Weisman Art Museum

ABOUT

Since its origin in 1934, Weisman Art Museum has been a teaching museum for the University of Minnesota. Today, education remains central to the museum’s mission to create art experiences that spark discovery, critical thinking, and transformation, linking the University and the community. The Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, where Rosy Simas’ new work will be housed, is a museum space and a program dedicated to cultivating and supporting artist-led collaborative projects whose impact extends beyond the museum walls.

PROJECT

Weisman Art Museum is partnering with 2021 SHIFT Awardee Rosy Simas (Seneca, Heron Clan) to commission Simas’ work, provide a two-month residency, and support community engagement activities. Simas’ project she who lives on the road to war is an immersive installation and dance performance created by Rosy Simas in response to our global loss and the collective need to come together in peace and reconciliation. It is both a physical space for rest and refuge, and a performative work of Native futurities that imagines a world of relational balance with nature and with each other. “she who lives on the road to war” takes its title from the Haudenosaunee historical figure Jigonhsasee, who encouraged war between tribes before becoming an instrument of peace. Jigonhsasee’s wisdom and vision helped Hiawatha and the Peacemaker bring the Nations together as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Audiences are invited to gather, rest, grieve, condole with one another, and to consider how we can all work towards reconciliation during the dual pandemics of systematic racism and COVID-19. The project will have a dual premiere in Minneapolis in the heart of the Native community at All My Relations Arts (AMRA) and the Weisman Art Museum (WAM). The work will tour to Gibney in NYC, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, and other cities.