Blog
Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.
The Latest
That time Robert Rauschenberg came to Mia
By Tim Gihring
Robert Rauschenberg is having a moment. Again. For the first time in thirty years, his 1980s series based on his travels to Chile, Japan, the Soviet Union, and half a dozen other countries—called the Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange, or ROCI—is on view, in a London gallery. And as the 60th Venice ...
Mia mourns the passing of Frank Stella
Frank Stella, a giant of the art world who helped shift its center of gravity to the United States in the post-war era, died on May 4 in New York. He was 87. Stella has long had an outsize presence at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. His monumental painting Tahkt-I-Sulayman Variation II has held a ...
The shape of self: A Korean adoptee reflects on Mia’s show of contemporary Korean art
By Taylor Bye
I was 23 before I fully embraced my identity as a Korean American woman. Until then, I had never truly considered my ethnicity or race to be something central to my identity. This denial was founded in the micro-aggressions I faced from an early age: classmates asking “where my real parents ...
How a young conservator is helping preserve her Hmong heritage
By Olivia Thanadabout
[Editor’s note: While “Hmong” remains the predominant spelling of the cultural group’s Anglicized name, “HMong” is increasingly used to be inclusive of both Hmoob Dawb (White Hmong) and Moob Leeg (Green/Blue Mong).] April is National Hmong Heritage Month, and to mark the occasion Mia is displaying two Paj Ntaub, or Flower ...
Art from Mia stars in groundbreaking show of Southern Black artists
By Tim Gihring
At any given time, a small percentage of Mia’s permanent collection is scattered around the world. A single work here, a few works there. On loan to museums, universities, and other institutions for exhibitions large and small. The Death of Germanicus, by Nicolas Poussin, has been a frequent traveler. Modigliani’s Head ...
Gyubang! The Korean crafting craze coming to Mia on April 4
By Tim Gihring
As Mia’s new special exhibition, “The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989,” makes clear, the global spread of South Korean pop culture is as intentional as it is relentless. From Gangnam Style to Squid Game to the sudden spike in kimchi consumption, the push to export K-everything has been a ...
“The Shape of Time” reveals the creative spirit behind South Korea’s rapid rise
By Tim Gihring
The year 1989 is remembered for many things, like the birth of both the World Wide Web and Taylor Swift, though perhaps primarily for the protests in support of democracy that were by turns successful (the fall of the Berlin Wall) and unsuccessful (the uprising in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square). Often overlooked ...
Mia marks Women’s History Month with “Cheering Woman” in lobby
Sokari Douglas Camp, born in Nigeria, moved to Great Britain as a child and trained as an artist in Oakland, California, and London. This dual identity, split between Africa and England, has informed her art. Often, she honors traditional African art forms, though in working with welded steel—a traditionally “male” medium—she is crossing gender boundaries ...
Tooth, claw, fire, rain: A beginner’s guide to dragons
By Tim Gihring
The Year of the Dragon, in the Chinese zodiac, began on February 10—the same day that Mia opened “Year of the Dragon: Mystical Creatures of the Sky.” In sculpture, paintings, robes, and other objects, the exhibition traces the evolution of Chinese dragons over thousands of years, from a kind of folkloric ...
Mia marks Black History Month with Sanford Biggers sculpture
Sanford Biggers’ Semaphore sculpture is now on view in Mia’s first-floor lobby. Made in 2019 and acquired by Mia the following year, the installation is part of the museum’s Black History Month celebration honoring the work of artists who interpret Black American stories through creative expression. Biggers, a Los Angeles native who has lived and ...