Nina Simon - Over the past year, I've noticed a strange trend in the calls I receive about upcoming participatory museum projects: the majority of them are being planned for teen audiences. A large number of the collaborative projects of which I'm aware (in which staff partner with community members to co-develop exhibits or programs) are initiated with teens. Even the most traditional museums often manage educational programs in which teens develop their own exhibits, produce youth-focused museum events, or provide educational experiences for younger visitors. And while I enjoy working with youth and consuming their creations as a museum visitor, I'd like to call into question the idea that they are or should be the primary audience for participatory experiences.
From Fresh + New(er)
What Marcus has done in the DIY Museums episode is look at how ‘memory institutions’ are dealing with the reality that they are no longer the sole arbiters of collective memory; nor are they necessarily well placed to collect the burgeoning diversity of contemporary culture and cultural expression. As one interviewee says “everything now is a niche, just the size of the niche differs” – and this poses enormous problems for those who job it is to collect. Fortunately, the same digital tools of production that are, in part driving this diversity, are also providing the means for others to collect and present – again, another challenge for established institutions.
A "drive-through" car museum with gravity-defying exhibition spaces inspired by origami is being constructed in China.Visitors to the new Automobile Museum in Nanjing will drive their cars to the top of the building around external ramps, before walking back down through the floors to see the other displays.
The Italian architect behind the pioneering design, which was chosen after an international competition, said that he wanted to replicate the experience of a safari in an urban environment.
Food, wine, museum, book-loving Arts Administration graduate student currently residing in the Pacific NW. MJ Writes covers museum studies, practices, exhibits, young professionals, museum and arts management resources, etc. etc.
A Generation Y museum lover, nonprofit program producer, graduate student, advocate of lifelong learning, root beer float enthusiast, and total nerd for creative engagement in cultural centers.
This won’t need much introduction for me, but needless to say someone has compiled a list of the 100 Best Curator and Museum Blogs...happy reading.
Jim also writes about a 'crowd sourced exhibition / competition' he is working on, while other contributors reference the work of Nina Simon on 'participatory design'...just reading of this ground breaking approach to exhibition design and conception is inspiring, wonder if that will be in my reading kit for uni? Somehow me thinks not.
Another great take away this week was the question we dare not ask..'Are museums and galleries intimidating?'
Didn't someone tell this man we never talk about the elephant in the corner...bravo Jim, keep it up!
More at http://www.museumnext.org/blog/
'In a world-first conference, the Wikimedia Australia community will this week sit down with more than 170 senior executives from the nation’s largest cultural institutions – from the National Gallery to the Parliamentary Library – to devise strategies to better share Australia's cultural heritage.
Called ‘GLAM-WIKI: Finding Common Ground,’ the event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on August 6-7 brings together Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) with Wikimedia Australia, the all-volunteer force that brings Australian content to the Wikipedia site.
GLAM-WIKI convener and Wikimedia Australia vice-president Liam Wyatt says the conference aims to increase the availability of Australian and New Zealand cultural content through Wikipedia in a sustainable way through collaboration and the open source treatment of cultural items.'
To visit the official wiki of GLAM-Wiki see here
