“Topographies: Mapping Being and Belonging” Gallery Talk with Associate Curator Beth Gollnick

Join Associate Curator Beth Gollnick for a gallery talk about the exhibition “Topographies: Mapping Being and Belonging” on view in the Anna K. Meredith Gallery from June 13 – September 20, 2026. Topography (drawn from the Ancient Greek words topos, meaning place, and graphia, meaning writing) is the creation of a visual map that describes the natural or human-made features of a place.
Humans have long used the process of mapmaking to make sense of the world around us. Mapping can create order out of vast amounts of information, help us to extrapolate broader patterns, or reveal how unseen systems influence our perceptions. In this exhibition, mapping serves as a metaphor for the ways artists draw meaning from their surroundings: how they transform our understanding of both the physical world and the societal forces that shape the places we inhabit.
Free; no registration required.
Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, born 1984)
“Mnemonics of Shape and Reason,” 2021 (still)
HD video, stereo, color, 4.2 min
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Purchased with funds from the Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey Moving-Image and Time-Based Art Fund, 2025.1
© Sky Hopinka. Image appears courtesy of the Artist and The Green Gallery, Milwaukee