Adrien Gardere and Olivier Meslay will discuss the Museum of Street of Culture in the context of new approaches to designing and building museums to reach and engage diverse and underserved audiences. Introduction by Alan Govenar

About Adrien Gardère

Born in France in 1972, Adrien Gardère trained as a cabinetmaker and designer. His creations are produced and issued by major furniture and lighting brands (Artemide). Building on his success in design, the Studio Adrien Gardère, founded in 2000, quickly established, in the field of museum exhibition design, enduring relationships with major international institutions (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Musée du Louvre…).

Known for the museography of the Louvre-Lens Museum in Lens (France) and the renovation of the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (Egypt), Studio Adrien Gardère recently completed the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (Canada). Its current projects include the Royal Academy of Arts in London (UK) with David Chipperfield Architects; the Roman Antiquities Museum in Narbonne (France) with Foster+Partners; the French-American Museum in Blérancourt (France); and the French Guyana Museum in Cayenne.

About Olivier Meslay

Olivier Meslay is Associate Director of Curatorial Affair and the Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator for European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. Until 2006 he was in charge of British, Spanish and American paintings at the Louvre, France. He lead projects like the Louvre in Atlanta and in 2006 lead the project of the Louvre-Lens, a branch of the Louvre in Northern France. Since 2009, he is in charge of European and American departments at the Dallas Museum of Art. He recently published From Chanel to Reves, La Pausa and its collections at the Dallas Museum of Art. 

About Alan Govenar

The Founding Director of the Museum of Street Culture at Encore Park, Alan Govenar is a Guggenheim Fellow and has authored twenty-nine books and two off-Broadway plays. Govenar’s artist books and photographs are in major public collections in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Meermanno Museum (The Hague), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), and Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris). Over the years, Govenar’s collaborations with museums have been far-reaching. His work with major institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, International Center of Photography (New York), African American Museum (Dallas), FARO (Brussels), Maison des Cultures du Monde (Paris) and UNESCO (Nairobi), have highlighted underserved populations and little-known practitioners of cultural forms via photography, films and videos, audio recordings, oral histories, exhibitions, public programs, new technologies, and collections of material culture. His most recent film, Serving Second Chances, chronicles The Stewpot’s efforts to provide survival resources and opportunities for homeless and at-risk people.  Govenar is currently working with Adrien Gardere on the multimedia for The Franco-American Museum at Château de Blérancourt.

About the Museum of Street Culture

The Museum of Street Culture permeates Encore Park, an outreach of The Stewpot and the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas in a community that includes residences, restaurants, small businesses, places of worship, and facilities for housing and services to homeless and at-risk people. This community has historic and contemporary properties with a diverse population, including a unique mix of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Anglos, who are in part financially secure and living in apartments and lofts, and in part homeless and at-risk individuals and families who benefit from expanding services and facilities. Once considered a blighted area, the area is rapidly evolving to become safe and well-lit, inviting a dialogue about meaningful action, a crossroads for volunteers, neighbors and people in need.

The Museum of Street Culture expands the scope of The Stewpot and is grounded in the experience of people who are often ignored. It dignifies what is usually seen as unimportant and irrelevant. Exhibitions and public programs will break down stereotypes of both Museum and homelessness. The museum will provide greater visibility to many of The Stewpot’s pioneering initiatives: The Open Art Studio and Gallery, StreetZine newspaper, and ongoing concerts, workshops, and musical events. It is an extension of The Stewpot’s four-decades long efforts to forge community between disparate worlds, bringing together people of all faiths and cultures through art, music, education, and the celebration all forms of creative expression.

The Museum of Street Culture will present exhibitions and public programs that link the early film history of 508 Park with the music recorded there. The Museum will also focus on the homeless and the art they create, as well as current directions in street culture, including performance, installation, and emerging art forms. The museum will feature photographs, drawings, paintings, and sculpture, as well as historical artifacts, ephemera and interactive media. Temporary exhibitions will focus on current directions in street culture, including performance, installation and emerging art forms.

The Museum of Street Culture is located at the Southwest corner of Young Street and Park Avenue and serves as a gateway to the Civic Center and the Main Street District.