Museum Futures Symposium Online

Well its been a while (a month) since the semester’s end. After a much needed break we finally have the video of the symposium up on the Cooper-Hewitt’s YouTube Channel.  Enjoy!

0:00 – 3:52   Welcome & Acknowledgments

3:53 – 17:42 Introduction to Museum Futures by Tim Ventimiglia

17:43 – 27:10 Proposal for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum by Jenny Florence & Maria Antonia Villegas

27:15 -37:15 Proposal for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum by Clarisa Llaneza, Kate McAleer & Edith Whitsitt

37:22 – 47:37 Proposal for National Museum of the American Indian by Philip Kwok, Kendall Tynes & Jill Vance

47:42 – 56:10 Proposal for the New York Hall of Science by Stephen Kaye & Ryan Massey

56:30 – 1:03 Proposal for the American Museum of Natural History by Miranda Elston & Emily Kramer

1:04:06 – 1:16:40  Proposal for the Museum of Modern Art by Lara Huchteman, Kelly Lo & Eri Yamagata

1:16:44 – 1:52:31  Panelists and Students Discussion with Allegra Burnette, Eric Siegel, David Harvey, Tim Ventimiglia, Lindsay Stamm Shapiro and Sarah E. Lawrence

Photos from Dec 14th Museum Design Lab Symposium

Photos of the symposium by Philip Kwok.

Pop(up) Art Museum on the Mall

Hirshhorn Museum Transformation by Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects

This is a truly great project, a spectacular transformation of an already iconic museum building, bring it new life, it is conceptually clear, technically genius, brilliant that it can be performed annually like a circus coming to town. Washington D.C. needs more of this. Bring it on.

Ouroussoff’s review here.

Energizing Museums

Western Science Center, Michael Lehrer Architects

Two years ago the first museum to win a LEEDs platinum rating opened in the town of Hemet in a arid, rural basin just south of Los Angeles.  Owned and operated by the County, and designed by Michael Lehrer Architects, the Western Science Center interprets a trove of fossils that were found when the Diamond Lake Reservoir was created by the Metropolitan Water District. Its mission is to educate the public to appreciate the importance of finite natural resources and our relationship to the environment we live in.  The museum also generates its own power with a massive array of photovoltaic panels. Needless to say this museum fulfills its mission in in its architecture which is strongly influenced by massive public works infrastructure more so than it is by the  iconic museum architecture we have come to expect.

Thousands of new and existing museums across the country are faced with an energy conundrum. While most museums adhere to a basic commitment to principals of conservation in their mission statements, and science museums are even more committed to discussing principals of sustabability, finite resources and stewardship of our environment, museums are also some of the largest energy consumers among building types. The requirements to maintain constant environmental conditons for the preservation of sensitive artifacts and specimens, the dramatic fluctuations in HVAC loads caused by the heat and humidity of daily throngs visitors and intense theatrical exhibit lighting all put a high price tag on building systems and require high energy consumption. Actually a large percentage of any museum’s project budget goes into the museum building’s mechanical systems. Sometimes this represents a higher percentage of budget than is spent on the public experience of the collections through exhibits and programs. So why not make those systems an integral part of the experience? My guess is that that is what Lerher intended with the Western Science Center. But looking at the design I wonder, is it a ‘green’ museum that fulfills its conservation driven mission, or is it a power plant with a museum attached?

This month’s issue of AAM’s Museum News features a great article on museums and energy consumption.

Tim Ventimiglia

Museum Futures Symposium

This end of semester event will feature the research and speculative proposals of the students of the Fall 2009 Museum Design Lab at the Parsons School of Design’s School of the Constructed Environment.

The evening will begin with an overview of some key trends in museums and a series of short presentations by six student teams who will each talk about their work with a partner museum. The teams represent a mixture of students in programs of architecture, interior and lighting design and the history of decorative arts and design. Their work includes an analysis of their museum partner’s unique assets and speculative proposals for dealing with a range of challenges that the museum will likely face in the next 25 years. A panel discussion in response to the work and other questions will be moderated by Tim Ventimiglia.

Panelists representing the Museum Lab’s museum partners include:

Allegra Burnette, Creative Director, Digital Media, Museum of Modern Art
David Favaloro, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Lower East Side Tenement Museum
David Harvey, Senior Vice President for Exhibitions, American Museum of Natural History
Dr. Sarah E. Lawrence, Director MA Program in History of Decorative Arts & Design, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum
Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer, New York Hall of Science
Lindsay Stamm Shapiro, Exhibition Manager, Smithsonian Institution Museum of the American Indian

Seating is limited so RSVP to: christensen.heather@gmail.com
A confirmation of your reservation will be sent to you before the event.

