SUMMER AND FALL 2023 RESEARCH INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY AT MOCA JAX
THE NORMAN FISHER FELLOWSHIP
MOCA is offering a paid research interdisciplinary internship position in their Curatorial Department for the Summer and Fall 2023 Semesters. Open to both Graduate and Undergraduate students.
INTRODUCTION
In 1978, the Jacksonville Art Museum received the collection of Jacksonville native, Norman Fisher, following his premature death in 1977. In the course of his short life, Fisher would become a witness to, and participant in, the creative effervescence of the time in the arts, befriending many of the luminaries of the New York underground scene in the 70s, which would result in the collection of paintings, drawings, video, photography, books and performance ephemera of important artists in American Art, such as Joseph Kosuth, Gordon Matta-Clark, Richard Serra, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jackie Winsor, but also of important artists from the music world such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson.
Following the accession of the collection, an exhibition, directed by Tina Girouard and Bruce Dempsey, was organized at the Museum in March of 1980. While many of the works of the deposit were photographed and catalogued for the occasion, a sizable portion of the collection remains to be properly recorded.
DESCRIPTION
This program is intended to give students the opportunity to participate and support scholarly research related to the Norman Fisher Collection at MOCA Jacksonville, in preparation of an exhibit featuring the Norman Fisher Collection taking place in conjunction with the 100-year anniversary of our institution in 2024. Called “A Walk on the Wild Side: 70s New York, the Norman Fisher Collection at the Jacksonville Museum of Art”, the exhibition will take place at MOCA from December 1st, 2023, through June 23, 2024.
The participating students will assist in conducting in-depth, art historical investigation connected with the items in the Collection, which include wide ranging objects: from pop art by Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Indiana; photography-as-art by William Wegman, Leandro Katz, and Richard Landry, to the art photography of Christopher Makos and Robert Mapplethorpe; from Gordon Matta-Clark's hand tinted pictures to Malcolm Morley's prints; from the complete series of Avalanche magazine to signed first editions of William Burroughs; from drawings by Alex Hay to early pattern paintings by Tina Girouard; from the manuscript of the Einstein on the Beach opera to a record cover signed by Patti Smith to a print by David Bowie; from a photograph by Jackie Winsor to a poster for Joseph Kosuth's first show, etc.
The program will consist of object-driven research, including access to the objects in the museum's permanent holdings in the Norman Fisher Collection, and to the expertise of the museum's professional staff. This training is aimed on one hand, to provide pre-graduate students with tools, skills, and experiences that will shape their future dissertation research and prepare them for further work as faculty, as well as for positions in museums, libraries, or other research settings involving collections; and on the other, provide graduate students with research and publication opportunity. The internship will also give the students experience in exhibition planning and execution.
Due to the wide range of objects, this program is addressed to students interested in Interdisciplinary arts research, with a particular focus on the development of the cultural scene of the 70s in New York.
The candidates, under UNF faculty mentor oversight, will work closely with MOCA Curatorial staff to catalogue the objects, participate in the preparation of the exhibition and contribute to the didactic material to be included in the catalogue and the galleries.
APPLICATION TIMELINE
Student applications will open Wednesday, March 8 and close on Friday, April 21, 2023. The internship will begin with the Summer Semester 2023 on May 15, and continue through Fall Semester 2023, ending December 2023. Student applicants should be considered “active” UNF students.
APPLICATION
Apply online here: https://unf.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ctEA2giy4kAzwsS
Please direct any questions to Shana Dickler, Assistant Curator at MOCA, shana.dickler@unf.edu.
Applications submitted after the deadline will not be reviewed.