Intersections: Art and the Museum as Sites for Civic Dialogue

This essay describes the structure, pedagogy, and intent behind “Intersections,” a gallery program at the Art Institute of Chicago that occurred monthly between November 2016 and March 2020. The program, which continues less frequently and in a virtual format today, positions artworks as catalysts for helping people make sense of current events and timely issues. In doing so, it reframes adult learning in the museum as collaborative, dialogic, and open-ended, rather than setting up an experience that is primarily expert-driven and informational. Art historical methods such as visual analysis and consideration of primary source texts, along with collaborative learning activities which have proven effective in the classroom, are harnessed by facilitators to support individual and collective meaning making in the museum. Art made in the United States from the 19th century to today offers important opportunities for making relevant connections between the past and contemporary issues, though measuring learning outcomes in a free-choice learning environment like the museum is challenging. The article describes initial attempts to gather qualitative and quantitative feedback on the impact that participating in Intersections has had, while asserting that the potentially transformative learning which results can encourage healthy civic discourse beyond the museum’s walls