MetaFilter posts tagged with museums

Bucket list made easy!

JoanArkham — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:23:42 -0800

Want to see Trajan's Column, Michelangelo’s David (with or without fig leaf), and Notre Dame all in one room? (Well, two rooms.) The Victoria and Albert’s “Cast Courts” are an amazing example of Victorian plaster casting, allowing those who couldn't afford the Grand Tour a chance to see great works of art and architecture.

Ben Stiller and walking dino skeleton not included.

FunkyHelix — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:13:27 -0800

Saturday, September 26th, the Smithsonian museum family and their affiliates will be hosting a free admission event, if you go to their MUSEUM DAY site and print out the admission coupon. One coupon = 1+ admission. Which museums across the nation are participating? I'm glad you asked. Because there are three ways of finding a participating venue. This is free culture being thrown at you for free and is free. Did I mention free? TAKE IT AND RUN. Introduce your kids to something other than the television. They may like it. Take your boy/girlfriend on a romantic date though the ages. Impress out of town guests with an excellent field trip. Teachers, force your kids to go and bring back a pamphlet or report as extra credit in your class.

Archival Sound Recording Maps at the British Library

LarryC — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:44:52 -0800

Mapping sound at the British Library. The British Library has organized several of its archival sound collections on Google Maps. The results include Accents and Dialects, wildlife and soundscape recordings from Britain, music from India and Uganda, and a whole mess of noisy frogs. You can read more about the Archival Sound Recording Project here or on the project blog. This post comes via the JISC Digitisation blog.

FlickTubeFaceSpace.com

LarryC — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:57:31 -0800

Web Tech Guy and Angry [Museum] Staff Person. A very funny animation for the museums workers and librarians subset of Mefites. From Michael Edson at Smithsonian 2.0.

Wiring the Castle

Miko — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:09:16 -0800

Circuits are flipping on in the nation's attic. A couple of weeks ago, 31 "digerati" -- like Clay Shirky, Chris Anderson, and George Oates -- dropped in to the Smithsonian Institution for the invitation-only conference "Smithsonian 2.0: A Gathering to Re-imagine the Smithsonian in the Digital Age". Dan Cohen of the Center for History and New Media provides a great summary (and continues to pose provocative questions) on his own blog. Those whose invitations were somehow lost in the mail can play fly-on-the-wall by watching the keynotes, paging through the Flickr pool of envymaking glimpses of their behind-the-scenes lab and collections tours, reading the blog (where Bruce Wyman of the Denver Art Museum lays out a succinct road map for museums using social media), and poking around in the SI's website gallery. Want to cheer on the USA's favorite 163-year-old "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge" without taking the trip to DC? Thanks to their recent efforts, you can now follow the SI on Twitter, listen to its podcasts, watch its YouTube channel, visit the Latino Virtual Museum in Second Life, or use the FaceBook gifts page to send your best friends their very own pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers, Hope diamond, Negro Leagues baseball, or coelocanth.

European and American hand fans

nickyskye — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:10:20 -0800

"It became an accessory of fashion. Status symbol like jewels, the fan had some additional advantages: you could hide behind, spy through tiny holes in the fan, swirl the fan coquettishly, or move the fan according to difficult fan language conventions, a kind of early telecommunication." Types of fans. Celluloid fans l peacock feathers. Fan sites to look at. A little history. Museums devoted entirely to hand fans.

The Deaccessioning Debate

up in the old hotel — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:00:53 -0800

In these difficult economic times, what's a museum to do? Is an art collection a financial asset or a trust to be held in perpetuity? These questions are being raised by The National Academy in New York's recent sale (or "deaccessioning" in museum lingo) of two important paintings for $15 million to shore up its finances, first reported by Lee Rosenbaum's ArtsJournal blog. The museum's director told The New York Times that it was the only way for the 183-year-old academy, which runs a chronic operating deficit, to survive. The Association of Art Museum Directors censured the Academy and called on its members to suspend any loans of art to the institution. New York lawyer Donn Zaretzky's ArtLaw Blog has become ground zero for a fascinating debate involving art critics, museum directors, financial bloggers and others.

No pictures, please.

liketitanic — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:23:05 -0800

Photographer Thomas Hawk may or may not have run afoul of SFMOMA's photo policy and was forcibly ejected from the museum by its Director of Visitor Services. Hawk blogged the incident extensively, encouraging readers to publicize his grievance through social networking. Now two conversations are going on: how photographers' rights are restricted in an age of paranoid security, and whether what some call online character assassination by someone influential is okay.

"the precious jewels of Jao-chou"

paduasoy — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:13:30 -0800

In 2006 in the Fitzwilliam Museum three enormous porcelain vases from seventeenth or eighteenth century China were smashed by a museum visitor who fell down the stairs. This presentation "follows the vases' progress from scattered fragments to their redisplay in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The site includes slideshows, film clips of the conservation process and a timelapse of one of the vases under reconstruction". Also: interview with the visitor who smashed the vases - My precious vase hell; two versions of a picture of the visitor sitting among the shards, Daily Mail and Times; information about the man's arrest (he was released without charge); the lack of insurance; the columnist Craig Brown on the affair; and an article on the reconstruction. And here're are translations of three letters written by Père Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles about porcelain manufacture in China around the same time the vases were made.

"Websites were a wonderful way around the famous museum swamp."

Miko — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:47:50 -0800

Visual Arts: No Revolution in Hyperspace "A former insider laments the dumbing down of art museum websites." Nice, short overview of art museums and the web with good links.

Tiny treasures - classic and contemporary netsuke

madamjujujive — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:10:10 -0800

Netsuke of the Meiji Period is an online exhibit from the Los Angeles County Museum, noted for the depth of its collection. (more). The György Ráth Museum and the Ferenc Hopp Museum also house a fine classic collection. (more). Today, netsuke carving is alive and well - see the Kiho Collection for one young master. If you would like to explore more sculpture for the hand, the International Netsuke Society has a good link list to many excellent contemporary netsuke artists.

