museum of ruin

chicago, illinois year end show nominee before there was the art institute there was the exposition hall, before the exposition hall was the lake… the museum is a place of accumulation, always adding to the collection or to the building itself. every alteration and insertion has been unable to recognize the art institute’s position in the city, let alone allowing for logical circulation between what is existing and what is new. there is always a desire for curation, to divide and place objects by time period, style, origin, etc. in effort to make the hoard understandable. the museum is stuck, unable to adapt, unable to recognize the complexities it exists within. we must take the museum apart. a museum of ruin, or a museum of a museum, attempts to recall histories that have been distorted or covered up. a new structure

representation studio sam jacob (uic)

overhead performs an archeological dig, offering protection while dissecting out individual objects. past, present, and future are brought unto an even plane. this can be seen clearly in the reflecting pool, which recalls the former boundary of the lake while it’s shape imagines piano’s modern wing exists by taking the shape of the canopy. the building acts as a mediator between alternate universes.

the railroad tracks in the middle of the site are now activated. the structure is part train hall as large openings in the floor watch trains and people come and go. as the accumulation of objects continues, the immediate relationship to the tracks allows the museum to become off-site, creating the possibility of a network of museums, connected to others as they too become ruin.