Memorial Union Gallery
Our Union houses a 1,236-square-foot art gallery that features rotating exhibits.
The Memorial Union Gallery, fondly referred to as "the MUG", is managed by UND Art Collections. This beautiful and contemporary gallery hosts multiple art exhibitions each year, with shows that change approximately every 90 days. The MUG primarily features the work of UND Department of Art & Design students, faculty, and visiting artists.
- 4-5 exhibitions per year
- Customizable lighting configurations
- Operated by students, curated by an alumna
Current Exhibit
The Native Dancer Project
Currently on display in the MUG, as part of the 55th Annual UND Writers Conference, is The Native Dancer Project, featuring the work of Ariann Rousu. A painter, digital photographer, and video game designer, Rousu works at UND in the Computational Research Center, where she is a 3D technician and Native Hertiage Artist. She is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation and a 2022 graduate of UND. This exhibition features her traditional and digital work, which introduces the viewers to a larger 3D/virtual reality project that she is part of.
The Native Dancer Project is envisioned to be a virtual social space with a video game focus, where the game's content is derived from competitive powwow dancing. It is a research project using, and in some cases, helping to progress emerging technologies. The Native Dancer Project will be more than just a video game. Inspired by the rich cultures of the Native peoples from the Northern Plains region, it will be a space for Indigenous people, and all people, to learn, have fun, compete, and in many ways heal. I hope the project will become a place where Indigenous people can express their cultural identity without the worry of being overshadowed by wider internet cultures. In the process of this work, Rousu hopes to help eliminate the representation of Native and Indigenous cultures by non-Native peoples.
Reception Information
Opening Reception and Gallery Talk
Wednesday, March 30
4 p.m.-5 p.m.
Reception free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Hours
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Mon. - Fri.
Closed on holidays
About UND Art Collections
UND Art Collections oversees the curation, display, and preservation of approximately 30,000 pieces of art and art-related objects by regional and internationally known artists. Artists in the collections include Salvador Dali, Audrey Flack, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Andy Warhol and many others. The extensive collections contain paintings, photography, sculptures, pottery and ceramics, Chinese papercuts, drawings, jewelry and metalwork, fabrics and textiles, furniture, multi-media work, artist books, as well as artist and gallery ephemera.