Thank You For Coming

Abstract

Initially, I asked the question, “Do you think this exhibition is worth getting an MFA degree?” inviting visitors to vote yes or no as they came into the gallery. The whole performance became more about the encounters I would have with each visitor: the discussions (even the hard ones), the relationships I built with the gallery staff, the line-up it created at the opening, etc. I would say even the gossip and the whole drama that happened at the end of the first week, all of that became a starting point to address other issues. It legitimized the work. In a way, it almost proved my point: the way the administration treated me the first morning, the way older male faculty were telling me how I should make my work and how it needed to be made differently, following their advice, to be valid. All of this created discussions around me, but also across the NSCAD community (at least that’s what I heard from my colleagues—that the work was discussed in classes, in hallways, in studios by students and faculty members). I had this very interesting discussion with one of my colleagues who came by, and he was talking about how he had never seen a show—an MFA thesis show—stir as much stuff, here at NSCAD. We don’t usually talk about or ask the very basic question: what work is worth getting an MFA? I believe this question goes beyond asking just in the context of the MFA thesis exhibition, but more so how to grade art in general. What is worth it? What constitutes successful artwork, especially in this (academic, educational,prompted) context?