The Future Museum of Public Art – Final Files

Here’s a link to the idea that we presented to our classmates in EMA 6361.
Full Presentation:The Future Museum of Public Art

And here’s a web-based prototype that gives a small window in to what we have envisioned.
Web-based prototype: Public Art Prototype

Filed under: Abimbola O. Ijagbemi, Ben Smithson, Catherine Rodriguez, Chelsea Conway, Nico Smith, Sydnie Montgomery

Google to Buy Plink

Article on Google’s purchase of Plink. Plink uses visual search to recognize well-known pieces of art. Makes you think.

Filed under: Ben Smithson

Nice niche

Hey guys, I just had to tell someone about this museum’s webpage. The Museum is physical but from what I read on the website, they have their whole collection online as well. It makes me want to take a road trip.

The DigiBarn Computer Museum

niche

Filed under: Sydnie Montgomery , miscellaneous, museum

Visit the Sistine Chapel Without Leaving Home

KERA’s Art & Seek blog has been killin’ lately. Perfect timing for our upcoming presentation. This post promotes an interactive guide to the Sistine Chapel.

Filed under: Ben Smithson , art

DMA Survey: In Search of Learning Styles

The Dallas Museum of Art has announced (sort of) results of a 7-year study of visitors. They learned that visitors fell in to different groups of learners. I think we should think about this more.

Filed under: Ben Smithson , artmuseum, DMA

Readings!

Hi guys, please check the shared google doc (only our group has access right now) some time before the end of the weekend so we can get the reading list assigned.  There is a section near the top of the document that has the top reading list contenders filtered out. Please review the readings and voice your opinion.

In other news: here’s a good article about mobile use at museums.

Filed under: Ben Smithson , mobile

Share Your Research Yet?

Hey guys, just a quick reminder to post up links to your research. It’s time for us to vote/decide on the list of assigned reading materials. Please contact me if you don’t understand or if you cannot access the shared google document.

Filed under: Ben Smithson , readings, research

CHNM: Barnum

Part of Dr. Parry’s advice last night was to check out the Center for History and New Media. I’m lurking the site now looking for some ideas to share.

Also, I’m heading to the Modern in Fort Worth on Saturday. I’ll bring my camera and thinking cap… see if I can get in to some trouble.

Filed under: Ben Smithson

Attendence Up, Revenue Down

NY Times quotes research released by the American Association of Museums (AAM) that states that attendance is on the rise. However some museums are struggling financially.

Things to think about:

1. Do you think that people are attending museums because it’s cheaper than some other activity?
2. Does an economic recession cause a shift in culture / consumerism?
3. Is there something irreplaceable about the physicality (having a semi-permanent or permanent location) of a museum?
4. If we propose some virtual museum, what sets it apart from other non-spaces?

Filed under: Ben Smithson

Rip, a Remix Manifesto!

The Manifesto:

1. Culture always builds on the past

2. The past always tries to control the future

3. Our future is becoming less free

4. To build free societies you must limit the control of the past

I think it’s fair to say that the tensions between the past and present/future has always been in controversy. And things like copyright get developed over time to combat these issues. One point the film “Rip” makes about the intent of copyright is to ensure some compensation for an idea. I think the film touched on this, but could have delved a little further in it. One of the issues with that it where do you draw the line between an idea being one person’s versus another’s. For instance Girl Talk seems to think that the next breakthrough in curing Cancer could be locked away behind a patent that someone holds but is doing nothing about it. So much about being successful with an idea is doing something about it. How many times do you see a product or hear an idea and think, “oh I thought of that!” or hear a song and think “I could write that!” but the point is that you didn’t. They did, so quit your whining, and think up the next thing.

I think the way that this ties in with the Museum is on the basis of property ownership, physical, or intellectual. There was the example in the film where some big company bought a patent on a plant that an entire civilization had been using medicinally and spiritually for centuries. Well, so how did the company have the ability to purchase that patent? Power. In the modern world economy, that power is monetary.

So how do the Museums in North America and Europe own all the exhibits from ancient civilizations? They took them, and eventually put them in a building for the world “to see and to learn from.” So now what? That stuff is there, in museums, and in warehouses, and we can pay a fee to go see it. Where does that money go? Does the money you pay to see the mummy exhibit go back to Egypt where the mummy came from? It goes into preserving the building that encases all those exhibits, among other things. I question the ownership of the museums and what that means for the public who visit them. I understand that the building needs funds to pay for electricity and everything else, but it seems kind of backwards that we pay to see history, to see the paintings, that now with the internet we can probably do a Google search for and view for free. Granted it’s not the same to see a picture of a a T-Rex instead of view the model of his skeleton, but the picture is free.

So how do we ensure the museum makes money in this digital age? That’s the question I raise after viewing “Rip.”

Filed under: Chelsea Conway , a remix manifesto, rip