Insistent Presence: Erin Coron

In this week's episode of Meet Me at the Chazen, Host Gianofer Fields talks with someone who's had hours and hours to observe the finer details of, and people interacting with, the Insistent Presence exhibition of contemporary African art. Visitor Services Assistant Erin Coron says that even though she sees the works on every shift, the way visitors approach them often makes her take a second, or third, look with fresh eyes.

Meet Me at the Chazen is a podcast about the the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art, the largest collecting museum in the Big Ten. As we report what’s happening here, we'll also explore what it means to be an art museum at a public university and how art museums can help enrich and strengthen the communities they serve. Meet Me at the Chazen theme and incidental music is “Swinging at the Pluto Lounge,” composed and performed by Marvin Tate and friends, and is used with permission of the artists.

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Transcript

Gianofer Fields  00:08
 Meet Me at the Chazen. I'm your host, Gianofer Fields. Erin Coron is a visitor services assistant for the Chazen museum. Our museum spans two buildings for a total of 176,000 square feet. The Chazen is the second largest collection of art in Wisconsin and the number one collecting museum in the Big Ten. Considering the size of the museum, losing your way is always a possibility. Coron and her colleagues are tasked with providing the guests with information to keep them wondering about the works of art, rather than wandering around lost. They also take shifts sitting in the galleries keeping a watchful eye. According to Coron, spending a lot of time in our exhibit Insistent Presence: Contemporary African Art from the Chazen Collection is a treat.

Erin Coron  00:59
 I'm the person you see, when you first walk in the doors, I'm the last person you see when you leave the museum. I'm helping with wayfinding, answering any questions, and I'm also unofficial security. So I'll be roaming the galleries, quite often kind of making sure that everyone's safe, artwork is safe, just making sure everyone has a great time, basically, and to help if anyone needs anything. So I'm working with guests 24/7.
 
 Gianofer Fields  01:26
 What do you call that the person who sets the mood and the party with?
 
 Erin Coron  01:31
 Like the life of the party?
 
 Gianofer Fields  01:33
 Life of the party. At the same time, it must be true.
 
 Erin Coron  01:37
 Life of the party? Well, I don't know if I'm the life of the party. But I'm definitely part of the party that's pretty important.
 
 Gianofer Fields  01:45
 We always say that a good object sparks better questions. So you're surrounded by things that just I would imagine, constantly drive your imagination and have you questioning things and thinking about things in a really, real deep way.
 
 Erin Coron  01:59
 Yeah. So I spend usually, at least I would say two hours in this gallery a day, sometimes more, it just depends on the rotation. It depends on how many visitors services we have on staff. But ever since this exhibition opened, I've been in here consistently sitting in various spots, kind of monitoring the galleries. And I've been with this art all the time. And it's just really interesting, because the longer I'm in here, the more I kind of notice about lots of little pieces and details that I've never picked up on before. And you will learn so much in here when you're also talking to guests that bring their own experiences and have their own questions and know more information about these pieces. And I feel like I do sometimes myself, especially when we had a lot of the artists coming in here and speaking with them and hearing their perspectives directly from them, it was interesting to hear that and then also pair it with my perspectives being in here every day. It never feels the same. I mean, Virtually Mine is literally always moving. So it's never in the same spot, so I'm constantly seeing new little messages every single day. And it just depends on the way that the pieces, I guess twisting that day.

Gianofer Fields  03:18
 Since you've spent so much more time with it than I have, I really want to experience Virtually Mine through your eyes. So if you could first describe it, and then tell me sort of like your relationship with it.

