Upon her arrival as the new Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, one of Susan Talbott’s commitment to Hartford’s arts fans was the return of the seemingly comatose Matrix program. Upon arrival she filled the small gallery at the northeast corner of the complex with the lifesize, styrofoam sculptures of Folkert de Jong and his study on anti-colonialism entitled, “The Shooting…at Watou.” She followed that by hiring a new Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art in Patricia Hickson in March. Ms. Hickson was a familiar face from the Des Moines Art Center who also spent some time at the Boston ICA before it moved to its new home on the harbor. Ms. Hickson’s first foray into this storied program, The Matrix Effect, is a mini retrospective which serves as a sort of re-introduction to the Matrix program so that she can start programming with a bang in 2010, a year that marks 35 years since the gallery’s inception.
Continue reading The Matrix Effect reaches back to move forward…