Posts tagged art

Brooklyn Museum's Latest Crowd-Curated Show Tells Visitors to Move Beyond the "Like" Button

“For its upcoming exhibition “GO: a community-curated open studio project,” the Brooklyn Museum is asking the public to play curator. On the weekend of September 8-9, over 1,860 registered studios across Brooklyn will open their doors to scores of intrepid amateur critics. Those who visit at least five studios can vote for their favorites online; Brooklyn Museum curators will select the final works from the 10 most popular artists’ studios.”

The project is designed in such a way that people have to actively engage in order to vote in order to weed out “passive observers and careless voters”, their reaction cannot be an instant one as they must first consider several examples. The project is based on a previous exhibition which asked people to rate photographs online. Statistics showed that participation by some people went beyond a passing engagement of a few minutes. Some people were spending up to three hours rating photographs and investing their time. 

Amit Sood - Google’s Group Marketing Manager - is the brain behind the Google Art Project. In this Ted Talk he presents the project, talks about how it came about and why access is important to him. 

Chances are that you are already familiar with the project, even so it’s still worth a listen (hey, it’s less than six minutes of your life!) to hear him talk about how the project is not designed to replicate the museum-going experience, but to supplement it. 

There is an education section, that includes a “Look like an expert” section, which asks questions of the ‘visitor’, leading them to look more closely at the artwork and consider it within the larger context of art history, genre etc. Essentially, it offers guided learning in much the same way museums do (or could/should). The possibilities seem endlessly exciting; the integration of other open source content from around the web (youtube, iTunesU, podcasts, google books, etc.), as well as the links to relevant online resources and collections that already exists. 

Does anyone know of any examples of schools/museums/universities etc using the collections function as a teaching tool or assessment tool?E.g.:

  • Asking students to put together an annotated collection as a virtual exhibition?
  • Putting together a collection as a ‘reader’ for a course os that students can get up close and personal?
  • Seen examples of innovative collections or uses of the Google Art Project?

"Your Labels Make Me Feel Stupid"

Moving away from the “priestly voice of absolute authority” in art museums to providing more context and and information that encourages people to respond in their own way. 

Interesting article via artnews.com. 

sarzb

Anatomical cross-sections made from paper Lisa Nilsson makes these incredibly intricate illustrations of cross-sections of the human body from paper filigree. She discussed the process of making her work in a recent interview with All Things Paper:

Anatomical cross-sections made from paper

Lisa Nilsson makes these incredibly intricate illustrations of cross-sections of the human body from paper filigree. She discussed the process of making her work in a recent interview with All Things Paper:

blog.craftzine.com

magnolius:

Portraits made by chiseling the wall (in Moscow & London) - part of the “Scratching the Surface” series by Street artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. VHILS just recently released a new book highlighting some of his work  - Check it out HERE

svdp

Imagined Lives at the National Portrait Gallery

From the Telegraph:

Julian Fellowes, Alexander McCall Smith, Tracy Chevalier, Joanna Trollope and Terry Pratchett are among the authors who have created imaginary biographies to accompany the works.

The gallery has a number of paintings which were purchased in the 19th and 20th centuries in the belief that they represented famous people, only for the identities of the sitters to be disproved or disputed.

A painting known as False Mary, painted in 1570 and once thought to be a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, captured the imagination of McCall Smith. He has written a story identifying her as a body double for the Queen.

For further information from the National Portrait Gallery itself, click here. 

[The majority of arts funding supports large organizations with budgets greater than $5 million. Such organizations, which comprise less than 2 percent of the universe of arts and cultural nonprofits, receive more than half of the sector’s total revenue. These institutions focus primarily on Western European art forms, and their programs serve audiences that are predominantly white and upper income. Only 10 percent of grant dollars made with a primary or secondary purpose of supporting the arts explicitly benefit underserved communities, including lower-income populations, communities of color and other disadvantaged groups. And less than 4 percent focus on advancing social justice goals. These facts suggest that most arts philanthropy is not engaged in addressing inequities that trouble our communities, and is not meeting the needs of our most marginalized populations.
Troubling findings in the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy’s new report, “Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy”, which was released Monday. (via iteeth)

iteeth

Connections at the Met

museumuse: “Really interesting site, profiling curators from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

thisbelongsinamuseum: The Homeless Museum of Art is not about the homeless problem in America, it’s basically a museum without a home. Since 2002, New York-based artist Filip Noterdaeme has been acting like the pretentious douchebag that I have grown to love. His homeless museum has been located in various places - his rental apartment in Brooklyn, an activist’s initiative, a vacant artist’s studio, part of a collection of original artworks and a mock museum booth in a commercial art fair. The mission statement of HoMu (which even has a board of trustees by the way) is “to subvert the increasingly impersonal, market-driven art world and expose the sellout of cultural institutions to commerce, cronyism, real estate, and star architects”. Believe it or not, the museum actually has a collection, a homeless one, but a collection nonetheless. Even though the museum’s been pretty quiet since 2007, it appears that the museum reveals its location from time to time. Hopefully it won’t turn up outside your home. (Image Source)

thisbelongsinamuseum:

