Dennis Kois (rhymes with voice) began work as the new executive director of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln on June 2. The 38-year-old Milwaukee native has worked as an exhibition, print, and Web designer at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian, and most recently he was executive director for a year and a half at the Grace Museum — a combo art, history, and children’s museum in Abilene, Texas. We spoke about his hopes to make DeCordova a major player in sculpture, adapt its New England focus, and change the building to showcase better the work it presents. Which is why fundraising will be a chief concern.
What are your plans?
DeCordova’s got some incredible strengths, obviously, that I think need to be maximized and leveraged in some different ways from what it’s been doing. Particularly the sculpture park is a resource that nobody in the immediate region has something quite like. We need to build more of our identity around sculpture and the sculpture park. I think in some ways it’s one of the few areas in the museum world left where a museum still could take a leadership position. That said, sculpture is hugely expensive, outdoor sculpture in particular — hugely expensive, hugely time-consuming, and labor-intensive to do. So it’s going to require a leveraging of our fundraising, a leveraging and growth of our capabilities and our staff on every level.
One of the things the DeCordova does well is attract a big crowd of art people to its openings.
I agree. I think that raises the question of where we exist in the range of museums as far as supporting and having a relationship to a local community — “local” meaning Boston-area — and regional community, meaning New England. Which is actually written in as part of our mission. Suffice to say it’s clear that that’s a core part of our identity. On the flip side, in some ways I think it’s also been explored on a very limited basis. We haven’t made ourselves a center for art in Boston, or a center for art life in Boston, in a way that we could. Some of it may come down to other types of programming, making connections between local artists and national-level artists. We may also bring in shows that are really interesting relative to what’s happening here — national shows from other institutions, shows that we organize. I think ultimately it needs to become a much more holistic view of how we relate to local and regional arts.
What would you change about the building?
There’s a capital project that we’re going to be reviving. We need to add space for storage. Right now the entire collection is stored off-site, which drives a lot of costs and a lot of issues, and it’s not the best thing for the collection. We need staff space. I’d like to see us tie our galleries together in a much more effective way. I started out as an exhibition designer. So to me the experience in the building is really disconnected and sort of discombobulated.
Tell me about your 1999 New York University master’s thesis, “Disney and Museums: Simulacra, Education and a Blueprint for Competition.”
That thesis was looking at what museums could learn from places like Disney World or themed entertainments, like Las Vegas, and the idea that people now are not so interested in authenticity anymore. What we’re about is authenticity. We’re the real deal, the real object. We’re trying to provide a cultural experience. How do you exist in a society where people are going to the Paris hotel at Las Vegas and eating omelets served by waiters in berets? How do we relate in that world? What is our place in that world?
And ultimately the argument I made there is that we can’t win by becoming entertainments, by watering down or dumbing down what we do, or attempting to program to the lowest common denominator. What we need to do is provide the strongest experience. We need the best artists, the best art, the strongest identity we can provide, but then make it accessible to people in a way that’s meaningful. I think DeCordova is actually well positioned to do that, because I think we’re strong with families, we’re strong with being known as an unpretentious place for art. But I think that’s come to some degree because we haven’t presented always the most challenging work. And so my goal is to find a way to present really challenging, strong work, but maintain that identity as an unpretentious accessible place.
