HESSE M c GRAW

BY JOHN BERNHARD

ARTHOUSTON AND CAMH DIRECTOR HESSE M c GRAW

DISCUSSED THE NEED FOR EMBRACING CHANGE TO STRENGTHEN THE MUSEUM’S AUDIENCE CONNECTION, CULTIVATE SUPPORT, AND EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE ITS ARTISTIC BELIEFS TO THE WORLD.

JOHN BERNHARD: What was the most significant challenge you encountered when you assumed the role of Director at the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston four years ago?

HESSE M c GRAW: I started in January 2020. Two months in, we were closing the doors to the museum and pivoting to the staff working from home and engaging audiences in new ways because of COVID. For instance, our team started creating take-home art kits for youth that didn’t have access to art supplies, so it was immediately a radical shift in how the museum operated. That was a challenge in many ways, but it was also a catalyst to think about how we could work in new ways. We ultimately used that time to renovate the galleries and to start a new residency program called CAMHLAB, which has moved from the museum to its newest iteration at POST. Those early COVID challenges became creative opportunities; we’re still learning about how audiences engage with museums differently today than in 2019.

JB: How did the departure of the former Museum Director, Bill Arning, following accusations of sexual harassment, impact your experience and the museum as a whole?

HM: Its impacts were strongly felt in every facet of the institution, and we found that we had to regain trust within our staff, artists, and community. And I’m proud to see how the institution has adapted from those challenges and others to emerge more robust and community-minded.

JB: Could you please share some insights into your background and professional trajectory?

HM: I started as an artist, and after my undergraduate degree in art, I started curating. An exciting opportunity arose when I was accepted into Graduate School in Switzerland, in Saas-Fee, located one valley over Zermatt. While there, I had the privilege of working with extraordinary faculty, including Jean Baudrillard, a renowned and controversial philosopher and critic, and the esteemed French film director Claire Denis, alongside Antony Gormley, Paul D. Miller, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. The presence of such incredible thinkers fostered a polyglot, hothouse atmosphere, facilitating interdisciplinary conversations that enriched our perspectives. This experience profoundly influenced my approach to curating, offering me a fresh and diverse way of thinking about curating. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work in various contexts, each contributing to my professional growth. I founded a small gallery in Kansas City, moved to a commercial gallery in New York, served as chief curator at the Bemis Center residency program in Omaha, and led exhibitions and public programs at San Francisco Art Institute. Finally, I was a partner at El Dorado, a renowned architecture and urban design practice in Kansas City, before joining CAMH.

JB: Where are you from?

HM: I was born in Dayton, OH, and grew up in Kansas City, on the Kansas side, which is the good side. Coming from a non-artistic family background, I had a transformative experience when I was fifteen. It was a thunderclap moment that occurred while walking into the Johnson County Community College Gallery of Art. To my amazement, there was an exhibition featuring the works of Kerry James Marshall. This happened in the mid-nineties, and it broke my brain open. In that space, the exhibition had a profound impact on me. It ruptured my perspective and forced me to see myself and the world in a new light. It was a pivotal and cherished moment that ultimately laid the foundation for my career trajectory.

JB: How do you define the role of a museum in the context of today’s art world? How do you see your museum contributing to the contemporary art landscape?

HM: Our role goes beyond just contributing to the contemporary art landscape. We have a more significant civic responsibility. CAMH has continuously introduced new artists to Houston, welcomed new audiences to contemporary art, and helped broaden the field of what we understand contemporary art to be. For instance, our first show in 1948, This is Contemporary Art , intermixed domestic objects with fine art—imagine projecting yourself back into that time; you realize that was a radical way of thinking about how art and life intersect. We are still seeking novel ways for the Museum to serve as a vital part of the civic life of Houston and to share the essential role of art and artists in society.

JB: Collaboration and engagement with artists are crucial aspects of contemporary art. I enjoyed seeing a refreshing approach to an exhibition by two Austrian artists a year ago, which you curated. Can you elaborate on the exhibition?