Battle of the Flashlight Museums!

dersins — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:57:03 -0800

There are two-- two-- awesome flashlight museums on the web. One of them is on geocities; the other is not. One of them has a page of art deco purse lights and a page of interesting and unusual lights; the other has bullet flashlights and the Dukes of Hazzard signal flash. I love them both.

The new Newseum

lalex — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:50:37 -0800

The website of the ridiculously awesome Newseum has been revamped and relaunched in anticipation of its October reopening. Check out the redesigned Today's Front Pages and Analysis sections - and go here for frequent, fascinating evaluations of current front page graphic design (archive). Browse the downloadable front pages of notable dates in recent history (e.g. Katrina, 2004 tsunami, 9/11). Watch discussions of some of the most recognizable Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, and check out the interactive archives of past exhibits. You can also pay your respects at the online version of the Newseum's Journalists Memorial. (previously)

When in Rome...

Misciel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:19:52 -0800

An unexpected treasure trove online... The audioguides for Rome's city museums are available as mp3s! Not only can you find guides to one of the oldest public museums in the world, the Capitoline Museums, but you can also hear several commentaries (including video) on the ancient Roman Altar of Augustan Peace, and download the audioguide of both the Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture, and that of the Museum of Rome. Download them before you go and save 5 euros at each museum, but they're *invaluable* even if you listen to them from home! Enjoy!!

The Strangest Shop in All of Paris

jonson — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:58:58 -0800

Deyrolle: The Strangest Shop in All of Paris. "Paris has many unusual shops, but one of the most unusual has to be Deyrolle."

Inside the Creation Museum

jonson — Tue, 29 May 2007 07:24:58 -0800

For those of you curious about the newly opened $27 million dollar Creation Museum, but unable or unwilling to travel to Kentucky for a visit, Zachary Lynn has posted a photo essay of his visit (sadly missing is the opening diorama or human babies playing with dinosaurs).

share your part of the world

nickyskye — Sat, 26 May 2007 21:48:24 -0800

Waymarking.com provides tools for you to catalog, mark and visit interesting and useful locations around the world. It's a fun site, packed with photographs, information and maps; a useful resource and tool for GeoCaching and other interests. Among the various categories included is Oddball Museums: The Glore Psychiatric Museum, Musee Mechanique, The National Plastics Museum with lots of great pics and links to other sites, Museum of Burlesque [nsfw], The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, Orange Show, wbur Museums of Dirt, Plumbing, Antiquated Technology, Lizzie Borden and more oddities.

Digging the past

mathowie — Fri, 04 May 2007 07:13:00 -0800

A retired construction guy with a large property was bulldozing a new driveway and noticed some shiny rocks. He excavated carefully, revealing an entire forest of upright, undisturbed petrified trees (photo gallery). Soon he began cataloging and selling pieces to museums but has since stopped. More about his find. (via girlhacker)

What's good for the goose.....

lalochezia — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:13:08 -0800

It's genital evolution day! Penis evolution. For my money, evolution reached it's zenith with the Argentine Lake Duck. Plenty more MeFi penis related shenanigans here , including the penis museum.

Sunday Bible fun!

ibmcginty — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 17:55:24 -0800

The Smithsonian's Sackler gallery opened a unique and wide-ranging new exhibit yesterday featuring fragments of Bibles from before the year 1000. "Most of the manuscripts have never been seen outside the countries where they are stored. [Some Smithsonian-owned documents in the exhibition] have never been exhibited and two have not been shown since 1978." Fragments of the Codex Sinaiticus are included in the exhibit. Along with the archaeological interest, these fragments can pose theological and historical challenges for Christians. Some, like UNC's Bart Ehrman, have lost their faith as a result of studying early Bibles; some, like Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory, believing that Christianity is about a common cultural and spiritual experience, are unmoved by the "corruptions" and differences in the New Testament over time; other Christians try to refute (MeFi link) claims that the text has changed.

Free museum admission! Whee!

moss — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:12:10 -0800

"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."

MetaMoom

sophist — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:38:00 -0800

The Museum of Online Museams. Our very own Meta-Museum. Perhaps you feel like whistling? Living on the edge, going shopping, , rolling the dice, , or starting a fire? Or would you prefer something smaller? Found via Coudal, which also might be worth a look.

Choosing a Web 2.0 Start Up Name

Funmonkey1 — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:13:42 -0800

DADA Hits the MOMA. DaDaism was an art movement that arose prior to the rubble of WW1 where the artists led a creative revolution that shaped the course of modern art by combining different mediums to create a message of protest and hope. The MOMA exhibit tells one story (scroll to data and select full program - req flash 7) and the New Yorker reaffirms the influence on art today. However, the real story is with Richard Huelsenbeck, the ring leader and founder of the DaDa movement An interview with him from December 1960 (45 mins mp3) explains the start - as one of the few German artists in protest to the war. My favourite part is where he tells of picking out the name DaDa from an encyclopedia at a cabaret.

matteo — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:24:32 -0800

William Blake's Grave. Museums and galleries only have a few weeks left to save William Blake’s long-lost watercolour illustrations accompanying Robert Blair’s poem “The Grave”, before they are dispersed at auction in New York on 2 May.

"Perspectives of Russian Art"

hortense — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:53:34 -0800

Perspectives of Russian Art Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 Americans had limited opportunities to view Russian art of the 20th century. The political pressures of the Cold War era resulted in the mutual cultural isolation of Russia from western Europe and the United States that also created an atmosphere of aesthetic mystery regarding Russian art . .