Quarantine Q&A: Max Presneill of Torrance Art Museum
Article: https://www.artillerymag.com/quarantine-qa-max-presneill-of-torrance-art-museum/
by Anna Bagirov | Apr 15, 2020
Max Presneill in the ‘viewing area’ of his home based studio.
Is your museum still open and operating with certain staff members still coming in to work? We are keeping staff members to a minimum at the museum to enable some ongoing tasks; to continue that requires one person at a time to handle. Still, the staff has their hands full—some working from home for now—with aspects of their job that need to be completed regardless of the isolation at this time. It takes long periods of behind-the-scenes work to bring an exhibition together. There are a lot of moving parts to synchronize. Of course it should look effortless at the actual exhibition but the ball cannot be dropped even during these difficult times.
Exhibitions still need to be thought up, researched and developed. We are planning exhibitions a couple of years in advance at any given time so we continue to research, develop and connect with those we need to in order to ensure we are ready when the restrictions are lifted. And there are those projects that we hope we will be able to bring to the public later this year. To be able to do that we need to move ahead with our jobs right now!
Are you in touch with your members, fans and donors? Are they still interested in going to the museum for your programming or are they showing hesitation due to the stock market slump or fears of the virus? We are concentrating a lot on our online presence to keep in touch. We are asking artists what they are making right now so people can post their activities with our Facebook page. We have instigated a project called Hobson’s Choice, where we select seven artists per week to showcase an artwork. These choices are made from the submissions sent in by the public to a dedicated email. The nominations can be from artists themselves regarding one of their own works or by anyone else. We are currently on Week Three of this ongoing project and we will continue it through May, with a different seven each week being presented on our website—where you can find more details (or on our Facebook page).
The staff is also writing about their Staff Picks, art that has influenced or inspired their personal journey with art, and we post those on our website to let people know more about our personal sources. These short articles are from our curatorial team, our registrar, our social media specialist and our preparatory, so you get a full range of influences and opinions.
Torrance Art Museum Exterior
How are you overcoming the challenges we are now facing?Looking to the immediate future we are envisioning new exhibitions and programs that might help bring us all back together. These need to be flexible in their timing as we do not know when the isolation will end. Another MAS Attack is in the works potentially, to allow artists to all show together in a one-night-only open exhibition of support and connection, a hopeful and forward-thinking social practice event where everyone can bring a work and have it shown that night.
How can Artillery’s readers help museums and artists while they are closed?Engage with the social media and websites of the institutions, art groups, galleries and artists—like and comment a lot on their Instagram/Facebook/Twitter. For institutions this is evidence to the politicians and people who control the budgets (and employment of the staff). The more we can show our relevance to the public, our engagement with them and sense of keeping people connected then the more they are likely to keep supporting our programs. It is usually the Arts that get axed first, forgetting the importance of culture to daily life—through movies, literature and art. You can help art institutions avoid staff furloughs and unemployment, budget cuts and such by showing the community leaders that you care about us and what we do. If you want art museums and think they provide a valuable service to the art community and greater public then do your bit to keep them healthy and open—SHOW YOUR SUPPORT.
For artists—show that you are paying attention to what they are making! Buy what you can from them or from galleries you support. Re-post images of what they are doing. Share. Help them grow their Instagram following. Connect them to any curators and gallerists you know so that future things may grow from this. Gallerists, curators, consultants can keep their ‘doors’ open to everyone, for personal advice and suggestions, via phone calls, Zoom meetings, Skype, etc.
The question we should ALL be asking is “How can I be of service? What can I offer to others? What skills can we give up to another?”
It’s common knowledge that most museum traffic is what brings in funds through ticket sales, the gift shop, membership fees, parking, donations etc., so how does the closing of your museum affect your business? Or are people finding other ways to connect with the museum? Or to help the museum?TAM is free. It always has been. We offer an educational and entertaining experience without cost thanks to the City of Torrance. If anything, we bring in revenue to the City by the visitors who shop while in town, go to restaurants, etc. It is not a financial boost from visitors we need (although that couldn’t hurt!!), but support through showing the powers-that-be that we are important to the public, that TAM and other cultural organizations are a valued contributor to the culture of Southern California and further afield. People can let the City know this directly (email, phone or letter) or they can take the easier and more engaged route by visiting our social media and website and marking their support there! I encourage you all to do so, for TAM and the other institutions, groups, non-profits and others who are working to keep this thing of ours together and alive.
During the Great Recession, were people still going to TAM’s exhibits and participating in museum programming and donating? Can that still happen again? We did not see a decline in numbers visiting during the recession. In fact, being free and having exhibitions and programming that were relevant and interesting we saw our numbers increase every year. I see this returning. It all comes down to us: your readers, artists out there and art lovers – we either get out there and show our love and support when we can eventually gather or this activity we love will fade to insignificance. That is our pro-active choice.
Some art professionals are optimistic, and others worried. How do you feel? Is there anything surprisingly positive you have noticed so far? Or something you feel you or we all could learn from this? I think we should take the immediate lesson of just how important creativity is to us and everyone else in general, besides the obvious need to rethink financial, health, education and other social structures. Will there be long term changes? I am doubtful of this. What did we learn from the 1918 flu epidemic? Unless fundamental societal changes are demanded and given/taken I think a return to what was is more likely, for good and bad.
Saying that, I have to say I am an optimist otherwise. I suspect people will, like myself, be hungry to spend quality time around other people who share their interests, in art or whatever. We will run towards what we could not have—museums, galleries, cinema, live music and clubs, the beach, etc. We have to live in hope, not fear!!
Exhibition view of Death Cult, TAM’s last show before the shutdown.