Scary things come in big packages!

It’s August already – ahhhh!- and we’ve just shared with you our Fall exhibition Dusk to Dusk: Unsettled, Unraveled, Unreal. There will be more coming out soon regarding this show & our programming, but I wanted to share with you some behind the scenes on the work we’ve been doing to bring D2D, as we call it around the office, to you.

Personally, I’ve set a new professional record: “Dusk to Dusk” officially has the largest crate I’ve received/opened to date.

Dusk to Dusk crates sitting in the Bison Cafe.

Two crates in particular almost gave me a heart attack. The one on the left is 113″ x 90″ x 18″ and weighs 750 pounds. The other crate is 134″ long. Needless to say, these do not fit on a standard elevator. In fact, there was only 1 door into our building that the tall crate could fit through, and there wasn’t an inch to spare.

Even after being unpacked on the ground floor, the piece in the crate on the right was still too long for the elevator. It had to be very slowly and very, very carefully carried up three flights of stairs to our gallery. If that won’t make a Registrar sweat, I don’t know what would! Of course, it is always the most amazing piece in the collection/exhibition that is the most difficult to crate/receive/install. If the Registrar’s blood pressure during receiving is directly related to the awesomeness of an exhibition… well, let me just say, you have GOT to see this show!

Fortunately, our Samek crew thrives in these types of high-pressure situations and knows exactly how to get the job done safely and on-time! I would like to thank the Bucknell Facilities staff for lending a few helping hands and our two amazing drivers/fine art handlers from Aiston Fine Art Services, New York. And, not to be forgotten, our Operations Manager, Pam Campanaro, our new Museum Education Graduate Assistant Laura Hildebrandt and our Director, Rick Rinehart, who took a break from writing the curatorial text for the catalog to assist with uncrating.

The last thing I wanted to share is perhaps more of a confession- this show freaks me out a little bit! In a good way, of course; the way it was designed to. As someone who gets to see fine works of art in their most vulnerable state- in crates and/or dissembled- and who gets to actually touch the objects themselves (with conservation gloves on, of course), I sacrifice the impression of awe & preciousness that a work of art can possess when just seen on it’s pedestal. I know their secrets; I can see their flaws. It’s unfortunate, because, amazing pieces can suddenly appear not quite so special once you are actually “allowed” to hold them. At least, that is the way it is for me. But not with these objects. Oh no. These objects leave impressions.

Detail of Huma Bhabha sculpture “Untitled”, 2008 from Dusk to Dusk: Unsettled, Unraveled, Unreal

Last Friday, around 4:00, I found myself alone in the gallery unpacking a smaller object. On the floor and walls around mewere many of the other works from this exhibition, sitting quietly. As I removed layers of archival tissue, an untitled piece by Pakistani artist Huma Bhabha revealed itself. It’s a figurative piece; a head, constructed predominately of charred wood. It smells, like a fire, and in order to move it safely from its crate over to the staging area, I had to hold it so that the face of the figure was in line with my own. It was as if I was breathing the air it expelled, and it was dirty, decayed-looking, and I repeat- it smelled. I felt uncomfortable. The exhibition title is accurate; It was unsettling. I decided it was time to leave for the day.