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MSU partners with Broad Art Museum for water initiative

October 7, 2016
Marc-Olivier Wahler, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, speaks during the Water Moves MSU launch on Oct. 4, 2016 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. This initiative postures MSU to take the lead in science, technology, art and innovation to shape a better tomorrow in the Great Lakes and beyond.
Marc-Olivier Wahler, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, speaks during the Water Moves MSU launch on Oct. 4, 2016 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. This initiative postures MSU to take the lead in science, technology, art and innovation to shape a better tomorrow in the Great Lakes and beyond. —
Photo by Derek VanHorn | and Derek VanHorn The State News

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum is bringing art to campus in a whole new way with an exhibit along the Red Cedar riverbanks.

The exhibit, a series of portraits by photographer Gideon Mendel, is part of MSU’s 2016-7 thematic year, Water Moves MSU.

“Since 2007, Mendel has traveled the globe photographing victims of high-impact flooding,” museum director Marc-Olivier Wahler said at the Water Moves MSU event on Tuesday.

Mendel’s series, called “Drowning World," is “his personal response to climate change," according to his website. The portraits show flood victims partially submerged in floodwater.

Mendel won the 2016 Greenpeace Photo Award for the series.

Several of these portraits have been placed along the Red Cedar River as part of the Water Moves MSU initiative.

“It has expanded beyond the museum’s walls,” Wahler said, adding that the museum plans to continue adding art installations around campus in the near future.

The Broad is choosing to highlight Mendel’s work to make students think about ways climate change could affect them, director of public relations Whitney Stoepel said.

“The Red Cedar runs through campus and we may pass over it or near it every day,” Stoepel said. “The installation of these works of art along the Red Cedar are a symbolic gesture highlighting how water and climate change impact our lives.”

The museum will host guided tours of the installment in October and November, including a special bicycle tour at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.

This installment is part of the Broad’s “ongoing commitment to university initiatives, and in particular Water Moves MSU,” Wahler said.

Beginning in January, the Broad will feature art by artist Jan Tichy in collaboration with Flint high school students, also a part of Water Moves MSU, Wahler said.

“We also hope that people will post on social media about ways they are reducing their impact on the environment,” Stoepel said. 

Students can join the conversation by using the hashtag #WaterMovesMSU.

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