A glistening chunk of pork! [more inside]
posted by mrducts on Nov 17, 2009 - 30 comments

What Should Museums Throw Out? At a time when controversial moves by major art museums are making the public more aware than ever of how museums collect or discard objects, the University College of London's museum invites visitors to play curator in the exhibit Disposal, viewing some white-elephant objects and determining their fate. The museum also just wrapped up another innovative exhibit on objects and point of vew, Object Retrieval, in which one object was explored and responded to by a rolling team of contributors from varying displines, 24 hours a day, for one week.
posted by Miko on Oct 22, 2009 - 22 comments

From Sunday on the Pot with George to In the Cat's Mouth* to Think Again, The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is "the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms." Some images NSFW [more inside]
posted by Cat Pie Hurts on Sep 2, 2009 - 44 comments

"This is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off."
posted by shoesfullofdust on Jun 12, 2009 - 49 comments

Skin & Bones is a new exhibit about sailor tattoos and their symbolism and history, developed at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. NYTimes story with neat art slideshow.
posted by Miko on Jun 9, 2009 - 6 comments

Tag! You're It! The Brooklyn Museum is inviting its user community to tag its online collection.
posted by Miko on May 1, 2009 - 26 comments

The Museum of Modern Art began working in late 2007 to renovate its Web site substantially for the first time since 2002. It knew that it wouldn’t be just updating a few pieces — it would be entering a whole new era. Earlier this month, the new site launched, and is an almost complete reconstruction of how the museum presents itself online. It features livelier images from its collection and exhibitions, increased use of video and the new interactive calendars and maps.
posted by netbros on Mar 26, 2009 - 12 comments

Art Museum for sale. Rocked by a budget crisis, Brandeis University will close its Rose Art Museum and sell off a 6,000-object collection that includes work by such contemporary masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Nam June Paik. The LA Times makes the Madoff connection.
posted by R. Mutt on Jan 26, 2009 - 29 comments

The Evoluon was a museum dedicated to science and technology, and the place of technology in society. It was closed for the public in 1989 and has not been re-opened as a public museum since. Watch the wonderfully 60s promotion (worth it just for the soundtrack). [via]
posted by tellurian on Dec 5, 2008 - 12 comments

The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History has an extensive, searchable online collection. It focuse on material art and household items and has objects from all over the world. The website can be browsed either by geographic orgin: Africa, Asia, North and Central America, Pacific, South America, or through its two exhibits, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives and Fowler in Focus. Some of my favorite objects (but really, everything is entrancing) are The Blind Scholar (a Taiwanese handpuppet), Chikunga (a Zambian mask) and a stirrup spout bottle which looks like a puma eating a piglet (Peruvian). All items have accompanying descriptions and some have short texts or audioguides with further information.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 23, 2008 - 3 comments

The Spertus Museum/Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies has just canceled Imaginary Coordinates due to complaints that some of the artwork (NSFW: nudity, disturbing imagery) in the exhibit had an anti-Israeli slant. [more inside]
posted by hydrophonic on Jun 22, 2008 - 45 comments

With over 35,000,000 visitors a year, it could be argued that it is the busiest museum in the world. Yet most people are there to catch a plane. [more inside]
posted by oneirodynia on Jun 12, 2008 - 8 comments

Don't Eat the Pictures! Sesame Street gets locked inside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on May 24, 2008 - 12 comments

But is it art? Apparently so - A page of original Tintin artwork by Belgian artist Hergé becomes part of the Pompidou Centre's permanent collection of Modern Art, the first comics artwork to do so despite Frances vibrant comics culture.
posted by Artw on May 22, 2008 - 18 comments

The Museum of Broken Relationships. We've all been there. What else are you supposed to do with the garden gnome you lobbed at his car, or the axe you used to chop her furniture into tiny bits. Or the box, made of matches, that somehow helped to make it all alright?
posted by From Bklyn on Apr 8, 2008 - 15 comments

"There is not a bomb by the entrance of the museum" was the telephone message delivered to a museum employee at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum Wednesday evening. This, along with the posting of a video on YouTube entitled The fake bombing at the ROM, Toronto, 28.11.07 led to the cancellation of a gala AIDS fundraiser at the Museum and a massive police investigation. Today, Ontario College of Art and Design student Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson claimed responsibility for the "art project".
posted by rocket88 on Nov 30, 2007 - 98 comments

