UCLA: Fowler Exhibition Spotlights A Century Of Collecting At UCLA

Press release from UCLA:

Erin Connors

June 23, 2021

UCLA’s museums, libraries and archives are home to an astounding array of more than 21 million artworks, rare documents, artifacts and related objects. An exhibition opening July 1 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA will display works from 13 of the campus’s collections — highlighting their role in the pursuit of knowledge. UCLA Library. Originally conceived as a part of UCLA’s centennial celebration, the exhibition was delayed by 15 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Curators and custodians of UCLA’s diverse collections worked together to identify common themes for the exhibition, which represents various geographic regions, eras and modes of reckoning with human experiences.

The exhibition’s title was inspired by a 1946 short story by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, which describes an empire so obsessed with maps that it creates one that matches the actual size of its territory; this scale, of course, makes the map useless. Like maps, collections document and represent knowledge through aggregations of objects. The Fowler exhibition strives to represent the richness of UCLA’s holdings in ways that are evocative and enlightening, while also acknowledging their inevitable incompleteness. “‘The Map and the Territory’ offers an unprecedented and unparalleled opportunity to celebrate the remarkable resources that have contributed to UCLA’s distinction,” said Marla Berns, the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum. “It also makes visible what is often the invisible work of the university in its pursuit of knowledge in our global society.” The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections: The exhibition is made possible by major funding from UCLA External Affairs. Additional support is provided by donors to the Fowler’s UCLA Spark crowdfunding campaign. Admission to the museum is free. For museum hours, parking information and more, visit the Fowler Museum website. “The Map and the Territory” features objects from the following campus collections:

This press release was produced by UCLA. The views expressed here are the author’s own.