In the summer of 1997 Ashford taught an undergraduate seminar on rethinking the museum at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Over a four-week period, the students Jesse Dew, Jonathan Dudley, Diana Heimbigner, Ben Leon, Jyl Sutherland, Clare Wildhack-Nolan, and Ethan Swan researched the effect of collecting and the archive and produced a series of installations. The first mimicked the natural history museum but reassigned specimens found in nature to absurd and fictional renditions of classification. After a field trip to the local mall they researched the difference between collecting and accumulation as driving forces in the formation of national fantasy. They then toured Antiochiana, the college’s remarkable historical archive, as an example of how institutions represent specific constituencies through multiple lenses. From these and other experiences and exhibition was designed and produced: a collective representation of Yellow Springs and its inhabitants. For a complete description, syllabus and documentation see Ashford’s essay The Exhibition as Artistic Medium, downloadable here: _ (link)