Keynote Speaker

Fred Wilson, “The Silent Message of the Museum”
Born in 1954 in the Bronx, N.Y., Fred Wilson has created site-specific installations in collaboration with numerous museums and cultural institutions throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In 1992 Wilson organized “Mining the Museum,” during which he occupied eight rooms of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. Wilson resurrected long-hidden items and displayed them juxtaposed with other more conventional objects and art from the historical society's collections. By re-contextualizing artwork and artifacts found in museum collections, along with the manipulation of wall labels and lighting, Wilson’s installation led viewers to recognize that changes in context create changes in meaning.

Since “Mining the Museum,” Wilson’s work has been the subject of many individual shows and retrospectives including “Fred Wilson: The Greeting Gallery” at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1999). In 2001, the solo exhibition “Fred Wilson, Objects and Installations 1979–2000” began its three-year tour, traveling to venues in Berkeley, Houston, Santa Monica, New York and Chicago.

Wilson’s work is on display in several public collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, and in New York at The Jewish Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, the New School and The Whitney Museum of American Art.

Wilson received a B.F.A. from the State University of New York, Purchase in 1976. He received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 1999 and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2003. Wilson represented the United States at the Biennial Cairo in 1992 and the Venice Biennale in 2003.

The lecture is April 4, 7 p.m., Trustees Theater.

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