HM: The artists were Paul Renner and Richard Hoeck, and the exhibition was HOUSTON, SIE HABEN EIN PROBLEM! or HOUSTON, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM! Paul is an artist whom I’d worked with in Omaha and San Francisco, and he comes out of Viennese actionism, and he’s translated that legacy into a contemporary context. For Paul, there’s no natural division between art, life, culture, community, and food. He’s shaking all that up and letting it fizz out in an experience of pure joy … a kind of unhinged joy. And Richard is thinking about these off-kilter objects, sculptures that charge their environment in idiosyncratic ways. This was the first time Paul and Richard had collaborated, and the combination created an exciting tension that was palpable in the exhibition.

JB: As the overseer of the non-collecting institution’s diverse artistic and educational programs, fundraising efforts, and day-to-day operations, please share the new vision and expansion strategies you have implemented to actively engage with contemporary art.

HM: I think that evolved vision has become the core to our activities, and it’s manifested in a few ways: one is through a now a long-term partnership and collaboration with Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy (HFTC), which is an organization that’s dedicated to preserving and engaging the story of freedom within Houston’s Fourth Ward. We were fortunate to receive significant funding from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts to support our collaboration. The primary effort of this project is to preserve the historic brick streets of the Fourth Ward. To realize this effort, we’re working with HFTC and the artist Theaster Gates, the City of Houston, and an urban planning

HM: The key part of that question is how we navigate our responsibility and fully acknowledge museums’ role in society. Recently, a field-wide study showed that museums were amongst the most trusted institutions in society—obviously more so than our politicians—and there was also an overwhelming desire for museums to take up the significant challenges of society, including systemic racism, inequality, and climate change. These are among the largest, wicked problems that our society faces. Our audiences are asking us to take up those challenges directly, not solely in a symbolic or representational way, but to strive for impact, or at least to model and inspire change.

Being in Houston presents an extraordinary opportunity because of the diversity of our city. Our goal is first to ensure that when people show up, they feel welcomed and to create opportunities for active participation. CAMH COURT was a great example; almost a third of its audience was coming to the Museum for the first time, so imagine how and engineering team to ensure community goals drive the effort to fully preserve the brick streets now and for future generations. powerful that experience was to come to a cultural space they’d never been to and be turned loose playing basketball. We think of that as I kind of benevolent trojan horse—the Museum welcomes new audiences to the alchemy of contemporary art. Today, our role is expanding: we are a small museum with outsized impacts. We strive to be less like an authoritative museum than a place that generates vital benefits for our community.

JB: How has your experience in curatorial practice transformed exhibitions into platforms empowering artists beyond galleries while attracting new audiences?

HM: In our most recent project, to expand our commitment to centering the visions and voices of artists, we were able to collaborate with artist Trenton Doyle Hancock to create the first-ever regulation-sized playable basketball court in an art museum; it changed the way we thought about what CAMH could do. Visitors could walk off the street, pick up a basketball and play in the museum. Trenton—an artist who thinks about his work as play—had the unique experience of seeing audiences play on his work.

JB: Yes, this is an innovative approach, and I really like where you’re going with it, which brings me to another question, contemporary art often addresses social, political, and cultural issues. How do you navigate the responsibility of presenting artwork that might be controversial or challenge societal norms?

JB: Can you provide a glimpse into your future plans, including any upcoming exhibitions or shows that you would like to share with us?

HM: Most immediately, this coming year is our 75th anniversary, and beginning in October, we will begin that celebration. Much of our programming will be focused on that milestone over the next year. CAMH has always been an institution that leans forward, so we’re presenting an exhibition curated by Senior Curator Rebecca Matalon and Curator Patricia Restrepo that will open in late October titled Six Scenes From Our Future. It will feature the work of six artists invited to respond to the CAMH’s 1948 inaugural exhibition, This is Contemporary Art. I think looking back at CAMH’s history as we think about the future will be exciting.