They were frustrated by the familiar. The playbook for arranging museum galleries often calls for chronological order or thematic unity. As pandemic-era restrictions lifted, Alcauskas saw an opportunity to capitalize on the excitement around in-person museum visits. Now was the time for something entirely different. But what?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That day on her bike, the answer came to her.\u00a0 She texted Gilman: \u201cI figured it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was out there on my bike, and I just had this moment of letting go,\u201d says Alcauskas. \u201cLet\u2019s focus on the artwork. Let\u2019s make every gallery center on one of the wonderful pieces from our collection and unpack it over the course of the gallery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After three years of planning, Alcauskas and Gilman\u2019s vision is becoming reality. The Chazen closed in May for a comprehensive reinstallation of its permanent collection. This fall, the museum will unveil its new look with a variety of celebratory events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Photo courtesy of the Chazen <\/p>\n
The reinstallation will feature 24 gallery spaces with an anchor object in each. The rest of the art in each gallery will connect to the centerpieces\u2009\u2014\u2009and each other\u2009\u2014\u2009in ways large or small, expected or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA hub and spoke approach,\u201d The New York Times noted in April, in a lengthy and admiring article on the Chazen\u2019s new direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I spoke with Alcauskas in May, the Chazen had just begun work on its first gallery reinstallation. The focus object is a John Steuart Curry painting titled \u201cWisconsin Farm Scene.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor that gallery,\u201d Alcauskas says of the ancillary pieces, \u201cwe mainly focused on artists who were depicting Wisconsin or were residents of Wisconsin. It\u2019s really a celebration of the multifaceted nature of the state and its different aspects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Photo courtesy of the Chazen <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just Alcauskas\u2019 bike ride epiphany that prompted the Chazen\u2019s new approach. In 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the city of Boston removed a public-facing sculpture by Thomas Ball depicting a formerly enslaved individual kneeling at the feet of Abraham Lincoln.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ball made several versions of the statue, and the Chazen had one. Rather than remove it, the museum\u2009\u2014\u2009working with artists, including New York-based interdisciplinary artist Sanford Biggers\u2009\u2014\u2009chose to provide contemporary context with a new exhibit called \u201cre:mancipation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It opened in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of that exhibition,\u201d Alcauskas says, \u201ctook the sculpture itself and broke it down into its pieces: What are the different things you\u2019re actually seeing in the artwork?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really the impetus,\u201d she continues, \u201cfor this idea of why don\u2019t we do a really deep dive into these individual objects and relate them to other things in the collection?\u200a\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another gallery in the redesigned Chazen will be anchored by \u201cVertical Beyond the Horizontal,\u201d a mobile made by Alexander Calder, a sculptor known for his innovative mobiles and kinetic sculptures. The piece had previously been exhibited at ceiling height in the Chazen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the reinstallation, she says, \u201cWe\u2019re going to install it quite a bit lower, so it\u2019s in front of people, and they can really interact with it and see it in a new way. This is what the entire installation is trying to do: take pieces that have been on view before but present them in a different light so people might see them anew for a second time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Photo courtesy of the Chazen <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a season of change for the museum: The Chazen welcomed a new curator, Erica DiBenedetto, who arrived in April from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DiBenedetto was acquainted with Alcauskas. Both women attended Williams College in Massachusetts, and Alcauskas had previously worked at the MoMA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They would see each other at professional events, and at an art history conference in 2025, Alcauskas mentioned the Chazen\u2019s long-standing commitment to contemporary African art, the museum having launched a major exhibition, \u201cInsistent Presence: Contemporary African Art,\u201d in fall 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In DiBenedetto\u2019s recent work for MoMA, she traveled to Africa several times to interview artists and examine archives and collections. Something clicked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really put the Chazen on my radar,\u201d DiBenedetto says. \u201cWhen the job posting went public and it crossed my desk, so to speak, I thought this could be a really interesting place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Chazen, DiBenedetto will oversee art that is not on paper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy purview is painting, sculpture and decorative arts,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DiBenedetto is expected to guide student research and hire and mentor undergraduate and graduate students at UW\u2013Madison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In The New York Times article from earlier this year, the writer noted, \u201cUniversity museums, with their built-in audiences and collegiate context, may have a certain measure of freedom that helps enable the Chazen\u2019s project.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
DiBenedetto is excited about the Chazen\u2019s bold reimagining of its collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows for a dynamic way of thinking,\u201d she says, \u201cabout how you bring together the objects that you have in your collection and tell stories or histories or delve into themes. I think it also really encourages a kind of deep looking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That searching, DiBenedetto says, will benefit everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critical for students as they encounter art, but also for anyone who comes through the Chazen. To really spend time discovering how one work can lead to all these potential connections to other ones that we have. There\u2019s something really meaningful in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug Moe is a Madison writer and a former editor of Madison Magazine. Find more by Moe in his web-exclusive blog at madisonmagazine.com\/dougmoe<\/a>. @dougmoemadison<\/p>\n \u200bCOPYRIGHT 2026 BY MADISON MAGAZINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.<\/p>\n