MoMA Takes Technology to the Next Level: But is it Too Far From Art?

Encompassing over 200 individual exhibits, in the late Summer early Fall of 2011, the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York put on a new, technology-charged exhibit called "Talk to Me: Design and the Communication Between People and Objects". From herding robots around the permanent collections to playing video games that are broadcast onto televisions in the main lobby of the museum, the creative team at MoMA is attempting to push the envelope of the relationship between art and technology.

Personally, I feel as if the museum is trying to hard and losing sight of the "art" within their exhibits. While yes, the museum's mission is to focus on the innovative, modern art of the new age, is chasing robots and playing video games really instilling this message into visitors? Or is it merely a time of the visitor being able to play throughout the galleries like a child in a toy store? To me, it seems to dumb down art to try and draw in the masses by flashing lights and electric-powered gizmos.

#TechnologyandArt #MoMA #SeniorCuratorPaolaAntonelli #GrownUpPlayground #TalkToMe

www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/arts/design/momas-talk-to-me-focuses-on-interface-review.html

Visitor Studies: The Three Fundamentals

Following in the well-trodded footsteps of Randi Korn, museums are now putting more emphasis and serious time into their value and research of visitors. In an article off of Randi Korn's website, Studying Your Visitors: Where to Begin, it is laid out in the most simplistic terms of the three basic types of visitor studies and the appropriate times to conduct them. As well, the article hammers home the importance of visitor studies and the valuable information that can be obtained by performing them.

Overall, the three most common and unattested evaluations are Front End, Formative and Summative. Now Front End, as the name would suggest, is taking a visitor evaluation during the early planning stages of an exhibit so that a museum can really get to know what it is that visitors desire from a new exhibition. This helps the museum to spend their limited funding more effectively in an attempt to draw in the maximum amount of visitors possible.

Secondly, Formative evaluations are taken during the design stage up through and into the actual framing and construction of the exhibit. Visitors, at times, are invited to come through exhibits during the construction phase and evaluate what they think of the preliminary design. This makes visitors feel as if they are more a part of the process of the new exhibit, as well as, it allows the museum to potential change or modify in the most cost efficient way possible. 

Lastly, there is the summative evaluation. Perhaps the most common already in the museum community, summative evaluations are used to examine a visitors' experience with individual components within the final, opened exhibit. This type of evaluation lets the museum know how well each step of the exhibit planning and creating process has culminated and resinated with visitors.

Personally, I think that utilizing more evaluations in a more diverse way will allow museums to better understand the enjoyment and experience visitors are achieving through their visits, while also "grading" a museum on their effectiveness of delivering their mission statement to serve and educate it's visitors without a large margin of error or flaws.

#MuseumGrades #VisitorInterpretation #VisitorEvaluations #FrontEndFormativeSummative #RandiKorn

http://randikorn.com/docs/studying_your_visitors_where_to_begin.pdf

Michigan Barn and Farmers Preservation

The preservation organization, meant to help restore and catalog Michigan's historical barns and farms is a great initiative. With the ever sprawling suburban neighborhoods, the countryside of Michigan and it's wealth of architectural treasures from another time are quickly being threatened. "Participating in the barn survey can help community members take the next steps toward preserving and using the barns in their area for continued agricultural use, educational activities, business and tourism opportunities, and other purposes," thus making these sights something that can be shared with future generations to actually physically see and experience, rather than just reading about the way things "were" from a textbook and having no physical or emotional connection with these masterpieces. I think that the old farm architecture that we have here in Michigan is incredibly unique. After living for the past eight months in El Paso, TX where everything was arid desert, I found myself craving the open spaces that fields and farms in the countryside provide. It is so singular to the midwest and cannot just be recreated. It is important that we understand the value of these spaces now before it is too late for us to do anything for the,. I find this organization to be fascinating and would love to learn more about them and keep my eyes on their progress.

www.michiganbarns.org
#MidWestistheBest #MidwesternGentleman #OldArchitecture #WideOpenSpaces #PreservingtheOldisBetterThanJustBuildingNew

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, with it's innovative and modern architecture, looks to spring Michigan State University into the future by putting them on the cutting edge of art. With a predominant focus on Modernism, particularly post 1945, the museum is a huge departure from the previous art museum, Kresge, on campus. Personally, well the building is itself an architectural masterpiece making it art itself, I find it to be a stark contrast to the principal architecture on campus in an almost deliberately confrontational way. Perhaps if the building hearkened somehow to the arts and crafts, traditional style on campus with a hint of modernism incorporated, it would seem less cold and overstated.

