150 Artists x 150 Years - Kate Mothes Curatorial Statement

As an art curator and organizer who loves working with artists, I've installed a lot of exhibitions over the past decade-or-so. These have included solo shows and small, curated group exhibitions, plus a few larger-scale open calls that comprised perhaps two or three dozen artworks. But in terms of logistical puzzles, nothing had yet come close to the undertaking that is the 150 Artists x 150 Years show, now on across seven of Madison's libraries.

Along with the Bubbler team, who brought me on to manage communications—and more spreadsheets than I can count on one hand—I don’t think I’ve ever installed art so rapidly, let alone needed to figure out installation methods that run the entire gamut of options, piece by piece. Every work requires different hardware and hanging techniques, and everyone does things differently. Looking at the back of a piece can be almost as interesting as the front. Sometimes there are lighthearted messages or musings, and occasionally there are installation instructions like arrows or notes penciled right onto the back. Sometimes things don't quite add up, like perhaps a piece that should be framed, isn't. Or something breaks en route or doesn't work as planned, requiring some last-minute rejigging.

Hanging a show is always an opportunity to admire artists’ installation instructions and diagrams—there could be an exhibition of these alone. My favorite tool is always a template for any multi-part piece, marking exactly where the holes go so that when you situate the template on the wall, you can just mark or nail right through it. 

One artist kindly sent along a spare star-shaped drill bit because he included torx screws. Another included a wooden peg drilled at a specific angle and made sure to include a suitably long screw that would hold up the ceramic piece that used it to sit on the wall. And time-consuming piece comprising at least 10 individual components to be installed in a grid included a very appreciative note. These things matter when your brain is scrambled after going-on-12 hours of install!

I think I speak for all of us when I say that we really wouldn’t have it any other way. Who would invite 150 artists to make new pieces for a huge show if we didn’t love this sort of thing!? The Bubbler team and a group of volunteers handled dozens of drop-offs and processed mailed-in artworks. Organizing how and where pieces would be installed involved a labyrinthine setup in large conference room, and the group of us walking many laps around the space in order to try to keep straight who did what and what belonged where.

This was a cool reminder of the importance of seeing and experiencing work in person, because surprising relationships between artworks developed once they were right next to each other. That's something you can't plan—or see online. We're really grateful to be able to share so much wonderful work with the community, and over-the-moon thankful to all of the artists who made this possible, especially the folks who stepped in at the very last minute.