Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
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Date of Graduation
Spring 2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Department
School of Art, Design and Art History
Advisor(s)
Evelyn Tickle
Sneha Patel
Ronn Daniel
Abstract
Designed as a museum of contemporary American history, Wal-seum proposes a new prototype museum that re-presents the commodities of today’s America as historical and cultural artifacts of our time. The museum’s design also borrows from the spatial and organizational techniques of Wal-mart, a place that so many Americans visit time and time again, and which is truly American architecture.
In the final proposal, each department of Wal-mart becomes redesigned as an exhibit in the museum, showcasing ordinary objects, taking cues from the cultural agendas of those items, and calling into question the values therein (i.e. the endless cycle of comparison in our effort to achieve “beauty”; the need to kill what is natural and nurture what is unnatural in the pursuit of a well-manicured lawn; or the acceptance of what is cheap and fast and new despite obvious shortfalls).
Recommended Citation
Chandler, Maya, "Wal-seum" (2017). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 283.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/283
