Saturday 27 May 2017

Reading list, 27 May 2017

It's been a while since I focused on museums & digital, so here's a gathering of links:

ACMI's Lucie Paterson writes up the recent US Museums and the Web conference, and also her visit to trial all the flash things at SFMOMA.

Lucie's post introduced me to an aspect of the new SFMOMA that I hadn't heard of, the interactive gallery exploring the photography collection, poised next to a cafe. Check out the video here.

The Knight Foundation announces $1.87 *million* in funding for digital projects at 12 US museums.

This whole thing squiks me out but it's probably the (near) future: Giving art a voice with Watson: Art comes to life with AI for Brazilian museum goers.

Saturday 20 May 2017

Reading list, 20 May 2017

I've held off posting a reading list for a few weeks because my reading - or at least, the bits that have stuck - seems to have been so dominated by the New York Times. But maybe it's better just to clear that all out and start again.

One of the contrasts I regularly draw between New Zealand and American art museums is that ours lean very heavily towards the contemporary (bar touring blockbustery shows). Robin Pobegrin looks at how the balance between the now and the thousands of years of culture collected in American museums plays out in ‘Encyclopedic’ Brooklyn Museum Vies for Contemporary Attention.

Seeing the Habitat complex at twilight on a freezing Montreal day, as thin ice plates nudged up against the walls of the harbour, remains one of my most special visual memories. Blake Gopnik reminiscences about Growing Up in a Concrete Masterpiece.

I'm thinking a lot about the Pictures generation right now. Roberta Smith profiles Louise Lawler and her new survey at MOMA in Louise Lawler’s Stealth Aesthetic (and Muted Aura).

Louise Movius's Fake Rain Room gets permanent home in Shanghai looks at unauthorised versions  of the Rain Room design experience being produced in China.

The World Cities Culture finance report (link to a PDF) is way more interesting than it sounds, assessing how major 'world cities' support and fund culture.

In The Art of Complaint, Peter Ireland looks at Grahame Sydney's latest interview crying neglect upon his work by the art establishment.

Adrian Luis on Dismantling Diversity in Museums - for another take, Paula Morris's Making noise for more Māori writers, in which she quotes Marlon James's complaint that diversity is ‘an outcome treated as a goal’.

Sitting in the Fashion section for some reason, but Jennifer Miller's Suffering for Your Art? Maybe You Need a Patron gives a good overview of new models of artist & writer patronage.

Keir Winesmith assembles a list of links to Recent readings on diversity, equity and inclusion in museums

Not art or art world, but terrific writing and/or interesting reporting:

Willa Paskin's The Other Side of Anne of Green Gables, on the new tv adaptation of the classic book series.

Susan Dominus's moving, thoughtful and clear-eyed Is an Open Marriage a Happier Marriage? (Also - check out those uncanny-valley portraits)

Lucia Moses on How Jessica Lessin used her reporting chops to build The Information (aka to build a subscription-based news site that's financially successful).

A fascinating long read on fast fashion and why Britain dominates here by Chavie Lieber for Racked.


Monday 8 May 2017

Co-option

Last year I wrote a column for Art News New Zealand about the co-option (possibly flattering, possibly not) of the concepts of 'museum' and 'archive' to brand experiences (such as Glade's 'Museum of Emotions', part of their campaign to promote new room sprays).

Recently two examples of this floated across my feeds. On the one hand, the Museum of Icecream (lying at "the sensory intersection of sweet tooth and Instagram") has migrated from New York to LA, and now includes exhibits tailored to sponsors, including Soylent.

On the other hand, the Adirondack Museum has rebranded as 'The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Lake Mountain' in a move "designed to lure more visitors to its sprawling 121-acre indoor-outdoor campus". Locally, the Wellington Museums Trust has rebranded as Experience Wellington.

Now I'm just waiting for the Museum of Experiences.