Making Museums Matter

Nina Simon has a well earned and hard won reputation as a passionate and unabashed "museum activist" on the international stage – and a rather successful one. Primarily, Nina Simon has been an advocate for community participation in museum programming in a 21st Century context.

Recently she presented a talk at a TEDx Conference [TEDx link] where she shared her experiences at Santa Cruz's Museum of Art & History and the story of how the MAH transformed the institution into a thriving cultural center by opening it up to its community. 

Furthermore, by collaborating with diverse groups, celebrating the uniqueness and 'placedness' of Santa Cruz, the museum both invited and honoured the participation of all its visitors. Accordingly, MAH has been able to increase its visitor numbers in a spectacular way through more dynamic participatory programing. It now offers a reference model for museums wishing to improve their standing in their community.

What's more to the point, MAH is now financially sustainable, and consequently more successful by any measure. The link to the 15 minute video below is well worth the time to watch it as Nina talks about the ways her museum members managed to turn the institution around (financially & culturally) and what worked. Clearly, what Nina Simon has to say has a wider application in other institutions beyond her own that are seeking to succeed in a 21st Century context.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

A graph from the video that demonstrates MAH's current success

Nina Simon is the Executive Director of The Museum of Art & History @ McPherson Center in Santa Cruz, California. Prior to joining the MAH, 2008-2011, Nina ran a design firm called Museum 2.0 that worked with cultural institutions worldwide on audience participation. She also maintains the Museum 2.0 blog, focusing on ways that museums can integrate social networks, user-focused design, and etc. into our institutions ... click here to read more on Nina

Nina is also the author of "The Participatory Museum" a book that is gaining international currency a standard text of a kind in 'musueology'. Nina also presented "Discourse in the Blogosphere: What Museums Can Learn from Web 2.0." Museums and Social Issues 

click here to access the site

NOTE: The 2010 United States Census reported that Santa Cruz had a population of 59,946 ... click here for to read more about Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz NEWS

This is the latest NEWSletter from the Santa Crus Museum of Art & History. With their Executive Director, Nina Simon, they are kicking things along and showing the way in the world of community engagement in the current museum world. 
NB: Their POPup Museum ... They lead and never follow ... READ THEIR BLOG

Saturday, December 1 Stars, 6-9pm  Blast off into outer space with the 21st Stars. This space-aged Stars will feature a renewed   format, blending the traditional Stars that you love with a new timeline and a fresh after-party. Tickets are nearly sold out!  For tickets and more information visit www.santacruzmah.org/stars or call 831-429-1964 ext.7021 Saturday, December 1   Supernova, 9pm- 11:30pm Join us for SUPERNOVA, a Stars after party to dance the night away in style and celebrate agreat year for art and history in Santa Cruz. Supernova tickets are $50 and include an open bar, dance grooves by DJ Sparkle, photobooth, and a creative silent auction and raffle to support the MAH. You can buy tickets to Supernova in three ways: at the MAH, by calling 831.429.1964 x7021, or online at santacruzmah.org/stars.    Win a Dream Vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico This is your last chance to buy a raffle ticket for this great vacation to Santa Fe! We will be drawing the winning ticket on Saturday night at Stars. Win a Dream Vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Imagine waking up in your own private villa in the beautiful desert town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Imagine exploring the extraordinary mountains of Taos, taking a private tour of Los Alamos National Laboratory, and celebrating Indian art at the biggest party of the summer. Don't miss the opportunity to support the Museum and win this incredible trip. Tickets for the drawing are $100 each and are on sale at the museum now; contact Karen Bush at 831-429-1964 x7021 or karen@santacruzmah.org to purchase tickets by check, credit card, or cash.  Saturday, December 1 Pop Up Museum at the Fabrica, 3-5pm What do you make? Art? Tools? Music? Clothes? The MAH and the Fabrica invite you to  bring something "homemade" to the Pop Up Museum at the Hub this Saturday, Dec 1st from 3-5 pm. Tea and Pacific Cookie Company cookies will be provided. The Hub is located at 703 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. Hope you pop in!  Cost: Free For more information about events, exhibitions, and opportunities at the MAH visit our website at www.santacruzmah.org or share your ideas with us at  www.facebook.com/santacruzmah

