The Spectrum
Throughout our everyday lives, we experience the feeling of love. There are many different ways in which people can both interpret and express this kind of feeling. We, as human beings show this through the way that we show and care for others and by the way that we show and care for ourselves. It is seen through what we love, whom we love, and how we love, as this specific feeling is never caused by just one thing alone. Love can come and be felt through simple things which we can individually interpret and value in different ways. Yet, not many people realize that love can be found everywhere, and is given off into the world by our own natural will. We want to be able to visually show our audience the wide spectrum of love, what lies behind it, and what causes it; since we often don't recognize what exactly causes this feeling of love found within all of us. Love can be shown in all forms of art, as love is art within itself.
What Is Our Goal?
For our theme, we wanted to implement the idea of the Spectrum of Love. We would like to explore and further the understanding of our audience on this topic, as well as our own as we create this exhibition. We will do this by presenting an exhibition that will provide our audience with a sense of warmth, tenderness, passion, and desire towards the world, and the love that lies within it. We would hope that our audience can view the art pieces we put together in our exhibition, and be able to relate them to their own personal experiences; so that they can have a better understanding of the importance of the art pieces that surround us, both within and outside the museum. Since our theme is the spectrum of love, we would want everyone that comes to see our exhibition, feel that they belong in that space we created, regardless of what kind of love suits them as an individual. We would also want to make sure that the art pieces that we choose, correctly and accurately resemble our theme and can be viewed by our audience in the most relatable way. As humans we possess many things and many people whom we love. This exhibition will cover people’s expression, obsession, and passion towards the people and the objects they love.
Museum Objectives
The most important objective for the museum and our exhibition is to show different aspects and perspectives of love. What we believe makes this exhibition so special is that there is not just one idea of love, it’s not one specific thing or way to interpret it. It has so many meanings and can be expressed in so many different ways. The different categories under the main idea will be sexuality, identity, the 5 love languages including words of affirmation, physical touch, giving/receiving gifts, quality time, and acts of service, and what you can love. When we say what you can love, we literally mean every possible thing, person, time, or idea that some one could have love for or an obsession with. Each category will have its own space or room with different forms of art such as photographs, painting, videos, sculptures, and music. We will be showcasing different artworks that illustrate love and the many different aspects of it through both straightforward, and mysterious ways. We will also be focusing on having a lot of imagery and vibrant colors that appeal to the viewer’s eye and hearts. Using a combination of some of SFMOMA's collection as well as artwork from other sources will really expand the content.
Target Audience
Our target audience will be directed to all genders and people with a diverse identification of love, which includes the LGBTQ community and allies as well as people that have an open mind about how love can manifest. We choose this to be our targeted audience because with these specifics in mind, this audience will then be able to understand the impact that our theme and our art pieces have on our world today. Our purpose is to connect with the audience and encourage those who are passionate about their idea of love, to come and experience the other different forms in our exhibition. Nan Goldin’s photograph; Couple in bed, Chicago, from the series, The ballad of sexual dependency, is one art piece we expect to include. This piece will correlate to our theme in that it will showcase a form of love that can often be dark, and even lonesome. Although love can often represent all things happy and lovely, it can also represent all things dark and lonesome. This is one form of love some people often don’t recognize, while for others, it is all that they know. Which is why we believe it is important for people to recognize and understand these attachments towards this feeling through pieces like this one.
Educational Value
We wish for our audience to walk out of our exhibition with a much wider view of the world and that they start to appreciate the little things around them. We are hoping everyone who visits our exhibition is able to relate to one of our pieces, as love can be found in many different forms. The visitors, we hope, will become engaged, intrigued, and triggered by emotions that will lead to an unexpected new horizon. Since the purpose of this exhibition is to show many different aspects and perspectives of love, including ones in which may be unfamiliar, we want our audience to leave with something new that they can carry with them throughout everyday life. An important form of love we especially want our audience to leave with a better understanding of, is self-love. Elmer Bischoff’s painting Girl looking in mirror; we believe will help the audience interpret that importance and apply it how they seem fit. The art piece resembles both the dark and uneasy journey of being able to love oneself, but also the beauty in it once we are able to recognize it. In each individual piece, it will have the purpose of reflecting love back to the viewer .
Sponsors and stakeholders
Sponsors we believe will fit and further our team's goal, are those from organizations that share a similar vision. What we hope to display in our exhibition as, the acceptance of love, we would expect our sponsors to understand the meaning as well. Organizations such as the Gay Straight Alliance, which helps empower queer, trans and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement for safer schools and healthier communities, promotes the acceptance of the love that is often misunderstood. In our exhibition we want to push the audience's horizon to further understand and celebrate the love that others feel and aren't able to express as easily as others. With this sponsor we believe we will be able to reach and attract our targeted audience, as well as those curious enough to celebrate the love that takes many different forms.
Marketing
We want to use social media as our main outlet to inform the general public of this new exhibition, from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As we know, it is a large part of our society today. This way people who seem interested also share it with others on their social media pages. We also would like advertise our exhibition on bus stops and busses themselves. Imagine a whole bus covered with art about love. This way we believe we will gain the targeted audience we intend to bring.
Further SFMOMA's Goal
We believe this exhibition will further SFMOMA's vision by letting young people promote their art. This will put the spotlight on an universal topic that’s favored by many. This can motivate other young curators to step up and promote the subject of love. The exhibition will also be providing rich content visitors want to engage with, analyze, and admire.
