Historic Peale Museum to host art installation

Historic Peale Museum

The Department of General Services has partnered with The Contemporary to present Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See The Stars, a project with New York-based artist Abigail DeVille at the former Peale Museum located at 225 N. Holiday Street. Opened in 1814, the Peale Museum, is a DGS owned property and the first building in the Western Hemisphere to be built and designed as a museum. Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See The Stars, a new body of work, including installations and performances, focuses on DeVille’s ongoing research of the Peale Museum’s building and the unruly nature of history. Much of the building’s timeline had to be unearthed for this project, rediscovering facets of its past that had fallen through the cracks of time.

In her work, DeVille’s investigations lead to the construction of narratives, environments, and experiences which reference histories that are often overlooked or forgotten. For this project, DeVille postures the Peale Museum’s site as a theoretical passage through spacetime, creating shortcuts for long journeys across history. Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See The Stars contributes both original research and new perspectives on little-known narratives and lost years of the Peale Museum’s building, opening the door for conversations on education, legislation, cultural preservation, and art’s ability to challenge our notion of time and history.

The project is also aimed at growing awareness of the property and the ongoing capital campaign by the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture, a non-profit organization whose mission is to restore and reopen the Peale Museum for regular exhibits. The exhibit will open with a reception on April 16th from 7-10PM and will be on view Thursdays-Sundays from 12-8PM up until June 11th. An artist talk will be presented April 25th from 6-7:30PM and a curatorial tour will be held May 18th from 7-8:30PM. All programs are free and open to the public. 

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