Erin Coron  03:32
 Yeah. So Virtually Mine is a piece by Immy Mali. It is a glass silhouette, I guess kind of in a like a mobile kind of way where it's all cascading down in these little glass rectangles that have screen printed messages from me and her fiancé on it. The cool thing about it is that it's in the shape of a figure representing Immy's fiancé. And one of the things that I love the most about sitting in here and having to watch this piece consistently is the realization for visitors that oh my god, it's the shape of a figure. And it's not something they pick up on right away because they immediately get up close to this and they read it. They stand back to take a photo and they're like, Wow, I didn't know this. It's a person and half the time they'll say it out loud. Really someone else and they'll be like, Oh, it's a person and I've had people also take a step back and realize and come to me like is this supposed to be the shape of a person and I'll yes it is be like Oh, I knew it. Yeah, you did. You got it. But yeah, when I'm sitting in here I'm sitting in a spot or walking around a spot where I can see this piece and a few other pieces in particular because they're more high touch kind of more I don't want to say high priority but more could happen, where they're more likely to get more attention from people. So I'm usually in an area where I can hear this piece as well, which I think is really important part of this. Because when I'm in here in the early mornings, and we don't have them any visitors, you get this, like wind chime kind of relaxing effect. And especially if people are walking past and it starts to twist a little more, and you get the little nice glass chinks in there. So this piece has changed a lot, since the installation just by being in here, because of seeing the way visitors interact with it.

04:07
The ways people interact with the piece are not necessarily different than the way I would. But there's so many different kinds of individuals that come in here and spend time with it. So some people will come in and spend, like five, ten minutes just sitting here. And they'll be reading as many things as they can. And some people sometimes will cross a little boundary. And I have to remind them, hey, just kind of respect the boundaries we have here. Accidents happen. But some people want to get in so close and read every single thing they can some people get down and sit on the floor. I've seen actually quite a few people do that. And people just circling the piece and wanting to know more about, you know, Immy and her fiancé. And I mean, it tells a story of their relationship. And so seeing those kinds of reactions and the ways people interact with it have changed the way I look at the piece. And I think oh, I mean, it's right here, I see it all the time. Sometimes I don't pay that much attention to it detail wise. And some days, I'll go up to it. And I'll see a completely new message that I haven't noticed before. And it just the way I look at it changes, because I see the way visitors look at it. I love people watching first of all, so this is almost kind of like a perfect job for me, because that's literally all I'm doing. 24/7 is watching the art watching people making sure everything is where it needs to be. But it's not even just this piece necessarily. But I've seen dads come in here with their babies and hold their babies up to the images, these two specifically over here on the wall, they were just holding the babies up. And that's usually around where the chair is. And I'm trying not to watch. But out of the corner of my eye, I keep kind of glancing because it's the most adorable thing like kind of forcing a child to I mean, they don't really have a say they're just kind of being held up in front of them. But it's so interesting being able to people watch people watch pieces. And that kind of a weird roundabout like way and seeing how people look at things and interact with things because everyone's different. Everyone has their own experiences and will bring something different to the table when they're coming to an art museum.

So people look at Virtually Mine in a whole bunch of different ways. And they pick up on little things. Next time I'm walking through the galleries, I'll kind of look at it the same way someone else is looking at it. So I've honestly in the mornings when it's slow, I've got down on the floor. And I've kind of just looked up at it in a cool, funny way and just kind of like, explored it differently from a way that I'm not used to,  and of perspective that I don't usually look at the piece in.

Gianofer Fields  06:08
 So is it changing, is that looking at people looking at art and absorbing it and watching their reactions to it? Clearly, that's changing the way that you're starting to react with things. So when you have that shift, what are some of the things that you suddenly saw that you didn't see before?
 
 Erin Coron  08:41
 A lot of things that I start to notice are the little details, I'll watch someone walk up to something and point something out, and I'll, I'll be standing there, I'll be sitting there and I'll be like, Oh, I wonder what they're looking at. guests leave and it gets quiet. And I'll kind of go over to that area. And I'll be like, Oh my gosh, like, I never noticed this before. Specifically with Exodus here, this piece just the other day, I was sitting in my little post, which is very near to this piece. And there's a like crest on the front of the bike here. And it's actually the label I want to say for the company that produced the bike. But I never noticed it before I was just sitting kind of walking around and what is that? Is that just like a scrape of metal or rust and I go up and I look at it. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, it literally says the Raleigh Nottingham, England and it's got a little symbol there and there's like a symbol sticker over here and it's just little things like that, that you don't even realize and even just now they left the scan label on this one I'm now but on the metal that's holding the bike to the cart is the labeled. What is it six inch six, yes, six instrumenting plate and sync with the barcode. I didn't notice that until just now looking at these little things here. So it's things like that, it's seeing someone point to something and being like, Oh, look at this. And I'm like, I don't want to look at that. I want to know what you're seeing. And so I'll go up and be like, Wow, I didn't notice that before. Even though I'm in here, 24/7. And I'm looking at these pieces. But I feel like half the time I'm looking at things very superficially, because my job isn't to analyze pieces, it's to help people and it's to make sure everyone's having a wonderful equitable experience here. So it's those little moments where I have to myself and I can really look at something and it's like, wow, this is completely new for me. And it, this just changes a lot about the piece. So I don't know if that was intentional, or that was accidental. But seeing a barcode, there's really just like a fun little thing. I wonder if other I don't know if other people have noticed it. But this is my first time taking a look and seeing Wow, someone just has that there.

