Riddle me that: what does nimble mean in the context of an art museum’s mission? 

I found this on the website of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, since I was drawn to explore the current exhibition, Dangerous Women. The  museum is associated with the Florida International University and housed in an interesting building  designed by Yann Weymouth who was the chief of design on the I.M. Pei Grand Louvre Project. With 46,000 square feet of energy efficient exhibition, storage, and programming space, the museum achieved LEED silver certification.

https://frost.fiu.edu/exhibitions/index.html

After getting over my surprise that they mix nouns, verbs and adjectives in their value statement, and list them in no particular context and/or order, I was left with the real puzzle what is the value of nimble and how would an academic institution pursue it? Did they perhaps mean risk taking, as in showing controversial work? Or does it mean they are aware of current public taste and nimbly trying to accommodate it? Whatever – the current show is perhaps nimble in its title but less so in its contents.

The dangerous women in the show are all biblical characters, as painted by 16th and 17th century artists. Described variously in the exhibit introduction as purveyors of sin, harlots or hussies, or deadly temptresses and seductresses, they are given credit at shaping biblical history. Maybe we could think of the vocabulary as nimble?

Or the advertised coda: The exhibition will conclude with a modern and contemporary coda: Robert Henri’s sensuous Salome from 1901 and Mickalene Thomas’ Portrait of Madame Mama Bush 1, 2010, a reminder of the tenacious appeal of the subject. 

https://frost.fiu.edu/exhibitions/2018/dangerous-women.html

The Miami Press commented:The show promotes new ways of seeing many historic female characters, whose power to topple the strongest of male rulers made them “dangerous” but whose strength serves as an historical foundation for thinking about contemporary issues. Though the exhibition was organized well in advance of trending conversations and emerging movements such as #Me Too, “Dangerous Women” could not be more opportune or compelling.

– Aha. I thought those were already pretty established ways of seeing. But what do I know. (Link below is a compendium of feminist biblical studies in the 20th century. Countless scholars have assessed the strength of biblical female rebels for at least a century.)

https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/066002P-front.pdf

Jordana Pomeroy, director of the Frost Art Museum, adds, “’Dangerous Women’ demonstrates how throughout history, men have feared women who wield power through their intellect and sexuality. This new exhibition of old-master paintings demonstrates how powerful women were feared even when their acts were heroic.”

Maybe they were too nimble.

Which can also be said for the graffiti artists of Miami who certainly depict a nice subset of dangerous women, photographed a few years ago. (And who, no doubt, provide instantaneous joy for a subset of pubescent and not so pubescent boys who can innocently bask in the art rather than secretly surfing the net.)