Skidmore’s Tang Teaching Museum : Studio/Archive
Installation view, Studio/Archive, 2024, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, photograph by Mindy McDaniel
Written by: Max Wiener
Photo Edited by: Billy Delfs
SKIDMORE’S TANG TEACHING MUSEUM : STUDIO/ARCHIVE
February 3–June 9, 2024
Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum at Art Gallery at Skidmore College
The theme of identity - and its ability to come through on camera - are presented in grand fashion at Skidmore’s Tang Teaching Museum.
Presenting the contents of an archive can be daunting. Generally, they’re an expansive vacuum of artistic exploration. Each has differing themes and artistic technique, blending together like oil and water. How can various voices shine in a single exhibition? Are each not entitled to their own smaller bite of recognition? Nothing of the sort comes to mind in Studio/Archive, a stunning compendium of archived works at Skidmore College’s Tang Teaching Museum. From recent acquisitions to staple pieces, some chronologically range all the way back to the 19th century. The series aims to explore both themes of identity and photography’s ability to amplify it. Each photograph and subject has their own voice and own story. Such is comparable to how we are each immersed in the experience of life. With each image, we see not only others, but bits of ourselves. The series opened on February 3rd, with a scheduled closing date of June 9th.
Studio/Archive emphasizes the need for art in its ability to help realize the meaning of the self. In doing so, it encourages our journeys like no other. Each artistic voice presented appears distinctive from other exhibited works, amplifying it to a space occupied only by them. Mickalene Thomas, the groundbreaking photographer, has a completely different feel than that of Joachim Schmid, yet both appear to feed off of each other and complement each other beautifully. Their individuality provides the foundation of the thematic exploration within the series’s aims. Ultimately, we should consistently strive for uniqueness, and Studio/Archive proves that it can only benefit others.
Installation view, Studio/Archive, 2024, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, photograph by Mindy McDaniel
As aforementioned, Joachim Schmid has a distinctively beautiful voice. In Archive #149, six women with closed closed-eyes tell different stories from six different points of view. While all may have been taken in the same place, each has their own sense of individuality shared by the commonality of closed eyes. Schmid certainly introduces themes of nostalgia with this image, yet he also perfectly tackles real-world implications in both a fun and bubbly way. We can all be ourselves and coexist, Schmid argues, and this would make the world a better place. If Archiv #149 was six pictures of the same woman, would it be as impactful? Or, better yet, would it be as appreciated? It is safe to say the answer is a resounding no. Let us be like the women in the photo: fun, unique, and individual, with a perfect ability to coexist. Politics are void of each images; no strife is to be seen. Schmid, moreover, spearheads the series. As he encourages us to all live in harmony with one another, our greater good can only be benefited.
