Contemporary art is a primary driver of attendance and attention for art museums today. Museum goers line up for hours, online and in person, to score tickets to blockbuster exhibitions like Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms or to get into hot contemporary art museums like The Broad in Los Angeles, where you can watch the wait time tick up on a dedicated Twitter account. Contemporary art can also be a bit confusing. But the eclectic and inclusive nature of art being made today has a lot to teach us about how to experience the world we live in.
Valerie Cassel Oliver, the VMFA's curator of modern and contemporary art, shares ways to open up the experience of contemporary art and ways the art of our times provokes important conversations.

Valerie Cassel Oliver

LookSEE is an online forum dedicated to the visual arts in Richmond,Virginia. We aim to inspire the art curious with a window into artistic process, work, and philosophy. Paige Goodpasture hosts the LookSEE podcast and is a freelance audio producer, an art lover, and a lifelong Richmonder. Her favorite place to be is in a museum. A close second is a bookstore.