The exhibit is set up on the 2nd floor of the Target (west) Wing of MIA and runs through three exhibit rooms and out into the central atrium. Because of the sheer volume of people present to view the exhibit a line extended from the first room back into the regular section of the museum...fortunately for us, we arrived fairly early in the evening and the wait to get in was minimal....by the time we came out of the gallery space, the line was extended all the way from the Target Wing to the center of the museum (I would assume about a 45 minute wait to get through).
I had no idea what to expect given the number of pieces on display (over 5,000 Minnesota artists are involved...their highest count ever) but my first impression - other than not being able to move my arms more than six inches away from my body on account of the mass of humanity jammed around me - was of a sophisticated rummage sale set-up; sculptural pieces appeared to be laid out haphazardly across vast platforms while the walls were a veritable jigsaw of paintings, photographs, and other 2-D works.
Rather than being able to walk freely around the space, the crowd moved in a more-or-less compacted mass (as you can see from the picture) around each table before surging through a doorway into the next room (I was terrified some of the pieces were going to be knocked over by people crowding the tables...one actually did (a ceramic piece I liked) by a woman carrying her coat over her arm, but fortunately nothing was broken). I found my piece on display in the first room, which was very exciting; I didn't see anything else quite like my work, either, which was nice (uniqueness is always good).
Despite the cramped viewing experience and jumbled displays, the exhibit was still incredibly impressive and I had a great time picking out pieces I admired and explaining different (possible) creation techniques to my party. (Going back this last weekend was even better because I was able to go through the rooms at my own pace and pause to admire individual items without fear of being trampled...) The museum has now also finished photographing each individual piece and uploading the images (along with artists' names, of course) into their computer database, so you can search (and vote!) for work throughout the exhibit (everything is numbered, so work is suprisingly easy to find).
The exhibit runs through June 13th and is completely free, so if anyone happens to be in the area, I strongly suggest stopping by to check it out.
The link to the exhibit site is: http://www.artsmia.org/foot-in-the-door-4/