The Homeless Museum of Art is not about the homeless problem in America, it’s basically a museum without a home. Since 2002, New York-based artist Filip Noterdaeme has been acting like the pretentious douchebag that I have grown to love. His homeless museum has been located in various places - his rental apartment in Brooklyn, an activist’s initiative, a vacant artist’s studio, part of a collection of original artworks and a mock museum booth in a commercial art fair. The mission statement of HoMu (which even has a board of trustees by the way) is “to subvert the increasingly impersonal, market-driven art world and expose the sellout of cultural institutions to commerce, cronyism, real estate, and star architects”. Believe it or not, the museum actually has a collection, a homeless one, but a collection nonetheless. Even though the museum’s been pretty quiet since 2007, it appears that the museum reveals its location from time to time. Hopefully it won’t turn up outside your home.

(Image Source)

newcurator: The codes take viewers to Democracy Now! videos that span nine years – an impressive collection of art in its own right. The portrait portrays not only the likeness of the person featured, but her life’s work as well. (via Hidden Creativity: QR Code Portrait Hides Double Meaning | WebUrbanist)

newcurator:

The codes take viewers to Democracy Now! videos that span nine years – an impressive collection of art in its own right. The portrait portrays not only the likeness of the person featured, but her life’s work as well. (via Hidden Creativity: QR Code Portrait Hides Double Meaning | WebUrbanist)

mattermedia: Suh Do-ho “Uniform/s:Self Portrait/s: My 39 Years,” 2006. 169 x 56 x 254 ㎝, fabric, fiberglass resin, stainless steel, casters.  Leeum Samsung Museum of Art

mattermedia:

Suh Do-ho “Uniform/s:Self Portrait/s: My 39 Years,” 2006. 169 x 56 x 254 ㎝, fabric, fiberglass resin, stainless steel, casters. 

Leeum Samsung Museum of Art

mattermedia: 3D Virtual Art Gallery (iTunes) is a web application and iOS app for iPad and iPhone, which demonstrates the possibilities for artists and gallerists to create their own 3D virtual galleries, featuring their own artworks, using the iPad and iPhone as networked ‘platforms.’ With more than 150 million iOS devices in circulation, exhibitions in the form of ‘apps’ or applications for handheld computing devices may quite easily rival the traditional gallery in introducing artworks to new audiences.  NOTE: The app is only a demo, and does not actually enable users to create personalized 3D galleries. Those wishing to do so must contact the company esimplestudios.

mattermedia:

3D Virtual Art Gallery (iTunes) is a web application and iOS app for iPad and iPhone, which demonstrates the possibilities for artists and gallerists to create their own 3D virtual galleries, featuring their own artworks, using the iPad and iPhone as networked ‘platforms.’ With more than 150 million iOS devices in circulation, exhibitions in the form of ‘apps’ or applications for handheld computing devices may quite easily rival the traditional gallery in introducing artworks to new audiences. 

NOTE: The app is only a demo, and does not actually enable users to create personalized 3D galleries. Those wishing to do so must contact the company esimplestudios.

Teens Ponder Meaning of Contemporary Art

In 2009, Tate Liverpool displayed four works of contemporary art in different locations around the city. Acclaimed film director Mike Figgis was asked to turn the reactions of Liverpoodlians to these sculptures into short films. The video above shows teenagers discussing Jeff Koons’s “Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank.” Another short film captures the views of students when one of Dan Flavin’s installations called “Untitled” was displayed at their school for one day.

openculture.com

themuseologist: obronca: This is how I feel at MOMA.  Does anyone agree? How do you feel about Modern Art? How do you feel when you walk into a Modern Art Exhibit? I had the unfortunate experience of moving from what felt like quiet (but enjoyable) enjoyment of more “old” pieces (12th century to early 20th century or so), things that were not too Modern and then towards a Modern gallery that was all white, and very quiet. People seemed afraid to whisper or talk. I had stopped by the children’s section before moving to the Modern Art section, and suddenly, no one talked, or smiled! But some of the art was funny, and absurd - I wished other people had reacted. I must say: it’s much harder for me to look at something painted by Van Gogh, or El Greco and assume I could replicate it than some Modern Artworks I’ve seen. But does that make it any less artistic to you?

themuseologist: obronca:

This is how I feel at MOMA.

 Does anyone agree? How do you feel about Modern Art?

How do you feel when you walk into a Modern Art Exhibit?

I had the unfortunate experience of moving from what felt like quiet (but enjoyable) enjoyment of more “old” pieces (12th century to early 20th century or so), things that were not too Modern and then towards a Modern gallery that was all white, and very quiet. People seemed afraid to whisper or talk. I had stopped by the children’s section before moving to the Modern Art section, and suddenly, no one talked, or smiled! But some of the art was funny, and absurd - I wished other people had reacted.

I must say: it’s much harder for me to look at something painted by Van Gogh, or El Greco and assume I could replicate it than some Modern Artworks I’ve seen. But does that make it any less artistic to you?

cheshiresparadox