Upcoming Events

“On the Bias: Textile and Indigenous Art in Dialog with the Social Fabric Exhibit.”

April 27th, 2023, 4:30-5:30pm. Klarman Hall, KG70.

Catered reception at the Rare and Manuscript Collections to follow.

Join us for this talk by Christian Ayne Crouch, the dean of graduate studies and associate professor of Historical Studies and American and Indigenous Studies at Bard College, and the director of the Center for Indigenous Studies.

In dialogue with the current library exhibit Social Fabric, Crouch adds Indigenous perspectives to the exhibit’s presentation of relationships of stolen labor, racial constructions, and the interwoven Black and white experiences of New England’s industrial production. Using examples of material culture, past and present, she discusses three themes: the transformation of Indigenous experience as a result of the textile industry, the use of mass-market textiles by Indigenous peoples as a tool of survival, and the engagement of contemporary Native artists on global aesthetic sourcing and practice.

Mui Ho Fine Arts Library

Looking In

March 22, 2023 – Olin Library, Adjacent to the Map Collection

Milstein Hall, which opened in 2011, is a 47,000 square foot building, which includes 25,000 square feet of flexible studio space and a 250-seat auditorium. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and OMA, the facility also includes 2 large curtains that are integral to the design of the building. The curtains are designed by Inside Outside an interior, landscape, and exhibition design firm, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Looking In provides a close-up view of the Forum Curtain, which surrounds the studio space within Milstein Hall; and the Auditorium Curtain, which can be seen from the outside as surrounding the 3 vertical glass surfaces along the South, West and North sides of the facility. The exhibition Threads of History: Textiles at Cornell, provides a notable opportunity to feature these curtains and the work of the firm Inside Outside. More information on the firm, and this project, can be found on the firm’s website: https://www.insideoutside.nl/Cornell-UniversityIthaca-New-York

Visitors to this display may also wish to head north, across the Arts Quad, to view the full-scale Curtains in Milstein Hall, to fully appreciate their significance and functionality.

Exhibit organized by Martha Walker, Architecture Librarian and Coordinator of Collections, Mui Ho Fine Arts Library. Display Designer, Craig Mains, Evening and Weekend Supervisor, Olin Library.

Threads of History

Textiles at Cornell