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A presentation given in various forms at USC's Institute for Multimedia Literacy, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the University of Texas at Austin, and most recently via videoconference at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
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Creating Dramas of Context, Communities of Interest
Peter Samis
Associate Curator, Interpretive MediaSan Francisco Museum of Modern [email protected]
April 21, 2011 UT-Austin, School of the Arts
Even if they look like this on the outside...
Museums.
...they look like this on the inside.
…and this...
…and this.
Modern art—like all the objects we exhibit —exists in a framework of meanings.
• Physical aspects• Process of its making• Relationships (to its maker, to ideas, to
other works)• Documents (journals, letters, sketches)• Media• Methods of approach and understanding
Of these, art museums typically strip away all but one or two.
• Process of its making• Relationships (to its maker, its time)• Documents• Media• Methods of approach and understanding
• Physical aspects
or in the immortal words of The Pinky Show…
Experts………………Novices
Somewhere along the linethat leaves us to restore the
context.
Tate Modern’s Principles of Interpretation
1. Interpretation is at the heart of the gallery's mission.2. Works of art do not have self-evident meanings.3. We believe that works of art have a capacity for multiple
readings and that interpretation should make visitors aware of the subjectivity of any interpretive text.
4. Interpretation embraces a willingness to experiment with new ideas.
5. We recognise the validity of diverse audience responses to works of art.
6. Interpretation should incorporate a wide spectrum of voices and opinions from inside and outside the institution.
7. Visitors are encouraged to link unfamiliar artworks with their everyday experience.
–Gillian Wilson, “Multimedia Tour Programme at Tate Modern,” in Bearman, David and Jennifer Trant (Eds.), Papers, Museums and the Web 2004. Online at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/wilson/wilson.html
This is our Problem Space:
Visual Velcro
The ability of an image or object to grab you, stop you in your tracks, reach down into you, and stay with you.
VelcroTeflon
Some things have velcro even though they look clean and polished…
Mirrors, for instance.
Or even moreso, “The Bean.”
59,241 images on flickr.[These 5 by Ken Ilio.]
Different objects have different hooks suited to them…
urbanmkr, ...in our borrowed tackle box
When there’s no velcro, we supply the hooks.
[used by Wayne Gretzky as a child]
Questions and ideas surround the objects...
Sometimes it’s a case of what’s there.
Technology & museums change at very different paces.
e.g., Mobile
Voices & Images of California Art:
www.sfmoma.org/voices
Pachyderm: template-based authoring
www.pachyforge.org
Points of Departure
“The show is about the art, but it is for the visitors.”
prototyping the museum of the future
–Curator of Education John Weber, Exhibition co-curator
Enter
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Lessons “…this humanistic use of new technology”
• Deliver multimedia into the galleries giving people context in real time, just in time
• Target the info to each gallery’s artworks and shared theme
• Vary delivery modes to see what visitors like best
– former SFMOMA director David Ross
Answer the Big Questions
• Why would anyone make/collect this?• What’s it doing in this big (or little)
museum?• What does it have to do with the other
works around it?• What would I be doing if I made this—
or were in this historic person’s boots?
Hypothetical Demand Curve:
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• Subject matter expertise (curatorial/historical)
• Visitor Studies• Communications Theory• Cognitive Psychology
(concepts of load and flow)• Statistics & Data analysis• Education• Engineering…
– Technology: hardware– Technology: software
• Design: Interface• Design: Graphic• Design: Interactive• Information Architecture
Cultural heritage multimedia thrives at the confluence of multiple fields:
•Ethnographic observation •Storytelling: linear•Storytelling: non-linear•Game Theory •Writing•Journalism/Interviewing•Photography•Sound design •Videography / filmmaking•Experience planning•Interpretation
…and this list is by no means exhaustive!
A Dual Empathy:
• Identify with artists by re-creating their past contexts, concerns, and criteria for success
• Identify with visitors and build bridges to their lives and understandings today
Interpretation <---------------->Experience
Ideally, interpretation is an opening onto the visitor trusting their own
experience.
Experiments in Dialogue
Olafur Eliasson: art of perception
… and participation.
In 2007, an early experiment…
Work as phenomenon-maker:
perceptual stimulator & change agent
A Radical Stance:
QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
“Objecthood doesn’t have a place in the world if there’s not an individual person making use of that object.”
A Radical Stance:
i.e., The Museum’s reality does not trump the visitor’s perspective.
“I of course don’t think my work is about my work. I think my work is about you.”
The Challenge: to encourage visitors in their own critical process of self-observation
Inviting visitor voices—& experiences—to complement our own:
A sampling:
What are the criteria of value for the comments? … and by whose standard?
• The Artist’s?• The Curator’s?• The Director’s?• The Marketing Department’s?• Our Visitors’, online or on-site?
If the goal was to get people to write and reflect on their art experience, we may have succeeded.
(Getting them to think critically about their life is a taller order!)
But if the goal is to initiate a meaningful dialogue between visitors and the Museum, then we failed.
We said our piece in our multimedia voice(s). We opened the blog door to invite visitor voices in.…And we left.
They were the only ones in the room.
Is it enough to host a compilation of Me stories or does something else have to be at stake?
Some greater collective endeavor,some greater win?
The Eliasson project got us part way.
Nina Simon’s Hierarchy of Social Participation
Since that time, lots of outreach to the Community.
Contributions are often reflective…
But it doesn’t always have to be profound. People like fun.
A new stopping point, blending analog & digital:
balancing artists’ with visitor creativity…
And more & more, we don’t have to be the source.
The conversation is opening up, & we have become participants.
So we’re learning to be Visitor-centered Online.
…but we’ve got a long way before we’re that generous & involved in
the Gallery, too!
Questions?
