The performance troupe 500 Clown will turn to visual arts this fall, taking up residency at the Smart Museum of Art's new GalleryX space. The project, titled "The Art of Experience" and devised by 500 Clown's Adrian Danzig and Rebecca Stevens, aims to reframe the way museum patrons engage with art by giving them prompts such as, "Convince yourself that you love something in the room," or "Write a letter to the artist whose piece of art annoys or angers you."
The University of Chicago–based museum says 500 Clown's project is inspired by the work of progressive educator and Art as Experience author John Dewey (a onetime U. of C. faculty member) and by psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. "The Art of Experience" launches October 2 with an At the Threshold social, 5–7:30pm. GalleryX is a temporary space that will serve as a center for the Smart Museum's 40th-anniversary events across this school year.