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An Idea to Muse Upon

they are shooting the video better now . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

Complexity

ART

The VISUALlanguage of Sarah Illenberger

It is worth being in touch with the work of Berlin artist Sarah Illenberger, who has long made them smile here at Trendland with her humorous and insightful perspective, seen in concise visual forms. Working at the intersection of 3D design, photography, set design, styling and illustration, Illenberger speaks in images, often memorable and conceptual. Sarah Illenberger is the first monograph of the artist’s work, featuring commissions by clients such as Vanity Fair and Wallpaper, as well as a selection of personal projects. For more insight into Sarah’s work and process, be sure to get her great book, and check out the video on the Trendland Listing!

MUSEUMS & the iPad app

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen
	Anri Sala2 November 2012–3 February 2013 Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen3050 Humlebæk, Denmark www.louisiana.dk Anri Sala App
	Anri Sala app for free download The Louisiana Museum in Denmark has produced an iPad app in conjunction with the Anri Sala solo show. The app is available as a free download from the App Store and contains footage from the works by the Albanian artist, as well as texts by Michael Fried, Hans Ulrich Obrist & Julia Peyton-Jones, Jessica Morgan and Sanne Krogh Groth, and short introductions to each work by curator Mette Marcus. Edited by Michael Juul Holm. Search for Louisiana Museum or Anri Sala in the App Store or follow this link. The app is optimized for IOS 6. Anri Sala Solo Show at Louisiana Museum of Modern ArtMusic is a regular element in many people’s everyday lives. Music can subdue other sounds, set the pace or put us in a particular mood. Health research and various branches of science study the significance of music—and so do some artists. The Albanian-born artist Anri Sala (b. 1974) works with film. He is aware of the influence of music on people, and he draws on this frequently in his work ... click here to read more

SEVENlegs

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Search and ye shall find

IN SYDNEY: Step out with the family this summer!

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AUSTRALIA WHAT'S ON This December, there's creative and hands-on fun for everyone. Here’s what’s coming up for kids and families this month. Some programs require you to book, so get your tickets now to avoid disappointment.   Art Baby: Focus on Primavera 2012 Saturday 1 December 10.00–11.30am MCA Galleries and MCA Cafe  Parents and carers are invited to join tours of MCA exhibitions for a baby-friendly art experience. Prams/front packs/slings are recommended. Suitable for babies up to one year old.  $15 Adults/$10 MCA Members and Concessions  (includes coffee afterwards at the MCA Cafe) (booking fees apply)  Changing facilities are located on the Ground Floor and Level 3  Meet in the MCA Foyer > BOOK NOW Art Safari: Colour Crazy – sunrise Wednesday 12 or Friday 14 December 10.30–11.30am MCA Galleries and National Centre for Creative Learning, Level 3 Introduce contemporary art to children aged 3 to 5 years in this fun and dynamic workshop. Children and carers visit current exhibitions and learn about art together. Explore a different theme every month through play-based activities, including storytelling, drama and art making. $15 per Child/$10 MCA Members Free for Parents/Carers, bookings essential (booking fees apply) > BOOK NO COMING SOON IN 2013 Sunday Family Fun Days  Upside Down and Inside Out Sunday 27 January  Mirror and Masks Sunday 24 February  10.30am–1.00pm and 2.00–4.00pm   (AUSLAN interpreter available from 2.00–4.00pm)  MCA Galleries and National Centre for Creative Learning, Level 3  Celebrate creativity with the whole family! The galleries are turned over to kids and adults alike for this free day of fun events, exploring a different theme every month. Pick up your Gallery Explorer and look together around the MCA galleries for clues. Once you have collected all your special stamps, get creative with an art-making activity in the Creative Studios. Ages 4+ FREE, drop-in Sunday Family Fun Days take place on the last Sunday of every month (excluding December) Contemporary Kids: Upside Down and Inside Out January School Holidays Programs Tuesday 22 – Saturday 26 January 10.30am–1.00pm and 2.00–4.00pm MCA Galleries and National Centre for Creative Learning Get reflective and look at the world in new ways this summer, starting with Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror, on display on the MCA lawn. Create your own artwork and then turn your world upside down and back to front when you transform your 2D artwork into a 3D form. Ages 4+ FREE, drop-in ARTplay Wednesdays 30 January, 6, 13, 20 and 27 February 10.00am–12.00 noon Bella Room, National Centre for Creative Learning Explore the Bella Room with Emily Floyd’s interactive artwork The Garden together with your toddler and engage in a sensory experience. Drop-in to explore sculptural objects, wooden blocks and let the creative play lead the way. For parents, carers and under 5s FREE, drop-in Image captions: Image courtesy and © Museum of Contemporary Art Limited; Image courtesy and © Museum of Contemporary Art Limited; Image courtesy and © Museum of Contemporary Art Limited; Image courtesy and © Museum of Contemporary Art Limited; Anish Kapoor, Sky Mirror, 2006, installation view, Kensington Gardens, London, 2010-11, image courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery © the artist, photograph: Dave Morgan; Image courtesy and © Museum of Contemporary Art Limited, photograph: Ben Symons/Tito Media  SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER HERE MAINTAIN DETAILS HERE UNSUBSCRIBE HERE

