The inaugural exhibition in the Neubauer Collegium gallery considered the material afterlife of artworks that have been divested of value by the insurance industry due to accidental damage. The survival of these “salvaged” works challenges our common understanding of the borderline separating art from non-art. Visitors were encouraged to handle a collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures from the Salvage Art Institute. Founded by artist Elka Krajewska, the Salvage Art Institute provides a refuge for art that has been removed from circulation while creating a forum for confronting the regulation of their financial, aesthetic, and social value. The exhibition emerged from the Material Matters research project, giving the Neubauer Collegium its first opportunity to present visual art as a form of humanistic inquiry.

Curated by Elka Krajewska and Mark Wasiuta