I love this project from Lisa Anne Auerbach and the Aspen Art Museum. During the 2008 presidential campaign Auerbach created a collection of sweaters with slogans from historical bids for office. The pieces were on display in shops around town, but also at the museum, where they were available for check out. Visitors could borrow the campaign sweater of their choice and wear it about town for a few hours.
This seems like a good post to start the new year because it is filled with possibility. Last year, an Oxfam charity shop in Manchester, England did an interesting experiment with RFID tags and QR codes. They allowed people donating goods to record the stories (or histories) of their items. These recordings were then made available in the store through a hacked iphone that read the item-associated RFID tags, but they were also accessible to any device that could read QR codes (those barcode looking squares available in many smartphone apps).
The project was part of a larger effort by several UK universities to create a site, called Tales of Things, for sharing personal and social histories. While there are several obvious ways these kinds of tags can be used in museum-type settings, it is interesting to ponder other uses as well. Imagine buying a product that has been tagged in every step of the production and transportation process. Relatives passing down stories of family heirlooms. Or, as this article in the NY Times pointed out, your tagged tennis racquet updating your location on Foursquare. The future is scary and awesome.
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.
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.
The Wellcome Collection in London is one of the most inspiring and amazing places in the city. The collection is that of Sir Henry Wellcome, whose love for medicine led him to collect over 1,000,000 objects during his lifetime. Now the museum is looking to update their display of curious artifacts with the public’s submissions. Organized by artist Keith Wilson, the display will showcase the public’s collection of ‘Things’ from Oct. 12th-22nd. Above are some of the items already submitted, which include a childhood piggy bank and “silly seagull” souvenir from a long lost love affair. You can browse through the ‘Things’ exhibition and the stories it has to share on the Wellcome Collection blog.
I have long been a fan of the Denver Art Museum’s (DAM) monthly late night events called Untitled. It seems DAM is now trying to expand their community oriented programming even further by introducing the Collective, a microsite that bundles all of DAM’s innovative events into one location. One of the features that caught my eye is their recently launched DDIY, which stands for Digital Do-It-Yourself. Every month DAM posts a creative project and asks users to upload their results, similar to the site Learning to Love You More. The first DDIY had participants ‘Make a Still Life for Your Afterlife’ (above) to coincide with their King Tut exhibition. While participation currently seems to be a little low, the site is still fairly new. This is another positive step for the DAM in creating a more inclusive visitor experience – looking forward to seeing how the site evolves.
The Selby is a photography website that has gained fame by capturing the world of creatives in their living/work environments. A few months ago Todd Selby released a book of his work and promoted it at the Paris boutique Colette. The Selby took over the shop’s front window (top) and set-up residence for five days with a whole range of events, including everything from karaoke to interior design consultations (bottom right). All events were open to the public and free of charge.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has launched an amazing program that welcomes ‘Rusty Musicians’ to join the professional orchestra for select performances. Hoping to increase interest in the BSO, the organization has included hundreds of amateur musicians in its concerts. I love this program because it is inclusive and community building, but it also offers an affordable way to attend the symphony. Tickets for rusty-pro musician shows sell for $10.
(via sloverlinett.com)
The town of Westbury-sub-Mendip in southern England recently created their own town library after the local bookmobile was cut from budgets. Community members took matters into their own hands and converted an unused phone booth (bought from the local telephone company for one pound) into a book and video swap shop. Volunteers check titles on a regular basis to make sure books are moving – all unloved items go to the thrift store.
The phone company, BT, which has had to decommission many booths in recent years, has set-up an application process for villages to re-use the booths in their communities. I love this project, it helped the town and the business…and created a library that’s open 24 hours!
(via inhabitat)
The Museum of Everything is an amazing London based institution that showcases the work of the uncelebrated artist. These are the untrained and unseen creators of our world. Last weekend, the museum held its second exhibition in the Tate Modern.
For this show, the museum opened up the entry process to everyone – people could stop by the Tate, have their work hung up and possibly selected for the Museum of Everything’s permanent collection. It was a great idea for engaging audiences. As I wandered the exhibit however, I was disappointed to see that they did not put up any names or information about the participants or their work. Even though it was an off-site show, a simple printer, typewriter or hand written card would have made looking at each piece much more interesting. Looking forward to when the MoE re-opens (fingers crossed) in London again this fall.
