Exhibitions

MONKEY TOWN

Gallery 1010 (UTK) / 100 S. Gay St., Suite 114 May 8 - 10th (Reception: May 8 5:00pm - 7:00pm)

Viktoriia Berger
Lilliana Bond
Shannon Ferguson
Eliza Frensley
Greta Grier
Malachi Jackson
Grace Kendrick
Jade Lundy
Lou Nguyen
Hannah Jane Oliver
Alimohammad Parvaresh

Monkey Town is an open-call group exhibition for undergraduate and graduate students in conjunction with the Scopes Trial Centennial Event. In 1925, high school teacher John Thomas Scopes was placed on trial for violating the state’s Butler Act, which prohibited teaching human evolution in any public school or university in Tennessee. The trial became a public spectacle that engendered a carnival-like atmosphere, complete with monkeys, surrounding the courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee. In describing these theatrics, journalist H. L. Mencken dubbed Dayton Monkey Town. While the Butler Act was rescinded by the legislature in 1967, the Scopes Trial has been celebrated with an annual festival in Dayton, TN since the 1980s. Monkey Town will be a collection of works relating to evolution, religion, and the Scopes Trial celebrating the centennial anniversary of the trial in collaboration with the UT College of Arts and Sciences. Possible subjects include but are not limited to visual representations of evolution, mythic creatures from the Bible, animals in human situations, visual representations of Darwin and key figures in the trial, or courtroom representations. Monkey Town aims to exhibit all perspectives of the Scopes Trial while commemorating the circus-like experience that encapsulated the town of Dayton in July 1925. A visual expression of our shared culture and history, the exhibition is open to all audiences seeking to learn more about this episode of Tennessee history. The exhibition's opening reception will take place Thursday, May 8th, from 5-7PM; and the exhibition will be open Saturday, May 10th, from 10AM to 1PM.