Late last month, New York University announced that Alison Weaver will serve as the next director of the Gray Art Museum. Founded in 1975, this space has given generations of students the opportunity to realize their experimental ideas while creating impressive exhibitions that often use the university’s collection of more than 6,000 works of art. In 2023, the center moved to a new location with a promise of “higher visibility,” and the Observer caught up with Weaver to hear more about the museum’s ownership and plans for its next phase.
This job will bring you back to the city after ten years in Houston. What would you say has changed the most since you left, in art and in the city in general?
The question I often get asked when I go back to New York is, what he didn’t have you changed? After CBGB’s became a fancy dress shop and Odessa became a vegan burger place, sometimes it’s more noticeable when the center survives. I think it’s impressive that Gray is 50 years old and still an important part of the multifaceted art scene.
How does the Gray Art Museum’s location in the city reflect its identity? It’s funny to be between the Swiss Institute and the Museum of Ice Cream.
I actually love that combination! Gray’s space between the non-profit exhibition space and the for-profit attraction shows how culture works today, through scholarship and spectacle in conversation. That said, the area has long been a hotbed of exploration, from the Five Spot jazz club and the Judson Church to the wider avant-garde art scene. That legacy of risk-taking and cross-disciplinary dynamism resonates with Gray’s identity and future.
He joins the museum after a period of great change. Among other things, it was not used to being called a museum and has moved to its new home in Cooper Square. What are the important things that will define this next section?
Gray has built a strong reputation for thoughtful, research-driven shows. Continuing that intellectual toughness and defensive focus will be important. At the same time, I am interested in expanding how each project can reach audiences through powerful community programs and meaningful student engagement. I am also interested in finding connections between historical objects and contemporary issues, to create more dialogue between exhibitions and living artists. The next phase should feel strong and healthy.
He comes to the Gray Art Museum from the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. What responsibilities come with a university museum that you might not have in a non-academic institution?
University partnerships bring incredible potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. At Moody that meant collaborating with colleagues from fields including architecture, engineering, environmental studies and the humanities to expand the way exhibits were designed, discussed and performed. At NYU, the range of potential partnerships is even greater, including performance studies, music and dance, art and science and media and technology. The university museum is uniquely positioned to act as a connective tissue between disciplines, engaging artists, students and audiences in unexpected ways.
How have university students changed in the last 10 years?
University students remain smart, curious and generally optimistic, even though the major conditions around them continue to evolve, from the impact of artificial intelligence and the spread of social media to socio-economic, political and environmental factors. Addressing these challenges will require new levels of problem-solving, making campus art more important than ever.
And how can a museum activate its collection in ways that feel urgent and contemporary?
The Gray Collection is an amazing resource with an interesting backstory. It began with a gift of more than 700 works collected by Abby Weed Gray (1902-1983) of Minnesota. He traveled to Iran, India, Japan, Pakistan, Turkey and other places in Asia and the Middle East to get things directly from artists he saw ‘breaking away from the past to face the present.’ At the core of his vision was the power of different artistic traditions to promote global understanding. His focus feels important in today’s broken world. I look forward to working with artists and experts from different fields to highlight these works in relation to the critical issues of our time.
Official language calls Gray a “museum/laboratory.” What does that definition mean to you?
For me, the museum/laboratory means a place where exploration is central, where exhibits are not presented as definitive, but are explored, questioned, tested and discussed. It suggests a certain level of intellectual resilience combined with an openness to risk. I hope Gray will continue to embrace that spirit by supporting artists and scholars who ask challenging questions, while inviting audiences to participate in a collaborative process of inquiry and inquiry.
Many Art Conversations