Exhibition Model
Artists and Artworks
Matt and Lewis in the Tub; Heart-Shaped Ass, Cambridge
Nan Goldin
One of the categories under the spectrum of love we created is Sexuality, which in short, describes who you love or what you have love for. This photograph taken by Nan Goldin, in 1988 in the SFMOMA collection, stands out as an art piece on its own, yet fits perfectly into the category of Sexuality, which lays within our greater theme, The Spectrum of Love. The photo consists of two men naked in a filled bathtub, with one man cradling the other. The intimacy between the two men in this photo, show far more than the sexual aspect of this category, but the pain as well. The photo displays a greater and more empathetic understanding for a love many might not understand, homosexuality.
Jimmy Paulette & Misty in a Taxi, NYC
Nan Goldin
Another category within our theme, The Spectrum of Love, is Identity. In this photograph by Nan Golding, the two people within the photograph, seem to be portraying their identity as something other than the one that they were identified by at birth.The people within this photo seem to be embracing who they identify as, with the way it is that they present themselves. For many who feel trapped with an identity that was forced upon them at birth, or throughout their lives, often find it difficult to live up to what they identify themselves with. Which is why we believe that this photograph is powerful enough to be placed into this specific category in our exhibit. We want to showcase the beauty and simplicity behind the ability to express yourself in ways only few people understand, which this photograph will do.
Mars Alley, San Francisco
John Harding
From this image, we see people with weird customs and people drinking their beer. The main image that catches our eyes are two men giving each other a kiss. We do not necessarily know what event was held during the time but everyone seemed to get a long. One interesting observation we made is that there is this wall between the two men. That wall represents gender norms and those norms do not exist in their world. We weren't born so the world can tell us who we are but we are born to give us a chance to find ourselves.
Dustin, SMARTE (Sexual Minorities and their Allies Reaching Towards Equality), Montana, from the series High School
Jona Frank
This image represents Self-love which is an enormous part of the spectrum that we have created for our exhibit. The act of being able to express yourself in ways people often have a hard time understanding, is a huge part of loving oneself no matter what the judgments of others may be. The teen in this photo is wholeheartedly accepting the unique style that he most likely embraces with all the love in the world. Having your own style says a lot about your character and how you choose to carry yourself and in this generation, our youth is constantly being judged for the clothing that they put on their bodies. In this picture, this young man is proudly fighting gender role expectations. With this specific category in our exhibition we want Self-love to be as evident as it is present in this photograph.
Untitled
Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
In our theme the Spectrum of Love, we included the 5 love languages. One being physical touch. In this photo, there are two people kissing, although it is clear that there are two people, there is no way in deciphering what gender either person is. This is especially powerful because it accentuates the love that is being shared between the two people and not the expectations of what gender or race either of them should be. This specific photograph shows the simplicity of how the physical touch of someone who you share a great deal of love with, can overshadow all other feelings that can often interfere and even sometimes completely overthrow the feeling of love.
Le Baiser (The Kiss)
Auguste Rodin
We also try to find ourselves during the moments we have with our loved ones. Whether it is our mother, our pet, our girlfriend/boyfriend, we all learn different things from them to help us move forward. They are also our inspiration and motivation in life. When we don't have anyone else to turn to, we go to them. They are the ones who truly cares for us. We wouldn't know who we truly our without their counsel.
Infinity Kisses
Carolee Schneemann
Love can exist between a human and a furry friend. In this image Carolee Schneemann shows us that other living creatures can also share a connection with humans. These other beings can understand us in a way other humans cannot. They feel the same emotions we feel but there is a barrier between how the two communicate. Even without communication, a bond is created through physical action. This is especially important as, in our exhibition we plan to celebrate all kinds of love that we as individuals share with other individuals of all kinds.
Liam & Noel, Loch Lomond
Elizabeth Peyton
Love can mean a lot for a person. We are obsessed with this feeling whether we feel it physically, hear it verbally, and emotionally. It makes us feel complete and sometimes devastated. We sometimes have to move on to another person as time goes by. How do we really know if we have found "the one". In this painting by Elizabeth Peyton, we see an unsure look on her face. It makes us think that her partner has done something wrong and shows affection towards her while she stares him down. People make mistakes and people can change for the ones who they truly care for.
Audience in the Palace Theater
Weegee (Arthur H. Fellig)
It is a movie night and the spotlight is on the couple who is passionately kissing. Everyone else seems to be attentively watching the movie but these two. The love that they are sharing between one another brings the audience's eyes to them, as a focal point in the photograph. Although all the others also share a physical connection, this pair shows a great deal of love and interest in the entirety of the person which is clearly seen within the photograph. There are friends laughing together, couples holding hands, and siblings sitting closely next to each other. The physical bond these people share matters to them and to be able to express how they feel towards each other creates a significant impact in their lives.
The Kiss (The Reynolds Sisters)
Clarence H. White
Society tends to have its expectations and norms in place, way before anyone ever has a chance to question them. The only thing is, these norms and expectations changes within time, and one of our goals for this exhibition is to let people know that love shouldn't have borders. This image tells us that the feeling of love breaks those norms. Being a homosexual does not mean you are different from others. It only means that you are strong enough to be yourself and express your own interests. We believe that this art piece perfectly and specifically states this for us in our exhibition.
Videos about the Spectrum
Who do you love ?
How do you love ?
What do you love ?
Credits:
Created with images by Henra - "crayons heart love"