Maine State Library Maine State Documents Academic Research and Dissertations Special Collections 8-14-2014 Never an Alibi: The Dialogical Museum Cornelia G. Bogaard IDSVA Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalmaine.com/academic Recommended Citation Bogaard, Cornelia G., "Never an Alibi: The Dialogical Museum" (2014). Academic Research and Dissertations. Book 6. http://digitalmaine.com/academic/6 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at Maine State Documents. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Research and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Maine State Documents. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NEVER AN ALIBI: THE DIALOGICAL MUSEUM Cornelia G. Bogaard Submitted to the faculty of The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy August, 2014 Accepted by the faculty of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Simonetta Moro, Ph.D. Dissertation Director Doctoral Committee George Smith, Ph.D. Other Member Christopher Lonegan Ph.D. Other Member Date of Official Submission: August 14, 2014 ii ©2014 Cornelia G. Bogaard ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii Quests for my own word are in fact quests for a word that is not my own, a word that is more than myself; this is a striving to depart from one’s own words, with which nothing essential can be said. ______Mikhail Bakhtin Voor mijn geliefde vader, Jan Bogaard, die me aanmoedigde om kritische vragen te stellen; maar die me bovenal leerde te geloven als een kind. (“To my beloved father, Jan Bogaard, who encouraged me to ask critical questions; most importantly, who taught me to believe with childlike innocence.”) iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Simonetta Moro, I thank you for your deep commitment in helping me succeed with the dissertation writing process. It was such a privilege working with you. We first met when I took the oral exam in 2012. You were on the exam committee, an unlikely circumstance for bonding with new faculty. But I felt an instant connection there and then. I can’t tell you how delighted I was when you became my dissertation director. I already knew that this is one of the areas where idsva wants to make a difference; unlike other graduate schools, idsva takes advice not as a verb but as an action. Yet you exceeded my expectations. Simonetta, you were always one hundred percent there for me. You carefully read every draft, no matter how incoherent and rudimentary. You always responded with meaningful comments. You opened my eyes for new territories, and you sharpened my pen. You gave me the freedom to change direction a hundred times. It has been an amazing process and frankly, there were times I feared you would give up on me. Instead you kept gracefully guiding me through the process, gently pushing me until it was done. I know I asked a lot from you to help me complete the work during your busy summer while you were abroad overseeing residencies. But you did it faithfully. It shows that you are willing to go the extra mile, and I’m deeply grateful for that. Simonetta, you are my ideal adviser. You possess unique qualities beyond your sharp intellect and wit. I feel very fortunate for having had the chance to work with you. Dr. George Smith, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here in the first place. You accepted me in this program, and for that I’m deeply grateful. It was a leap of faith from both sides; you had to trust a foreign student, an art historian no less! I had to believe that this fairly new program was worth doing. Now, looking back I can say that idsva has become a life-changer. Something happened to me during the past five years that I could not have imagined, intellectually, mentally, spiritually. I learned that art is much more than something on a museum wall, to be looked at, enjoyed or decoded with pathological precision. Art, or aesthetics for that matter, is about experience, human consciousness, and the ethical call of taking responsibility for being in this world. George, I suspect I’m not the only idsva student who fell for Bakhtin during the second year. I wonder now if it has something to do with you. Bakhtin represents core values that we recognize in you, and in this school generally, which is a dedication to personal development. You turned that promise into a form of art. The school is extremely fortunate to have you; you are infinitely more than a teacher, mentor and adviser. You are a true inspiration for us all. Thank you for making me trust the process! v Amy Curtis, I’m sure we mortal souls have no idea what it takes to run a school like idsva. I cannot even begin to imagine your talents and accomplishments. What we do see however, is that you are always there with personal attention and practical advice, even while you have a zillion other things to do. You were instrumental in the school’s accreditation process which made it possible to apply for student loans, among other things. There are many other feathers on your bonnet but I want to express my special gratitude for your flexibility with the submission process. That was extremely helpful. Dr. Amy Cook, you had the ungrateful job of checking in with me regularly to see how many pages I had produced. You kept the finger on the pulse - or was it a trigger? I couldn’t tell from Skype. Anyway, it made an impression. I remember the comparison you made between dissertation writing and jogging. There will be times you don’t want to do it, you said. But it is like putting on your running shoes. You may resist the run but putting on your shoes already makes you feel better. Being a slow but stubborn jogger myself, that was something I understood. Amy, unfortunately your advice has not improved my jogging skills but your words have echoed many times on my morning run. It reminded me that sometimes we just have to do the work. And yes, often times it pays off. Idsva alumni Dr. Michael Smith and Dr. Nil Santana, I remember our phone conversations after I had just enrolled in the program. You were asked to contact me and respond to questions that I might have about Kant and Hegel. I’m sure I didn’t dazzle you with my brilliance (honestly I had no idea what I was talking about), but you made it sound fascinating. I thank you both for your help. Dr. Margot Kelley, respected member of idsva’s Board of Trustees. Back in the days, you led a dissertation residency at Brown University. I didn’t come very prepared I’m afraid. It was my second residency that summer and it was hard to stay focused. Yet you patiently worked with me, helping me to formulate the questions and laying the groundwork for my thesis. Later you wrote a beautiful letter of recommendation to help me apply for a fellowship position. I didn’t get it, but I may frame the letter, in retrospect. Thank you for your inspiration. Writing a dissertation can be a lonely process at times, and you tend to forget that there are people out there willing to help. I kick myself for not being more aggressive about that. While I was wrapping up the last chapter, I connected with Bakhtin scholar Dr. Eugene Matusov, Professor at the School of Education of the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. We had some wonderful exchanges about dialogic pedagogy. Dr. Matusov, I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation and learning more from your insights. Dr. Deborah Meijers, vi emeritus professor in Art History at the University of Amsterdam, you laid the foundation for my academic aspirations when you assisted me with a grant funded research project on early collectors houses in the Netherlands. I was thrilled to find how pieces of the puzzle fell into place when I was writing the chapter on house museums. Dr. Kathy Desmond, I thank you also for your valuable help and advice during the dissertation process; and for the conversations about Bakhtin. Being a “hybrid” student, I owe my gratitude to two different cohorts, most notably cohorts 2009 and 2010. My special gratitude goes to my own cohort “nine,” especially the hard core consisting of Kathryn, Brooke and Charlie. The first years particularly, we spent a lot of time on conference calls, chats back and forth, and emails. My crumbled notebook testifies to the heated conversations. Online learning is not always easy but these communications were a necessary component of our learning process. Of course, nothing can compare to the unique learning experience and camaraderie during the summer and winter residencies. I cherish the memories of our time in Tuscany, especially at Spannocchia Castle, the trips to Milan, Venice and Paris, the winter residencies in New York. I’ve given up explaining to people that we went there to work, although granted, there was always time for fun. Katherine, you are not just a peer, you have become such a dear friend. We went through the sublime and the ridiculous together, and it was always good. Thanks for putting up with me. Brooke and Charlie, I will never forget the special bond between us during the week of the oral exam at Brown. It was crazy but we did it together, what a victorious feeling that was! I wish to say a word of thank also to the current and past members of the board of directors at the Rocky Flats Institute and Museum.