This is James Savage's spare room, which contains one hundred Apple computers. He has more than 150 in his house and all of them are working perfectly, from an Apple II+ and a Lisa to the latest MacBook Pro. (One entrant among many in Gizmodo's Best Computer Rig contest.)
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Oct 4, 2007 - 53 comments

MUVA El PAIS has been conceived as a dynamic, interactive museum bringing together the most renowned works of contemporary Uruguayan art, an important contributor to Latin American art. MUVA is devoted to quality, content, education, information and recreation through the knowledge of visual arts. In Spanish and English, Flash and/or HTML.
posted by netbros on Aug 25, 2007 - 2 comments

Now Then is an exhibit of 25 comic artists showing a comparison of their drawing style now and when they were just kids. Also, check out 50 artists riffing on the theme of Duck! Fun stuff from the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art.
posted by madamjujujive on Jul 6, 2007 - 7 comments

greenmuseum.org in a non-profit, online museum profiling environmental artists like Chris Booth, Seung-hyun Ko, Yolanda Gutierrez, Aviva Rahmani, and others.
posted by serazin on Jun 14, 2007 - 3 comments

Painter and comic artist Jun-Pierre Shiozawa visited the Tokyo National Museum recently to view da Vinci's Annunciata which created protests in Italy when the Uffizi Gallery lent this artwork to Japan. Shiozawa then created a fantastic "manga review" of the experience for Tokyo Art Beat's TABlog. You can see the steps Shiozawa made to create his manga review on Shiozawa's Flickr account or blog.
posted by gen on Jun 10, 2007 - 9 comments

Recycled folk art, Mayólica pottery and other exhibitions at the Museum of International Folk Art.
posted by dhruva on May 27, 2007 - 11 comments

Established by the US Department of State, the Art in Embassies Program (AIEP) is "a global museum" exhibiting works by U.S. citizens in "approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide". Recently, the AIEP began a collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) to bring limited edition works by five important contemporary Native American artists to embassies around the world.

The Native artists selected for the project include internationally exhibited Mario Martinez, who was recently given a major retrospective at the NMAI in New York City, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, a pioneering artist and art activist, as well as Marie Watt, Larry McNeil, and Norman Akers.
posted by aletheia on Apr 2, 2007 - 13 comments

The Gregg Museum of Art & Design at NC State University has a great collection of folk arts. The strongest section is in ceramics, with stupendous representation from the NC wood-fired, salt and alkaline glazed traditions. There's this 1868 Hartsoe Alkaline glazed jug, this 19th cent. jug with kild-drip, this Hancock Half-Gallon jug, this Randolph Cty salt-glazed jug with ashy shoulder, and then the moderns: Burlon Craig, Vernon Owen, Mark Hewitt. There are also great photographs, weird furniture, outsider critters, and more. There isn't a good browse function, so you need some idea of what you want to search for.
posted by OmieWise on Mar 15, 2007 - 9 comments

The King's Kunstkammer - en vogue in Renaissance Europe, kunstkammers were status symbols of kings, vast collections of art, curiosities, and scientific and natural objects. This is a partial reconstruction of the Royal Danish Kunstkammer, established by King Frederik III in the mid-1600s. Exploring the collection's 250 objects offers insight into princely preoccupations of the era.
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 22, 2006 - 13 comments

Madonna and Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca 1300) “is widely considered a key forerunner of the Italian Renaissance style and a landmark in Western European painting”. The painting “resides in a Plexiglas case in the middle of a room of medieval Italian paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art” and was purchased in 2004 for about $50million, the most expensive acquisition in the Met’s history. However James Beck, Columbia professor, founder of ArtWatch “established for the dignity of the art” (previously mentioned in this forum), is emphatic: “It’s a poor painting and it is a fake.” In a recent interview to Paul Hond in the Columbia Magazine Fall 2006 issue he admitted that such a bold and counter-mainstream proposition is “…calling attention to the mistakes of our favorite institutions of great power would not have been readily available if I didn’t have tenure.”
posted by carmina on Oct 17, 2006 - 18 comments

