Marianne Mueller’s Any House is a Home

Marianne Mueller, installation view of FreePort [No. 002], Seaman’s and Hilborn Galleries, courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum.

Combining a contemporary perspective with classic works, Swiss photographer, Marianne Mueller responded to the historic Peabody Essex Museum by selecting, photographing and rearranging objects from the archive in Any House is a Home. The second of the museum’s FreePort series, the installation remixes the art historical canon by creating an unexpected dialogue between her work and the 212-year-old collection. 

Guide to objects used in Marianne Mueller’s installation Any House is a Home: Balcony Level, detail of brochure.

Partitioning the gallery’s wall space in a cyclorama of 21 squares of color, Mueller grouped objects by Pantone (see brochure above) to create a non-linear play with works heavily classified in the archive. “I want to show everything with the same measure of distance and closeness, whether it is a human being or an object, skin or glass. Every image should have the same intensity. Thus my archive becomes a democracy of images, closer to the dynamics of poetry than the strictures of the novel,” said Mueller.

Marianne Mueller, installation view of FreePort [002], Seaman’s and Hilborn Galleries, courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum.

PEM plans to continue the initiative, inviting Susan Phillipsz to reinterpret the museum’s collection on May 7 and Peter Hutton later in the fall. “It’s a completely fresh approach to exhibitions at PEM. Through FreePort we’re able to work between departments to find the common threads that make the museum sing,” said Phillip Prodger, Curator of Photography about the series. Mueller’s Any House is a Home is on view until December 31.