Ahead of Election Day, colleges across the country teamed up with local art museums to turn campuses and gallery spaces into political spaces, voting centers, and resource hubs.
Colleges like the University of Wisconsin Madison, University of Nebraska Lincoln, and Rutgers served as registration or voting centers, as nearby museums ran specialty exhibits centered on protest art, gender representation, and the “politics in daily life.”
This October, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the University of Michigan Museum of Art debuted its own take on the national collaboration to combine art, education, and civic engagement: talking it out.
The exhibit “Hey, We Need To Talk” centers on breaking down communication barriers in politics through a variety of art programs — including a “Make Art or Make Out” speed-dating style event.
But the museum’s most popular event is the “Common Sense Diner.”
At the dinner parties, which have been held every Thursday evening and Friday afternoon leading up to the election, eight people are invited to come together at the same table and share a meal.
A diverse mix of participants across political affiliation, background, and faith are invited, meaning the guest list is thoughtfully curated — and so is the conversation.
Artist and museum curator Philippa Pham Hughes, who helps facilitate the conversations, said that the exhibit was designed to help people open up at a time when political conversation has become increasingly divisive and polarizing.
Hughes told PBS News it’s a kind of artwork that “requires participation” from everyone at the table.
“The first action is to have a conversation,” Hughes said. “And for me, I mean, it sounds simple and kind of obvious, except that having a conversation in this day and age feels like a radical thing to do.”
It’s a unique type of interactive exhibit, and Hughes’ role is unique too — as she takes on the part of “social sculptor.”
“I’ve created this space for a dialogue, a relationship, to happen,” Hughes explained. “But that artwork is incomplete until the dialogue actually takes place.”
The dinner table itself sits at the center of the exhibit — at the heart of the UMMA — in a colorful room wallpapered with commissioned artwork that contains flowers from all 50 states.
“The flowers are also a metaphor for flourishing,” Hughes said in an interview with the University of Michigan. “Plenty of social science research says: ‘when you feel a sense of awe you feel more connected to your fellow humans,’ and this sense of awe and wonder is critical to connection.”
Hughes also told the university press that it’s a joy to see participants — even the ones who come in weighed down with anxiety — open up as they “break bread” together.
“Although the meal matters,” Philippa said, “there is a ritual of eating that really matters. One of the greatest challenges is the time constraint [2 hours].”
The exhibit is not just limited to the “Common Sense Diner” and “Make Art or Make Out.”
The space itself is a gallery that U-M students and community members are welcome to visit throughout the day. And the majority of visitors come in fresh from a Voting Hub downstairs, so they are primed to talk politics.
As visitors filter in and look at the curated artwork, one of Hughes’ colleagues asks questions like “What brought you into the exhibit today?” and “What does it mean to be American?”
To some, that may be a loaded question — but it’s something that is meant to inspire honesty and reflection.
“If we can’t speak to each other, I don’t know how we have a democracy,” Hughes told PBS.
Header image via University of Michigan Museum of Art