"On September 30, 2006, for one day only, museums across the country will join the Smithsonian Institution in its long-standing tradition of offering free admission to visitors."
posted by moss on Sep 28, 2006 - 29 comments

The Match World Virtual Museum is dedicated to showcasing the best artwork from the ~25,000 matchbooks in the collection of the Japanese Match Manufacturers Association, including Foreign Matchbooks, Advertising on Matchbooks and various matchbook companies, all with decent, sized images available if you click on the thumbnail versions. Some really attractive stuff in here. Previously on Metafilter
posted by jonson on Aug 21, 2006 - 8 comments

The Museum of Black Superheroes: There are galleries, articles, exhibits. See villians like Dreadlox and Hypno-Hustler, and heroes like Muhammad X and, well, Hero. All of these bios together in one place present an interesting picture.
posted by OmieWise on Jul 20, 2006 - 25 comments

The Proud Band of Fluxus Indians, Coon Rapids, Iowa.
posted by klangklangston on Feb 22, 2006 - 10 comments

Jeff Wall - The Tate Modern just closed up a "major retrospective" of Wall's (more info about Wall) work, but has saved the experience in this rich online presence, including a timeline of his works and influence, interviews, archived discussions of his works, and more (via ArtKrush)
posted by tpl1212 on Jan 17, 2006 - 3 comments

Web Gallery of Art - "The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 14.500 reproductions. Commentaries on pictures, biographies of artists are available. Guided tours, free postcard and other services are provided for the visitors."

Direct Links seem to be turned off.... lame, but the search function is worth checking out. One of the coolest features is being able to search for artists based on country, style, or time period.
posted by sourbrew on Dec 17, 2005 - 14 comments

The Homeless Museum.
posted by scody on Dec 15, 2005 - 16 comments

The next Turner Prize winners? Art Craziest Nation is a mini-gallery of (in)famous pieces by modern artists, accurately reproduced with Lego by a duo called The Little Artists (John Cake and Darren Neave). The exhibition is at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool until next January. See the Lego version of Damien Hirst's Shark Tank, Tracey Emin's Bed, Jeff Koons' Balls, Andy Warhol's Money, Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone, and many others. It's all in one single piece, with some of the artists themselves in Lego version - and others whose work is not exhibited, like Matthew Barney and Gilbert & George - hanging around sipping their Lego wine (ok, air) from Lego cups (or even throwing it at the Lego person standing next to them). Liverpool Football Club star Gerrard also featured in a tribute to the team's victory of this year's European Cup.
posted by funambulist on Sep 13, 2005 - 10 comments

Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits. No one knows why Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn began painting half-length portraits of religious figures late in his life. The subject was uncommon in Protestant Amsterdam, where he lived. Paintings and sculptures, deemed idolatrous by Luther's followers, were not permitted in churches; existing images were removed and often destroyed. In 1681, a local authority described Rembrandt as the "foremost heretic in the art of painting." In Los Angeles, the Getty Center brings together, for the first time, 16 of these mysterious paintings. More inside.
posted by matteo on Jun 18, 2005 - 11 comments

MoMA Free Tomorrow for New York MeFi Readers! Well, everyone, actually. The Museum of Modern Art in New York reopens tomorrow and graciously offers a day of free entrance for all. Your chance to avoid the much-criticized $20 admission (views: con, pro-fessional, mayoral). Even good old free-admission Fridays bear the price tag of aggressive name-branding [paragraph 6] by an image-crazy donor (it's not charity anymore if it's advertising, folks, much less design-heady classiness-by-association). Some reports (scroll) from the press preview.
posted by Joe Hutch on Nov 19, 2004 - 20 comments

The last phase of the Met's Timeline of Art History is now live and well worth visiting.
posted by magullo on Oct 7, 2004 - 1 comment

The Museum of Bad Art
posted by anastasiav on Mar 15, 2004 - 10 comments

The National Library of Scotland and its interesting collection of online exhibits : the Murthly Hours, an illuminated book of hours (folios here); 16th century maps of Scotland; playbills from Edinburgh's Theatre Royal; 16th century Scottish books; the albums of the Edinburgh Calotype Club; R.L. Stevenson; Robert Burns; World War I stories; more.
posted by plep on Jun 24, 2003 - 2 comments

