Archive for December, 2010

Enchanted Palace

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Receiving lots of end of the year love from Nina Simon and Peter Linett.  Nina was kind enough to list Poesy & Praxis on her list of new blog discoveries, (thanks Nina!).  For newcomers, Poesy & Praxis is a studio that does freelance curatorial work and ideation around participatory/engaging cultural experiences.  If you have questions or thoughts, please email!

Also, Peter Linett invited me to post about the Enchanted Palace exhibition, currently on show at Kensington Palace.  You can read the full review here.  Out of a full year of visiting museums and shows in London this was one of the highlights.

For more museum related links you can also follow me on Twitter (@designklub).  I also do freelance writing about modern design so Tweets are usually mixed topics.

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Collectish

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Collectish is a website developed by Museum Victoria that allows people to share their collections.  The site is simple, clean and has user friendly options like rating, commenting and organizing.  While Collectish still seems to be in its infancy, it looks like it could be a great resource for both collectors and the curious visitor.  The website Micurio is similar in spirit; a place to catalogue all your collections in one spot.  These websites could be a dream for people like my father who have so many collections they can’t even keep track (we’re talking everything from decoys to glass canes), and who want to connect with other collectors.  Could also be an interesting resource for museums looking to create exhibits or expand their own collections.

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Golden Hook

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

It seems like more and more people want to know the story behind the products they buy, not only for environmental concerns but also to feel personally connected in a sometimes anonymous virtual world.   After reading books like The Mesh and Collaborative Consumption, these kinds of business ideas make so much sense to me.

The Golden Hook is an example of a business capitalizing on this craving for personal interaction.  Customers choose from a variety of hat designs, which they can customize by color and yarn type.  Then they go on to select the grandmother they want to knit their design.  Golden Hook has an arsenal of grannies that are expert knitters and are also looking to earn some extra income.  It’s a mutually beneficial relationship; the kind that I think so many businesses are trending towards.  I also like to ponder how these types of projects can be applied to our cultural institutions.  I’m having visions of stories about museum acquisitions and personalized curatorial stories…slightly different than dancing sugar plums.

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Save Our Sounds

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

The BBC has a website called Save Our Sounds, where users can upload a sound clip from anywhere around the world.  I just uploaded a sound (you can listen below) from my recent visit to Venice, Italy.  While staying in the monastery at the Madonna dell’Orto (a 14th century church), I recorded a short clip of the choir practicing.  The BBC’s aim is to save the world’s endangered sounds for future generations.  I just love this project, the website was really easy to use and anyone can listen to sounds from around the world.  The British Library has launched a similar version just for the UK.

Madonna dell’Orto Choir Practice

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The Johnny Cash Project

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

I just came across this project while preparing for an upcoming presentation for Denver museums.  Director Chris Milk decided to create a special tribute to Johnny Cash when making a video for the song “There Ain’t No Grave.”  Milk launched a website that allows users to select a frame from the video and create a drawing of the scene.  The user submitted images are linked together to create a complete film.  As of October, the website collected over 250,000 submissions (it launched in March) and it is still collecting contributions.  Just watch the video above, so beautiful.

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