Gianofer Fields  11:20
 So then Erin, is this spilling over into other areas of your life? Do you find yourself looking, taking time taking giving yourself that time and looking at things on a in a different way than maybe you did in the past? Do you even carry that out within the rest of the galleries? Are you going that close looking in the rest of the galleries?
 
 Erin Coron  11:40
  One hundred percent. There are, I mean, I see the pieces every single day. So sometimes it's very monotonous where I'm just doing my rounds. And it feels very much like I'm here to just do like a few different things. And some days, I just have something in me where it's like, I need to be looking at everything super carefully. For some reason, it's just certain days. And again, I'll watch someone walked by the piece in the mezzanine at the time you check piece with all of the birds and things like that, and there'll be pointing things out. And later on, I'll go over and try and see what they were looking at. And I noticed new animals and creatures in that piece. Anytime I spend any amount of time looking at it. There's a whole bunch of cute little guys in there. Unfortunately, in my personal life, I feel like I'm way too amped up and like stressed. In my normal life, I've really tried to be intentional, with my time in like doing things slowly. But as a student, it's kind of difficult balancing that full time work full time student, like work-life balance. So I often find myself I feel like in this space of not necessarily rushing through things, but wanting to just get through things as efficiently and as quickly as possible to make sure that, you know, with my coursework, I'm ahead of schedule, making sure like, I'm on time at work, and I'm getting things done at work that I need to get done. But I do try, I try wake up in the morning and be like, Okay, we're gonna be, we're going to be intentional, we're going to be calm, everything's going to be smooth, and you're just going to have all this focus, and you're going to be grounded, and then I show up to work. And then I figure out that I have a billion things for school happening. And oh, there are this many groups coming into the museum today. And then all of that wonderful thinking from the morning just dissipates, and then all of a sudden, I'm back to like, go time, like gotta get everything set up here.
 
 Gianofer Fields  11:45
 So do you see different kinds of people coming in based on the exhibit itself? Or do we tend to have a community of people who visit the gallery often does, how much does the type of the focus of the exhibition change the audience? Or does it?
 
 Erin Coron  14:04
 There's generally I would like to say a staple, Chazen audience, similar types of people similar age demographics. A lot of it will be older individuals, and generally a lot of students coming through from the university. However, I do notice little spurts of difference depending on the exhibition. So for this exhibition, and re:mancipation that happened directly before this, I was noticing a lot more cultural groups coming in here through the university, African American, Afro Studies coming through here. It depends on the exhibition, I think, definitely. I think there's definitely some aspect that kind of transforms the audience a little bit, because all of a sudden, it's put out there and they're hearing about an exhibition that oh, I can relate to this. Oh, I have an interest in this. So for example, the glass exhibition that we just put up now, we're having a lot of older individuals coming through that recall when Harvey Littleton was practicing here and kind of starting the glass movement. So an older generation is coming through, and looking at the art that was produced by individuals that they were more familiar with at that time.

Erin Coron  15:22
 And it's the same with this exhibition, the contemporary African works in the Chazen collection, I've noticed a lot more people from a variety of cultures, a variety of ways of life coming through here a variety of ages. And individuals that are familiar with this culture and individuals that are curious and want to know more and see a contemporary side of African art, which is sometimes hard to find. A lot of it will be works, unfortunately, not in this museum, but in other museums, looted works from, you know, ancient kingdoms and things like that, I'm not gonna go into detail with those. Luckily, this isn't a museum like that. But there are places like that, and some people only that have that kind of experience with those pieces. So seeing contemporary African works, is a whole new experience for a lot of individuals coming through here, curious people that have been here forever, and they come through looking at the new temporary exhibitions, it's always a, wow, this is different. This is something that I've never seen before, I've only seen a handful of these pieces on view in the permanent collection. So majority of these pieces are new for me. So I can imagine being a visitor that hasn't been here in two or three years coming through, or visitors back when it was just the Elvehjem Art Center. And I've never been to the side of the museum coming through and seeing something that they can't generally see in a lot of different places, especially in I mean, we're in Wisconsin, this isn't necessarily a cultural hub. So it's a unique perspective that a lot of people don't get in a lot of ways that they can find here in the art and with this exhibition.
 