Southwestern United States Rock Art Gallery. 'This page is devoted to Native American Rock Art of the Southwestern United States. Currently, most images on this page are from Utah. This will change as time permits.'
Related :- this Precolumbian Collection from Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (which has an interesting history itself).
posted by plep on May 18, 2003 - 7 comments

Mille Fiori by Chihuly - a sweeping glassworks art installation marks the opening of the new Tacoma museum building. Dale Chihuly, one of the great masters of our time, also has an exhibit in Hamilton, NJ through July. Not content with stunning windows, walls and chandeliers, Chihuly creates towers, gardens, ceilings, and more, often weaving his work within natural elements to create fantasy waterscapes and landscapes. - more -
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 26, 2003 - 12 comments

"The Ho-Am Art Museum began with the donation of over 1,200 Korean works of art collected over a period of more than 30 years by Mr. Lee Byung-Chul, the late chairman of the Samsung group. [more]"
posted by hama7 on Mar 1, 2003 - 19 comments

"It is with pleasure that I welcome you to the Website of the Kyoto National Museum. We hope this site will open up the fascinating world of East Asian art to a broader audience than ever before possible." [1]
posted by hama7 on Feb 26, 2003 - 7 comments

In these troubled times, we would all do well to remember the lesson of the Apasht. But you'll have a hard time finding this vanished Neolithic culture in any mainstream anthropology textbook. That's why these archives are such an invaluable resource.
posted by staggernation on Jan 31, 2003 - 8 comments

The Smithsonian offers an online sampling of its Collection of Aeronautic Sheet Music. From the introduction: "...widespread fascination with flight has inspired an enormous output of historical drawings, paintings, advertisements and illustrations for publications. Some of the most colorful illustrations are those which adorn sheet music. In the Bella Landauer collection, you can find illustrations that range from the bizarre to the commonplace, from the humorous to the mundane. But most are colorful and interesting."
The collection is divided into categories such as "Ballooning", "Biplanes", and "Flying Machines". I love this one from 1914, called "A Hundred Years From Now".
posted by taz on Nov 12, 2002 - 9 comments

Tales from the Land of Dragons. 100 years of Chinese paintings. From the overview :- 'In China, painting is one of the "Three Perfections," linked with calligraphy and poetry as the most refined of artistic endeavors. This exhibition ... focuses on the years in which the great traditions of Chinese painting were established, during the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties ... '
posted by plep on Nov 3, 2002 - 10 comments

This CNN article reminded me of something I've been wanting to share with my fellow MeFiers for a long time now: the Storm King Art Center. There really aren't enough places in the world where you can view dozens of monumental abstract sculptures on 500 acres of rolling hills and beautiful wooded groves. For those interested in a 3D look (albeit via an obscure plug-in) try these views of a few Storm King sculptures. So, has anyone else ever been there? Better yet, anyone care to share any other unusual "museums" you've discovered?
posted by Ptrin on Nov 1, 2002 - 25 comments

The Russian Avant-Garde Book is an online version of the MoMA exhibit, featuring 112 books originally published in Russia during the intensely creative period between 1910 and 1934, before Stalin outlawed any style but social realism. The site is separated into three chronological themes and includes examples of futurist works, constructivist graphic design, children's books, propaganda, photography and photomontage, revolutionary imagery, architecture and industry, war themes, folk art and judaica...
posted by taz on Oct 8, 2002 - 16 comments

Schplerter. Schplutz! Sklop, splerd, and splood, too! No, I'm not cussing you out. I am telling you to get thee hence to the Museum for Non-Primate Art, where you can learn what these terms mean, as well as see cats dance and paint!
posted by WolfDaddy on Sep 23, 2002 - 6 comments

How far should the commercialisation of fine art go? The British Museum has licensed an on-line company atelier 350 to sell reproductions of some of the drawings in their collection. This article argues that the sales description is misleading and if replicated on a wider scale could harm the general public's perception of access to the collections in the long run. I agree that museums have to raise funds somehow and I'm not against the selling of some of the more popular images, however, surely their first responsibility must be to educate not to distort or hide the truth in the way which is shown here.
posted by feelinglistless on Jun 6, 2002 - 9 comments