The Museum Project
Above: Museum Project 2.0, after exhibiting my own work, exhibiting my work with my sisterʻs work. Museum visitors offering to install the work in front of Van Goghʻs work, my sisterʻs favorite artist.
The Museum Project was a project spanning, gosh, Iʻm not sure how many years. Museums became my own little guerilla style playground where I installed myself, and art, in museums, and/or, creatively reacted with art in movement.
It was a part of this profound calling to work at tearing at the frame of art with a feeling in my gut that art belonged to communit, to the medicine and experience of the common man, that while the mausoleums of famous artists who had passed were important, and those deemed important of the times, there was an awareness that the visionaries often times were not understood in their own times.
I can now say the work has been exhibited in the Lourve, the Belvedere, the Norton Simon, MOMA, LACMA, and the Denver Art Museum, and Iʻve also installed my sisterʻs art as well.
Very playful, very fun, and I would love to see this happen with an artist from every country, living artists of all ages, abilities, styles, and degee of growth descend on museums and install themselves, together.
My dance maker name, Misa, was derived from a favorite experience, living in Paris in my youth, for a year. On Sundays, my go to was the Lourve, which was much less crowded in those days. I could literally be the first in line at the wooden doors and walk/run to the Mona Lisa to be with her alone, in silence, so golden, I could hear a pin drop, and commune, alone, before the other tourists arrived. My partner loved this story, and gave me the name Misa, short for Mona Lisa, which I adopted when I went to Cal Arts to do the work to earn an MFA. When I graduated from this career, I retired the name, although my family uses this, and it remains my legal name. My birth name is Annette Marie Puʻu.
ʻOhana at LACMA
Featuring the work of my sister.
On an iphone slide show. Participants: Michelle Cotrina, Bryan Guardo, Jose Cotrina, Danielle Cotrina, as Misa M. M. Kelly
The photographic images toured to Brooklyn and were displayed as a part of the Van Gogh Project exhibition at Triskelion Arts.
Improvisation at MOMA
I was very blessed to have opportunity to share work with the NYC community in several burroughs in NYC, at a level, of what I would call, the 98%, and while there, I set the intention to unframe art and bring dance into the museums, because, at that time, it wasnʻt a part of programming. Playtime really, and sometimes, others would join in on the play. Its a perfect environment for improvisation, a way of paying homage to the masterʻs who may dwell there.
The Norton Simon, Pasadena
What I loved about this version, was the notion to integrate people who were also visiting the museum. What was absolutely delightful is that they LOVED engaging. I simply asked them to hold my ipad while I took their photo, holding art, in front of famous art, and somehow, they were worked into the expression, the impression as witness. At this time, this was all guerrilla style, so the recording isnʻt done in the glossy sort of professional way a "famous" artist might, but that was the whole point, to invite humanity to play, and also make art, to ask this of the world. After this TikTok came along, and I see this happening on social media. Sort of a similar intent of Kodak, with the camera, to make it accessible.
See CV page for dates and places of the museum project.