'Superposition' on display through July 30

Forty images from the Western Gallery Collection, telling stories and offering narratives of historical and fictional events, will be on display in Wilson Library from May 30 to July 30 in a show titled “Superposition: Merging Narratives Past and Present.”

The show is free and open to the public.

The term superposition, from the field of quantum mechanics, refers to a system existing in all possible states when unobserved; similarly, a work of art can exist in any number of interpretations until it is viewed, when the viewer narrows it down to a personal reflection. It is hoped that the images in this exhibition, covering topics as various as mythology, daily life, and identity, will stimulate multiple interpretations.

Students in Art History 490, Exhibition: Theory and Practice, did all of the research on the images, wrote the wall text relating the narratives specific to the works, and participated in the works’ installation in the library.

The opening of the exhibition involved performances, as seen in the video, that revolved around selected images from the exhibition.

The exhibition is being installed with the help of Sarah Clark-Langager, director of the Western Gallery, and Paul Brower, Preservation and Museum Specialist 2, and in consultation with library staff Leslie Hall, Michelle Becker, Clarissa Mansfield, and Shevell Thibou.

For more information about the exhibition or for disability accommodation, please contact Julia Sapin at (360) 650-3670, julia.sapin@wwu.edu.