As interventions, or “mining,” of the museum’s archive, Wilson re-presented its materials to make visible hidden structures built into the museum system, and American Society as a whole.Īt the onset of the twenty-first century, Wilson began to place more focus on his object-based work. His groundbreaking and historically significant exhibition Mining the Museum (1992) at the Maryland Historical Society, radically altered the landscape of museum exhibition narratives. Wilson’s early work was directed at marginalized histories, exploring how models of categorization, collecting, and display exemplify fraught ideologies and power relations inscribed into the fabric of institutions. By reframing objects and cultural symbols, he alters traditional interpretations, encouraging viewers to reconsider social and historical narratives.
Fred Wilson is renowned for his interdisciplinary practice that challenges assumptions of history, culture, race, and conventions of display.
