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Mary Jane Jacob Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-003

Scope and Contents

The Mary Jane Jacob Papers is comprised of the working curatorial exhibition files (including grant correspondence, correspondence with artists, project planning documents, promotional materials, press, and exhibition documentation in various paper and media formats) for two festivals focused on public art and programming, as well as manuscript material for both published and and unpublished works.

Series I: Spoleto Festival is comprised of various types of planning records and documentation related to the Spoleto Festival in Clarleston, S.C., which Jacob curated in 1991, and again from 2000-2008.

Subseries A: Places with a Past (1991)

Subseries B: Beyond the Flag (2000)

Subseries C: Evoking History: Listening Across Cultures and Communities (2001)

Subseries D: Evoking History: The Memory of Water and the Memory of Land (2002)

Subseries E: Evoking History: Latitude 32˚ - Navigating Home (2003)

Subseries F: Places with a Future: Memminger District - Water Table (2004)

Subseries G: Places with a Future: The Borough Houses (2004-2008)

Subseries H: Places with a Future: Phillips Community (2004-2008)

Subseries I: Spoleto Festival Program Books and General Press contains the programs circulated at the festival by year, as well as press regarding the festival and the Spoleto Foundation in general.

Series II: Sculpture Chicago is comprised of various types of planning records and documentation related to the Sculpture Chicago exhibition, which Jacob curated in 1993.

Subseries A: Culture in Action (1993)

An additional donation of material from Mary Jane Jacob was received in 2016, and added as an accretion to the existing material in 2021. The accretion includes additions to the exissting Series I, Sub-series A-H; and Series II, Sub-series A. The accretion also adds items related to projects previously undocumented in the archive, which are represented by the following series:

Series IV: Arts Festival Atlanta, Conversations at the Castle: Changing Audiences and Contemporary Art (1996)

Series V: Writings, press and interviews

Series VI: Research files on other artist's projects

Series VII: Conferences organized by Mary Jane Jacob

Series VIII: Unrealized exhibitions

Dates

  • 1962-2016
  • Majority of material found within 1989 - 2008

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers without restrictions. Appointments are necessary to consult manuscript and archival materials. Access copies for media materials may not be available yet. Please contact the CCS Archivist for further details.

Use Restrictions

Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Director of the Library & Archives at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. Please contact ccslib@bard.edu for more information.

Biographical / Historical

Mary Jane Jacob is a curator, writer, and educator who pioneered the areas of public, site-specific, and socially engaged art. Jacob was born in Chicago and received her M.A. in the History of Art and Museum Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After serving as the Chief Curator of the Museums of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Los Angeles from 1980-1986 and 1986-1990, respectively, Jacob shifted her workplace from the museum to the street to critically engage the discourse around public space, organizing such site and community-based programs as Places with a Past and Places with a Future in Charleston, Culture in Action in Chicago, and Conversations at The Castle in Atlanta.

In 1991 and again in 2000–2008 Jacob was the curator of visual arts projects for Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston South Carolina. Inspired by the open curatorial format devised by curators Kaspar König and Klaus Bussman for the 1987 exhibition Skulptur Projekte Münster, Jacob worked closely with twenty-three artists to develop site-specific projects for Places with a Past in 1991. Jacob’s near decade of programming with the Spoleto Festival involved ambitious project commissions with countless artists (including David Hammons, Christian Boltanski, J. Morgan Puett, and Lorna Simpson) in addition to curatorial collaborations including a recurring project with South African curator Tumelo Mosaka.

From 1992-1993 Jacob organized the community-based art project and exhibition Culture in Action for Sculpture Chicago with artists such as Mark Dion, Suzanne Lacy and Grennan & Sperandio. For the project artists worked in direct partnership with community members to explore the changing nature of public art along with its relationship to social issues.

Mary Jane Jacob is currently a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is the Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies. Furthering its position in fostering critical thinking and open dialogue, Jacob also launched in 2016 SAIC’s Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice, for which she now also serves as director. At the Sullivan Galleries, she led the citywide program Studio Chicago (2010–11).

Mary Jane Jacob has probed creative practioners’ relationship to audiences and within society in her co-edited volumes Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art (University of California Press, 2004); Learning Mind: Experience into Art (University of California Press, 2009); Chicago Makes Modern: How Creative Minds Changed Society (University of Chicago Press, 2012); The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists (University of Chicago, 2010); and the five-volume Chicago Social Practice History series (University of Chicago, 2014-16).

Extent

13.25 Linear Feet (in 13 boxes, and four binders)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Mary Jane Jacob Papers is organized into eight series:

Series I: Spoleto Festival is organized chronologically by exhibition date. For each exhibition in this series planning and research documents are followed by visual and audiovisual documentation.

Series II: Sculpture Chicago is organized chronologically by exhibition date. For each exhibition in this series planning and research documents are followed by visual and audiovisual documentation.

Series III: Writings and Press is organized chronologically by date of manuscript.

Series IV: Accretion 2016

Series IV: Arts Festival Atlanta, Conversations at the Castle: Changing Audiences and Contemporary Art (1996)

Series V: Writings, press and interviews

Series VI: Research files on other artist's projects

Series VII: Conferences organized by Mary Jane Jacob

Series VIII: Unrealized exhibitions

Provenance

The Mary Jane Jacob Papers were donated to the Center for Curatorial Studies by Mary Jane Jacob in June 2015. An accretion of materials was donated by Mary Jane Jacob in September 2016 and added to the finding aid in 2021.

Related Materials

Carolee Thea Papers; Peter Davidson Collection of Ian Hamilton Finlay; Colin de Land, American Fine Arts, Co., and Pat Hearn Gallery Archives

Separated Materials

Click here for a list of separated materials.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Mary Jane Jacob Papers
Author
Ryan Evans and Hannah Mandel; Collection processed by Ann Butler, Ryan Evans and Hannah Mandel
Date
March 2016
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Center for Curatorial Studies Library & Archives Repository

http://www.bard.edu/ccs/library/
Contact:
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson 12504-5000 USA
845-758-7567
845-758-2442 (Fax)

  • CCS Bard Archives
    Center for Curatorial Studies
  • Bard College
  • Annandale-on-Hudson NY 12504

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