Tim Ventimiglia

Cycles in Exhibition Design

Frederick Kiesler "Art of This Century" Exhibition 1942

In 1942 when Fredrick Kiesler designed Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery “Art of this Century” he incorporated armatures into his design that literally presented the artwork to the viewer by removing the art from the wall and placing it into free space. This ‘active’ exhibition design broke the inherent two-dimensionality aspect of the artwork and placed in within a three dimensional space. As a result, the audience and the art were comfortably within the same environment. As a result of this design, Kiesler’s exhibition was critically acclaimed and in the last few years there has been a Kiesler-revival. I am interested in the fact that today Kiesler’s work  not only remains provocative but is also increasingly relevant. Kiesler recognized not only the role of the surrealist art in his design but he recognized another important ingredient in his design – the viewer. His training as a set designer had prepared him for this role – he created sets but more importantly he created spaces for the actors within his sets. In our discussion in class we speak so often of the curatorial narrative, of the display of information, of the experience of the exhibition, of the expectations of the audience, but in reviewing Kiesler’s exhibition, it seems that we don’t actually think about the physicality of the exhibition and the viewer. We do indeed talk about how the viewer fits into the exhibition – culturally, academically, etc – but physically fits? Sometime the most important move is the simplest move – welcoming the viewer so they can exist in the same of the exhibition… the display, path, experience, etc then become relevant.

HC Smith

Museum of Chinese in America Photos

The following are the photos from Museum of Chinese in America currently in New York Chinatown.

click the links above for photos

The Museum of Chinese in America is open  to the public Monday, 11am – 5pm; Thursday, 11am – 9pm; Friday, 11am – 5pm; Saturday & Sunday, 10am – 5pm, closed Tuesday & Wednesday

215 Centre Street, near Grand Street, Chinatown; (212) 619-4785 or mocanyc.org.

Esquire’s Augmented Reality

This month was Esquire Magazine’s Augmented Reality Issue. On the cover and throughout the magazine, picture codes known as Augmented Reality software were placed next to the featured articles. For example, Robert Downey Jr. had a code on the cover that he was selling. A male supermodel had a code next to the clothes he was wearing. Readers simply download AR Software to their computers and hold up the AR code to their webcam. Once the webcam registers the code, a video of Robert Downey Jr. in his interview pops up. A video of the Model modeling clothes pops up. These are not short clips. They run for a good three – five minutes. High –tech animations and graphics are of course included and by rotating the magazine at different angles, i.e. facing north instead of south, a different video pops up to talk to, entertain, and educate the reader.

The ease at which Esquire introduced Augmented Reality to the public struck me as something that Museums; particularly Natural History Museums can use to make their visitors more engaged. If they were to place these codes next to their still objects suck as earthen vases, traditional wedding costumes, or even primeval weapons, visitors can beep the codes located next to the objects and immediately watch a video of how they were used. For example, the Natural History Museum in NYC has a traditional Chinese Wedding Costume for a bride along with the Sedan Chair that she sits in. As accurate as those two items are, if I weren’t from Chinese heritage, I wouldn’t know the tradition and importance of the logic behind how the bride gets brought into the carriage. If a video can pop up immediately after scanning the adjacent AR code, visitors can be brought back to ancient China and see that the veiled bride has to be piggy-backed over a brazier on to the carriage by an older woman known as the matron of honor, that the bride was always sheltered with a red parasol and kerchief, and that the door of the Sedan Chair was always kicked open to chase away bad spirits that may have latched on the to bride before.

As these Augmented Reality codes can be beeped on any digital device, the Museum won’t have to worry about introducing a vast amount of technology into their actual exhibits. People can simply view these on their phones. Augmented Reality Codes and software can enhance the experience of viewing still objects!

Kelly Lo

Data Graphics

Hans Rosling's Data Graphics at TED Conference

Edward Tufte is fantastic. If I had a log cabin I would go and read his books for days. After purchasing a film projector last week, I have immersed myself in watching TED talks projected large scale in my home. Also fantastic. Hans Rosling’s 20 minute lecture on being able to visualize statistics is simple phenomenal. Countries are represented in circles of different sizes relating to population and are placed on an X,Y axis of health and wealth and Rosling animates the graph moving the placement of those countries on the graph as time progresses. We see countries evolving or failing. Reassigning the X,Y values, we see life expectancy rise up in most countries but literally see sub Saharan countries fall back with HIV-related deaths. Who know that watching moving circles could be an emotional experience – but it is. The bottom line is that so many types organizations have access to this data, but Rosling makes the point that this data is sitting in databases not being comprehended.
While so many major global organizations can benefit from this instigating initiatives, museums can simply play the role of projecting this information for the public.
Thanks TED.

HC Smith

The Latest Word: Spaces of Experience

Charlotte Klonk's "Spaces of Experience"

The latest word in display theory was just released by Yale University Press. As in two weeks ago. Charlotte Klonk’s Spaces of Experience: Art Gallery Interiors from 1800 to 2000 locates the development of art gallery interiors in the broader history of experience and perception. It looks like an interesting read, and may be helpful in guessing what comes next!

Jenny F.