Curatorial Conversation
August 8, 2024
The Boston Public Art Triennial 2025: The Exchange is an acknowledgment of the wealth of expertise in the Boston region and an attempt to share what is too often confined to professional and academic silos while simultaneously honoring the embedded wisdom and ingenuity of local peoples and Indigenous cultures. The artists participating in The Exchange are developing compelling collaborative and expert-led narratives in multidisciplinary projects that are building community outside of the traditional art world while expanding the field of contemporary art.
Artistic Director Pedro Alonzo and Curator Tess Lukey share their perspectives on curating The Exchange, their vision for The Triennial 2025, and why experiencing the Triennial might be like meandering along a riverway. The following conversation has been edited for brevity.
Tess: I'm excited about The Exchange because it's artist-driven, expert-supported, and cross-disciplinary. All of that collaborative work comes together to break down social and professional barriers, promote collaboration, and strengthen community resilience. It will be a beautiful way to inspire artists and engage the public in Boston, a city that is so diverse and often underutilized in ways that can truly be realized through art.
Pedro: The 15 projects we are working on with local and international artists deal with the pertinent topics of Indigeneity, Climate biodiversity, Equity, Shared humanity, and Addiction and Wellness. The projects and programming will address these topics holistically and meaningfully by incorporating artist and community voices into the conversation.
Tess: Something that stands out for me about The Exchange is that many of the works involved are immersive, and the dynamic programming surrounding the artworks will benefit the host locations. This is not just public art for art's sake. The Exchange is not extractive; it is designed to create and sustain collaborative relationships between the artists and the public, especially since the art engages with and is inspired by the public’s lived experiences.
The collaborative, community-focused nature of the Triennial makes it stand out among all the ‘ennials out there. To have it in Boston, a city that, for me, holds a part of my heart, is exhilarating, not to mention the international contemporary art attention it will bring to Boston.
Pedro: Boston is a city that many people have preconceived notions of, whether it’s because of the old institutions or the origin myth of this country. The Exchange is going to illuminate these misconceptions of Boston and draw attention to the diverse stories and experiences that residents hold by bringing people together to challenge those narratives.
Tess: When large exhibitions come to Boston, they become a part of the city's identity. When people who are not always a part of the narrative are included, they become a part of the city's identity, too.
Pedro: It's essential to build the right ecosystem when building an exhibition, right? With this topic of The Exchange, we want multiple voices to create a meaningful and thoughtful reflection on the city.
Tess: When I plan exhibitions for museums—and also exhibitions for public art—I try to think about how we move about spaces and how we interact with those pieces.
As a Native person here from New England, waterways are really important to us. It was one of the ways that we communicate and connect to one another. For me, the streets and neighborhoods of Boston are very much like a river. My hope is that people wander through the city in this fashion, engaging with the people, places, and art that they encounter in a way that's fluid and connects them from place to place. The idea of fluidity works whether you encounter all of the Triennial artworks or wander into a neighborhood you’ve never visited and gain new knowledge and connections with that place.
Pedro: I love the idea of navigating the Triennial like being on a river because the exhibition does meander.
As people encounter artworks in different neighborhoods, it will awaken their curiosity. This brings to mind what Shepard Fairey refers to as cross-pollination. When he has art in a museum, he’ll also do street art outside for the public to see. Cross-pollination occurs when people in the museum are inspired to view the work outside, and people outside are motivated to see what’s inside the museum. The Exchange will have a similar effect here in Boston as people will encounter the work and be moved to seek out more.
We’re thrilled that other extraordinary temporary and permanent public art projects will be presented by Boston area museums and institutions, including the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology / List Visual Arts Center, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Tess: That’s right, we are partnering with several Boston museums to produce artworks in concert with the Triennial. Partnering with a highly visible and reputable Boston institution like the MFA that is working to illuminate stories often not included in Boston's dominant narrative holds a lot of weight in determining the importance of artists and, among visitors, the interpretation and stories they tell.
When the MFA chose Alan Michelson’s The Knowledge Keepers to do the work of tackling a sculpture significant both for its inaccuracies and its ability to provoke conversation for the Museum’s inaugural Huntington Avenue Entrance Commission, I was excited that it was a Native artist. He's a Mohawk member of the Six Nations of the Grand River. He is also an alum of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. So he's both nationally and locally based when you think about his identity and perspective as an artist. This announcement was exhilarating since The Knowledge Keepers forms part of the Triennial.
Working with institutions like the MFA offers us the chance to reach more diverse audiences, both in a traditional museum sphere and those engaging with it on the side of the road when they're, say, taking a run in the morning. The MFA is a highly esteemed, recognizable institution within Boston, and its partnership with us for the Triennial is a significant step in illuminating previously hidden narratives present in Boston.