VISUALlanguage

THE NEW REALITY: Augmented Reality Exhibitions

This entry really really should have been called (SMARTphones + DUMBbureaucrats = ART ... guerrilla style)but maybe that would be a bit long – and too much in your face. However, it is important to say that this is NOT NEW but there you go. Nonetheless, it does look a lot like the FUTURE – and the future in all its manifestations looks pretty interesting! 

 "Sander Veenhof and Mark Skwarek cordially invite you [well they did] to the "WeARinMoMA" exhibition in the MoMA NY, featuring augmented reality art in its proper context: a contemporary art museum. At the same time, the 'art invasion' annex exhibition showcases the radical new possibilies and implications Augmented Reality is bringing to the cultural and creative field ... PS  The MoMA is not involved yet" ... and it seems it still isn't but they do have a BLOG CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO GO TO EXPLORE THE IDEA & WATCH THE VIDEO

"The virtual exhibition will occupy the space inside the MoMA building using Augmented Reality technology. The show will not be visible to regular visitors of the MoMA, but those who are using a mobile phone application called"Layar Augmented Reality browser" on their iPhone or Android smartphones, will see numerous additional works on each of the floors." ... FOR MORE PLEASE CLICK HERE 

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE MELBOURNE MUSEUM VIRTUALLY

There is no need for VIRTUALexhibitions to be 'nurdy & techno' as the technology to do something really simply is available and very accessible. Once you get past the notion that everything in a museum is not sacrosanct and accept that it is NOT ILLEGAL to take photographs, rather make images, in a  museum you are on your way ... for more on that click here 

VIVA LE SMARTphone!

CULTURALLY RELEVANT PERFORMANCES: Garage Sales

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How Are We Performing Today? This is a Museum of Modern Art NY project examines the "shifting conditions and rising popularity of performance-related art, and its evolving—and frequently ambivalent—relationship to the museum". It draws upon the double meaning attached to 'performance': The live element in the arts – current cultural production;  and  The benchmarking for economic productivity and thus relevance. MoMA's conference is very much to do with understanding the "character and consequences of new performance formats and strategies used by artists, curators, and institutions".  Notably, it explores how performance is "tied to the experience economy—in which memory itself is a product—and how it is framed institutionally".  Importantly via this conference is engaging with its Community of Ownership and Interest around the world and is asking questions like: "Where and under what conditions does performance art emerge today?  How can artists and institutions address performance's migration from the margin to the center of contemporary art discourse?  What kinds of transformations or conditions might be necessary to create a meaningful or critically engaged performance art program within the museum?" Interestingly, in doing all this the flip side of 'performance's' double meaning comes into play given that MoMA is deepening its engagement with current theory and practice relevant to 'current cultural production'—reflecting on  changing paradigms, parameters, modes of production, and presentation.AND all the while the institution is being  'entrepreneurial'  and in a multidimensional way.