Somewhere on this blog, I put out the idea of “venture capitalist” projects in museums. I said something like gathering together a whole bunch of museum collections that are just gathering dust and putting them on medium-term loans to a bunch of “start-up” groups. The thinking being that these small groups of up-and-coming museum workers [...]
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Apr 27
Niche: Donora Smog Museum
The Museums of Niche series on this blog looks at the trend of museums dedicated to highly individualised topics.
This time, the Donora Smog Museum. A museum in Pennsylvania dedicated to the smog in 1948 that killed 20 people and initiated clean-air movements that lead to the Clean Air Act.
Here’s Dr. Devra Davis of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer [...]
Apr 27
Creative Commons Licenced Idea: Museum Bailout
Last week, I made a call out for a web app coder/programmer. I know I was vague on details at the time because I hadn’t fully formed the idea.
I spoke to 8 people about it. 8 people have all rejected/pulled out for a variety of reasons.
So now, I’m going to describe the idea as best [...]
Apr 23
CultureGrrl’s Politics
From April 21, 2009: Deaccession Legislation: Iowa Museum Director and Nonprofits Attorney Say It’s Time
Near the end of my talk last Wednesday at the University of Iowa (where the art museum, best known for its monumental 1943 Pollock, has been permanently closed by flooding), I advocated that the Brodsky bill, designed to regulate deaccessioning in New York State, become a national model.
The Brodsky [...]
Apr 21
NEWCURATOR T-Shirts
Click For Larger Images.
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/newcurator
T-Shirts cost £15.50 / $20.99
Apr 21
Museum Hotel
I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of these for a while now. Part of the Museum Expansionism categories is the trend of museum’s moving into non-places as opposed to being in a place (museum buildings) or in space (Public art?).
A non-place is summed up as a place with the transient nature of space. [...]
Apr 21
Maserati Museum
Designed by architect Jan Kaplický (Future Systems) in 2004 and construction about to be started, this museum will house a collection of Maserati next to Enzo Ferrari house in Modena, Italy.
It’s also the shape of a Maserati radiator grill.
Apr 21
Make Museums Like…
I’ve been pouring over all the stuff that came out of the MW2009 conference. There’s far too much for me to talk about individually, yet I don’t really want to just post a load of links. So I’m going to talk about the one that caught my attention the most.
It is pure chance it came from Nina Simon’s [...]
Apr 20
I Need A Webapp Coder
This is a call out to anyone who reads this site who’s a dab hand at creating a little webapp.
Basically, I’ve had an idea but lack any coding ability to pull it off. I could try to use some of the tools out there already, but it would look messy. Would prefer someone to do [...]
Apr 19
Maxwell L. Anderson’s Plenary Address at MW2009
IMA Director Maxwell L. Anderson’s address at the Museums and the Web 2009 conference, Moving from Virtual to Visceral. The video is a little over an hour long and well worth watching just because of the mass of inspirational ideas one can take from it.
Mr. Anderson also quotes newcurator.com around minute 41 and shows the [...]
Apr 18
No Sleep Till Brooklyn Museum
Seems like it’s been an up-and-down weekend for Brooklyn Museum.
Three awards at the Museums and the Web 2009 conference: Best Online Community, Best Exhibition and Best Overall.
And then an announcement of cutbacks to avoid layoffs. Read the letter from Director Arnold Lehman for more detail.
The Brooklyn Plan:
A weeks unpaid furlough
Some reductions in pay
Voluntary buyout packages
A hiring freeze
A [...]
Apr 17
Museums of Niche
The topic of individualism in museums can cover a lot of areas: The use of individual fame to sell exhibitions, the (lack of?) autonomy museums have or, the museum visitors themselves.
One other area that I hope to turn into a semi0regular feature is the trend of new museums entirely dedicated to one individualised area. If [...]
Apr 17
Brooklyn Museum’s iPhone App.
Back in early March, I linked to Brooklyn Museum’s announcement about their collection API.
Now, I link to the announcement that developer Adam Shackelford is creating an iPhone App using that very API. It’s early days yet in development.
They also have an interview up with Adam. Worth reading.
In the future, every museum will have an API… [...]
Apr 17
Swedish Science Museum Displays thepiratebay.org Server
The National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm has the thepiratebay.org original server on display after paying 2,000 kronar for it.
“This is an object of contemporary society and a museum collects such items,” curator Nils Olander told AFP.
“And it is a part of our mission as a museum not to avoid complicated questions,” he said.
Nil [...]
Apr 16
The Death of the Curator
The Guardian and the Saatchi Gallery (who else?) are putting on Your Gallery @ The Guardian exhibition. In short, a panel of judges have shortlisted 30 artists (from the 10,000 who submitted on saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/) and now the general public will reduce that 30 to 10 who will be put on display (by voting at arts.guardian.co.uk/yourgallery/ or texting it in).
Crowdsourcing [...]
Apr 14
iTate
The Tate galleries have put over 400 video files on iTunes U for free.
The files are divided up into ’Talk & Discussions’, ’Courses. Workshops & Study Days’ and ’Tate Symposia’, so interviews, education and research.
I like this quote from techradar:
“In the world of new media nothing can be achieved alone; by working with exceptional companies such as Apple [...]
Apr 13
MovableScreen Augmented Reality
You turn the screen, the image moves, all kinds of information overlays come up.
It’s the future people. This is probably a “simple” version.
(via engadget)
Apr 13
Shipping Container Museums
WebEcoist.com has some interesting pictures about other uses for shipping containers. Clearly the ones that attract me are the shipping containers-as-museums.
The first one is the Shigeru Ban’s Nomadic Museum (good pictures here), which is made out of shipping containers and cardboard and is… shipped all over the world to host an exhibition.
The other one is [...]
Apr 13
Saddam Hussein Museum
Saddam Hussein by xrrr. Used under Creative Commons.
Saddam. Hussein. Museum.
Yeah, I don’t see that causing a problem at all.
The plan is to hand all of the items of Saddam’s back and then turn one of the presidential palaces into a museum.
Before jumping to conclusion, this could be a good thing. What would you do with [...]
Apr 13
The Inevitable Clash of Management and Unions
What’s the best way to diffuse a situation between the management of a museum and a union representing your disgruntled workers?
Hint: Don’t go saying they give “the public sector a bad name”.
To summarise, union rules say workers don’t have to work Sunday but must get paid overtime if they do but worker now expecting to [...]
