For 90 minutes, visitors to the University of Michigan Museum of Art will dive deep into a topic they likely had no idea could be so interesting, and leave thinking “who knew I loved learning about [insert subject matter here]!”

It’s all part of a new event series, “Subject Matters,” which invites visitors to approach explorations of art with the same mindset one might have while going down an Internet rabbit hole, clicking through Wikipedia pages or YouTube videos. The series, which takes place in person with group discussions across various galleries at the Museum, poses thought provoking and irreverent topics inspired by the art on the Museum’s walls.

The subjects scheduled for the Winter 2022 semester are “Art in Nature - This Art Is Too Big (And Too Small) To Be Made By Humans” (February 22nd), “Seeing Empires - How Pictures of Animals Helped Build Empires” (March 8th), and “Materials Science and Engineering - What is This Made of? ” (March 22nd.)

“Subject Matters” is offered in collaboration with the UM faculty who worked with UMMA to curate installations in Curriculum / Collection 2022. For each session, visitors will join UMMA curator Dave Choberka along with a guest UM professor for often surprising and always meaningful discussion. 

The events are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is recommended as each event will be capped at 25 people per session.