Deinstalling Ghada Amer: Love Has No End

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Introduction didactic to Ghada Amer: Love Has No End with packing boxes. Photo by Sarah Giovanniello

Last week we watched as the deinstallation of Ghada Amer: Love Has No End brought with it many delicious memories from the past run of the show. Included among these were the energy and joy of the installation itself, the wonderful artists’ talks, panel discussions, school groups, and tours that were organized with our colleagues in Education, and the conversations we shared with audiences that traveled from all over the world to the Museum for the exhibition.

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Senior Art Handler Michael Allen preps a work by artist Ghada Amer for shipping to the artist’s studio. Photo by Sarah Giovanniello

The artist herself wanted to share a few reflections on the exhibition, and rather than try to paraphrase her in this post, I wanted to include her comments, unedited below!

“I loved the show. It is my first retrospective in a museum! I loved the way [Curator] Maura [Reilly] worked: digging in my cupboards, in my sister’s home where she made a research trip in Paris, France. In the beginning I was surprised, almost annoyed on how close and precise she wanted to be!! But then when I saw the final selection and the lay out I knew it was going to be great and it was great…I liked the way she divided my work in 5 sections, I loved the wall text, the hanging. She managed to make a show that is simple, clear and powerful.”

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This is a quick “naughty” drawing of a naked woman that Ghada made for me during the installation that still hangs in my office! The text reads: “I am a feminist. Are you?” and is signed: “Ghada Amer. Feb 14 08. The worst day of the year.”

In keeping with this trend of installing shows around holidays, our newest exhibition Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection, co-curated by me and Nicole Caruth (independent curator and former Interpretive Materials Manager of the Brooklyn Museum), opens in the main galleries of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art today, on Halloween, October 31st! Stay tuned for more on this installation and opening of Burning Down the House on the blog next week!