to be activated, handled, moved, altered, worn and played. Visitors are free to make their own rules to re-imagine, re-create and re-invent. “We’re hoping that the sculptural environment of the Lab will encourage visitors’ creative energies in new directions,” the artists said.
Community members and organizations are encouraged to use the space for their own ideas, events and gatherings throughout the run of the show. That’s the kind of active participation and Museum-community collaboration the ACME Lab is meant to foster, says Jorge Rojas, UMFA director of education and engagement. “HERE, HERE is the perfect show to launch this new interactive space for creative experimentation,” he says. The exhibition is curated by Annie Burbidge Ream, UMFA curator of education for school programs and statewide outreach.
HERE, HERE will be on view through January 28, 2018. Las Hermanas Iglesias will host events during the UMFA’s Reopening Party August 26 and 27 and will give an artist talk Wednesday, August 30. All events are free and open to the public.
This exhibition and ACME Lab is made possible, in part, by a generous gift from The JoAnne L. Shrontz Family Foundation.
Free Public Programs
Las Hermanas Iglesias @ UMFA Reopening Party
“Let’s Take Shape Together!” Activity
Saturday, August 26 & Sunday, August 27| 10 am–12 pm
ACME Lab
HERE, HERE “Opening Bash” Piñata Activity
Saturday, August 26 | 1 pm
Outside
Artist Talk
Wednesday, August 30 | 7pm
Katherine W. and Ezekiel R. Dumke Jr. Auditorium
Third Saturday for Families | Patterns of Fabric
Saturday, January 20 | 1–4pm
Emma Eccles Jones Education Classroom
About Las Hermanas Iglesias
Las Hermanas Iglesias are Lisa and Janelle Iglesias, sisters born and raised in Queens, New York, to Norwegian and Dominican parents. While both artists maintain distinct individual practices grounded in drawing and sculpture, they’ve collaborated for more than ten years as Las Hermanas Iglesias––a moniker referencing their identity within the historical and philosophical contexts of feminism, teamwork, and multiculturalism. Through employing playful structures that respond to the community and context of each project, Las Hermanas create artworks that disrupt borders, engage absurdity and promote the benefits of working collectively. Learn more at www.LasHermanasIglesias.com.
About ACME Lab
Located in the UMFA’s Emma Eccles Jones Education Center, ACME Lab is a new exhibition space for art experimentation and exploration. Visitors of all ages are encouraged to ask questions, make connections across disciplines and engage with art in new ways. The Lab promotes collaboration between museum and community through active participation—providing an avenue for mutual learning, discovery, and understanding. The Lab is part of the Museum’s ACME Initiative, which launched when the Museum closed in mid-January 2016 and includes a series of bimonthly ACME Sessions, roundtable public exchanges where participants can dream and articulate new models of education and community engagement through art. ACME stands for Art. Community. Museum. Education.
About the UMFA
Located on the campus of the University of Utah in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building, the UMFA is the fine arts museum for both the University and the state. Its mission is to inspire critical dialogue and illuminate the role of art in our lives. The Museum offers a robust schedule of ongoing and temporary exhibitions, tours and programs for families and adults, and brings hands-on arts education to K–12 teachers and classrooms across the state.
For more information call (801) 581-7332 or visit www.umfa.utah.edu. The UMFA is located at 410 Campus Center Drive.
