Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is redefining the museum-going experience with an ambitious multimedia exhibition that transcends the limits of visual art to engage multiple senses.
“We are delighted to introduce the inaugural presentation of Bechtler’s Collection, Reframed program, a summer exhibition series that invites contemporary artists and creative visionaries to engage with the museum’s holdings,” said executive director Todd D. Smith. “We envision this series as a way to create fresh conversations around the works in our permanent collection, which includes some of the most respected modern artists of the 20th century.”
Collection, Reframed: We Are Here, Beyond Vision pairs immersive video and sound installations by New York-based artist Janet Biggs, North Carolina-based dancer and choreographer Davian Robinson, who is visually impaired, and a host of other collaborators with works from the museum’s permanent collection. The result is a reflection on the human body in varied states – candid, abstracted, constrained, or in motion.
The exhibition runs July 2 to September 22, 2025, with the museum itself acting as co-creator of the work, rather than simply a display space.
Biggs, Robinson, and Bechtler’s Curator Katia Zavistovski began the collaborative process by asking: What is a museum and who is it for? What senses can we use besides sight to appreciate art? How do bodily limitations expand notions of what is possible?
Writing for this project, art critic Barbara Pollack suggests that “it is as if the museum has been reconfigured to be more inclusive of those who may not have perfect sight, or more likely, for those who do not have preconceptions of an art experience.”