As well, with the focus of the museum's exhibitions and collections being towards post WWII, the fabulous ancient and pre-modern collections developed by the Kresge are now without a permanent home, but rather spend their time hollowed away into collections. I understand the want for a more modernist style, but perhaps take a similar approach to the Grand Rapids Art Museum, in that, you can incorporate traditional pieces with modern accents to give them a new context of interpretation alongside your singularly modern pieces.

I am interested to see how the Broad develops and incorporates itself with the community and if they will have similar issues to the MSU Museum in bringing in the college student population? Hopefully with their eyes so focused on the modernity of art, the Broad will incorporate such things as gala martini nights and the Spring Fashion show put on by the Apparel and Textile department into their festivities to keep their "fresh, young and modern" mission alive, similar to the actions of the Met Gala.

www.broadmuseum.msu.edu
#NewIsn'tAlwaysBetter #TheSpaceshiponCampus #EliandEdytheBroad #ModernandTraditional #NeighborhoodIncorporation

Nazi Era Materials in the Art World

World War II and the Nazi acquisition of art is a topic that I am, personally, fascinated by. I decided to read an article on the archives website pertaining to looted art as it is a cause dear to me. The fact that a staggering amount of artworks are now either lost, no longer in existence, or are in the hands of individuals who refuse to return them aggravates me. The repatriation of this art should be taken seriously, and sadly, most of the times families are unaware the art that they have is even stolen, thus making it hard for them to want to give it up to a museum or foundation. As well, the Nazi's hid much of the art they had stolen into bunkers or old train depots that are no longer mapped out, thus making the re-discovery of these pieces practically impossible. Personally, it has always been a dream of mine to work on finding some of the preservation and storage areas that paintings were taken to in hopes to find art and return it to the art world for everyone to enjoy and learn from. It is sad the amount of lives that are lost in any war, but the loss of culture and historical documents such as art pieces is just as detrimental.

http://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/articles-and-papers/symposium-papers/looted-art-sources-documentary-evidence.html
#WWIIArt #MonumentsMenofWWII #RepatriationofArt #LostandFound #LootedArt

Transforming Museums... Into What?

Museums, like any other company, have, for decades, been concerned with their bottom line. Of what the museum is outputting rather than impacting. With little results to show, perhaps museums need to take a new approach on how they base the quality of their institution. After all, the majority of museums are non-profit organizations, so besides the number of visitors per year and grant money allocated per year, what output is there really to report on? In recent years it has been noted that "new donors often choose results-orientated humanitarian causes" and museums are surely being left behind. This is not to say that people do not value the work that museums are doing, but rather that the output being published has little to show for many institutions. "People are drawn to the arts not for their instrumental effects, but because the arts can provide them with meaning and with a distinctive type of pleasure and emotional stimulation" meaning that the arts are meant to be enjoyed holistically in a spiritual, cognitive and emotional approach, something hard to document results of.

In my opinion museums need to be categorized and rated on their effectiveness of impact on their community through their exhibitions and programming, gauged on their overall emotional stimulation of visitors. Museums need to be held accountable for their presentation of collections and their overall demeanor towards their surrounding neighborhoods. Only then, in my opinion, can museums be accurately weighed and measured.

www.randikorn.com/resources/works.php
#accountabilityofmuseumstosociety #impactnotoutput #caringaboutthecommunity #numbersaren'teverything #transformingmuseumsforthebetter

The Changing Times and Evolving Museum

While reading through Susana Torruella Leval's article, there is this ominousness, of gloom and negativity. She begins her article relating museums to the ancient Greek temples and their relation to the muses, and then quickly delves into "what has caused museums to corrupt from a sacred, scholarly refuge into a party scene?"

While I understand her opinion, I think, in the modern century, it is necessary for museums to multi-market themselves to stay relevant. No longer are the majority of people seeking museums for their ostentatious collections and quiet retreat from the world, but rather, visitors are looking to be entertained and learn about the exhibits in a more interactive and engaging manner. Throwing dinner parties, introducing multimedia, and other innovations are becoming standard to attract new clientele and make them want to come back to spend an evening at the museum. To suggest that this move is bedded in ignorance is, itself, an ignorant and sedimentary assumption. Yes, there should be a hard line balance between higher education and a "party-like" atmosphere, but the two can coincide to create a memorable time for visitors that will make them want to return.