Gianofer Fields  17:20
 So Erin, when the exhibition shuts down, and things change, will there be works in here that you will miss, because not all of them will be on display after this exhibition closes?
 
 Erin Coron  17:33
 There definitely will be pieces that I will miss specifically, obviously, Virtually Mine was my favorite immediately walking into the space after the full exhibition was completed, everything was put in place. It's calming, and to just listen to the glass, you know, lightly bumping into each other hanging, this calming. And this space in general is a very calming space. It's very peaceful, very low key. So that's a piece I will in particular miss. There are a few photography pieces that I will definitely miss. And I honestly kind of think 30 languages, apparently was on view permanently before I was working here. So it's new to me, but not new to everyone else. But I think it's fascinating. I think it says a lot politically and artistically. And like everyone else in this museum, I kind of want to sit on it, but I won't. So it's a big like, I want to sit in the chair, but I'm not going to sit in the chair. I'm a professional, I do my job. But yeah, some of the pieces in here I will definitely I'm definitely fond of and I will miss when they're gone. But these are pieces in our permanent collection. So I know they're going to be coming back.

Gianofer Fields  18:59
 I just really think that it must be some sort of emotional note then there has to be some sort of emotional response. When you're watching the work, go in, you watching it come down, and then you come back and everything's changed. It's a whole nother gallery. It's a whole nother setup. It's like, yeah, that was that messes with my head sometimes like because I'm here and I go away, thrn everything's gone, it's like wait a minute, wait.
 
 Erin Coron  19:32
 Yep, it was like that once re:mancipation ended. Re:mancipation was packed full of all of this wonderful information. And it was so detailed. And there were so many things you could learn at every single turn. It was historically accurate, and it focused on so many points of American history and cultural politics. It was wonderful. There was so much and all of a sudden coming back into the space. And in comparison, this exhibition is more sparse, everything is very much spread out. It has its own unique spot. And it feels quieter. I mean, re:mancipation had that giant projection with the loud, you know, talking and the performances. So it was packed in here and it was loud and you had things coming at you from every angle, and you were just immersed. And here, it's definitely more tranquil. It's a very calm space there has, generally there's not too many times where I'm in this space, and it feels very crowded and hectic. Usually when people are walking through, it's in smaller groups, maybe smaller classes. But for some reason people come in here and they're quieter. It's like certain galleries in the museum, I noticed people are quieter than other ones. And I'm not sure if it's because of pieces if it's because of the overall layout and the space in certain places, or just the feeling you get around certain pieces of art. And it kind of makes a really contemplative section in comparison to other parts of the museum. But it's a transformation that happens consistently in these galleries. And it's going to keep happening. And so when this piece leaves, and I come back, after vacation after Christmas time, it's going to be empty. And eventually there's going to be something else in here. And I'm looking forward to whatever that is. But it's always a change that you kind of have to accept. And it's not in a way that you mourn it. But you definitely will miss parts of it. But then you move on and you're excited for the next thing and I mean that's museums, you're always getting new people new things in your collection, you're always looking at something different. Whether or not you're noticing a new detail, like I do all the time and a piece that I see 100 times a day, or you've got a new exhibition happening and you're seeing all of these amazing pieces that you've never seen.

Gianofer Fields  22:09
 You've been listening to meet me at the Chazen. Our guest, Erin Coron, is a visitor services assistant at UW Madison's Chazen Museum of Art. Meet Me at the Chazen is a production of the Chazen Museum of Art on the campus with UW Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about the museum its collections and exhibitions visit chazen.wisc.edu. I'm your host, Gianofer Fields. Thank you for listening.