As the article continues Leval's point begins to get muddled and it comes across that her own professional issues while working at the El Museo del Barrio have marred her opinion of how museum's should function and operate within society.

http://www.warholfoundation.org/grant/paper5/paper.html
#ChangeisGood #AndyWarholFoundation #EvolutionoftheMuseum #LearningAndEntertainmentCanWorkTogether #OldHabitsDieHard

Indications of Museum and Exhibition Excellence

Created by the National Association for Museum Exhibition, "Standards for Museum Exhibitions and Indicators of Excellence" strives to lay out a set of guidelines that determine the best of the best in the museum world. While the standards for a museum exhibition seem rather basic, the indicators of excellence seems to be what really grabbed my attention. 

1. An aspect of the exhibition design is innovative.This means no more of the same diorama design, or mannequins dressed and stiffly posed, but rather new interactive components and the introduction of multimedia pieces to make the exhibit unique and attract and involve the audience in a way we haven't seen in the museum community before. 

2. The exhibition synthesizes and presents existing knowledge and/or collection materials in a 
surprising or provocative way.
Audiences want to be challenged and entertained. They don't want to just walk into a gallery space and see the same old recreation. They want that "shock and awe" value that encourages repeat clients. Why not juxtapose a weapons collection with flowers? Play rock music in a modern art gallery? Be creative and expose the art rather than treating it like a scientific specimen to merely be studied and seen from afar. 

3. The exhibition evokes responses from viewers that are evidence of a transforming experience
We want our visitors to have a personal and strong reaction. No more of the "it was alright" or "not bad" but a strong evocation of feeling. "My breath was taken away" or "I was shocked to see an exhibition designed like that," something that shows that we have engaged our visitor, invited them into the exhibition and allowed them to create an unforgettable experience.

These are just a few of the numerous points that NAME describes and I think it is incredibly crucial that we as museum professionals continue to strive for evolution in our design and execution of exhibits to gain a larger audience and create a truly memorable experience. By incorporating new media, music, and other aspects into the exhibition we are pulling the presumed "archaic" world of museums into the 21st Century and pushing them to the forefront of entertainment. And hey, you might just learn something while you're there. 

http://name-aam.org/about/who-we-are/standards
#MuseumExhibitInnovations #NAMEStandards #MuseumsAsEventHotSpots #ExhibitsAndMediaUnite #DareToChallenge

The DIA to the Rescue...

Unlike most modern day museums which stand on their own as a non-profit entity, the Detroit Institute of Art has been a city run and endorsed institution. Following the ups and downs of the city, the DIA has constantly faced challenge after challenge head on in the pursuit to stand as a landmark not only for the city and state, but as an international epicenter of culture and preservation. With Detroit now facing a bankruptcy in the tens of millions of dollars, the emergency manager is looking to the DIA as a potential source of revenue. By selling of a plethora of the museum's collections, the EM hopes to come closer to balancing the cities budget and put Detroit back on track. But could saving the city be killing one of it's most valuable entities?

The DIA has always bridged the gap of technology and "higher" education with the rough, urban culture of Detroit. Working hard with the numerous neighborhoods that make-up Detroit, the DIA has become a center of gathering. Not only do people come to see the museum and it's esteemed collections, but people come as a refuge. Kids who after school have no place to go can find a safe, comfortable environment within the museum walls and participate in numerous activities and events the museum is consistently sponsoring. Music fills the halls of masterpieces during the evenings making the museum almost the "hip" place to be.

By selling of the collections and treating them as just anonymous collateral, the city of Detroit is demeaning the reputation and purpose of the museum, as museums are established as a cultural preservation and learning tool, but only truly survive and grow through the partnership of their communities. "Sold" could be the new label under the 18th century China pieces as if nothing more than a piece of salvage metal. "For Sale" Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Wedding Dance" waiting to be moved to an anonymous home and lost in records. It is crucial that these culture pieces be preserved, not only for research and curatorial purposes, but for the pure enjoyment of the public masses. To privatize a collection through it's dismantling among elite buyers would be archaic and petty.

Why not have a night of profit from a Detroit Tigers game be donated to the city to improve the budget? Or perhaps fundraiser evenings at the DIA or the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with proceeds going to balancing the budget and preserving the great culture of Detroit? Have the Motown Museum host such Michigan natives as Jack White, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Tim Allen, Eminem and/or Diana Ross (to name a few) to help save the city from a corporate, totalitarian demise?

Much can be done to save Detroit, but parting out culture institutions like a gutted animal is the most barbaric means possible.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130908/ENT05/130905007/DIA-in-peril-museum-s-relationship-Detroit-politics-finances
#DIACollections #SavetheCity #ArtisCulture #DetroitHistory #SavetheMuseum #PureMichigan