Reading list, 22 June 2019

The Cleveland Museum of Art releases the findings of its two-year study into whether digital technology deepens engagement at the museum

Barbara Pollock for Artnews: Exhibiting Change: When Some of the Best-Attended Exhibitions in Museums Are Protests, Where Do Institutions Go from Here?

Simple, effective: The Metropolitan Museum Shrouded a Mark Chagall Painting to Draw Attention to World Refugee Day

Laura Raicovich is a kind of writer in residence for Hyperallergic (I guess that's a columnist really though, right?) and her latest is on Rethinking the “Bigger Is Better” Museum Model 

Nothing to do with art museums but I really enjoyed the style & discomfort of Natasha Stagg's Welcome to the doll's house

The Art Institute of Chicago is deaccessioning more than 300 Chinese artworks from its collection via a Christie’s auction in New York in September

Shows by 20th century surrealist artists Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo in NYC

Tess Thackara for the NYTimes on the Minneapolis Institute of Art's exhibition “Hearts of Our People: Native American Women Artists”

Power to the people

I've written a couple of times before about how I think web-enabled conversations might change the way art institutions/authorities work with (deal with?) their constituencies: see the blog-enabled outcry over proposals to drill for oil near Spiral Jetty, and Tyler Green challenging Village Voice art critic Christian Viveros-Faune over a conflict of interest.

Another interesting case is currently unfolding in San Francisco. Well-known SF photographer and blogger Thomas Hawk was recently ejected from SFMOMA by Simon Blint, director of visitor services, not because he was taking photos in the building (SFMOMA has recently relaxed its photo restrictions) but in order to "ensure the safety of the museum’s admissions staff" (from the SFMOMA press release on the incident).

Ten years ago, a person disgruntled about their experience at an art gallery would have complained to their friends, and might have written to the director, or to the local newspaper.

Now the web is a forum where people can share their experiences and air their concerns quickly and freely. Hawk himself is all over the net - Blogger, Facebook, Pownce, Digg, Flickr, Twitter, Feed Friend - and therefore his account of the incident is spreading fast (just like it is here). A copy of the photo on Flickr has (as of the time of writing) been favourited 85 times, viewed more than 11,200 times, and attracted dozens of comments.

As Jack Schofield has pointed out in the Guardian, Blint's online profile is now shattered. And Jeremiah Owyang notes:

Businesses should assume every customer (and employee) is capable of impacting an individual or company’s online reputation

Companies should already have a crises plan ready to deal with online criticisms

Blogs in action

I think it's likely that soon RSS feeds will replace group emails and list-servs. Here's why.


Yesterday (American-time) at 11.57am Tyler Green reported on an email he'd received from Nancy Holt, the widow of Robert Smithson:

Yesterday I received an urgent email from Lynn DeFreitas, Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, telling me of plans for drilling oil in the Salt Lake near Spiral Jetty. See Attachments. The deadline for protest is [today] Wednesday, at 5PM. Of course, DIA has been informed and are meeting about it today.

I have been told by Lynn that the oil wells will not be above the water, but that means some kind of industrial complex of pipes and pumps beneath the water and on the shore. The operation would require roads for oil tank trucks, cranes, pumps etc. which produce noise and will severely alter the wild, natural place.

If you want to send a letter of protest to save the beautiful, natural Utah environment around the Spiral Jetty from oil drilling, the emails or calls of protest go to Jonathan Jemming 801-537-9023 jjemming@utah.gov. Please refer to Application # 8853.

The ripple effect (sorry, not punny) is almost immediate: here's Bad at Sports Hank Blog Grammar Police Richard Lacayo The New Modernist the Walker Art Center and PORT- and that's only a selection.

"Ordinary" people beating the journalists to the story is nothing new, but I think this might be the first time I've seen this kind of rapid-fire community action over an art event.


Images
Above- Spiral Jetty, photo by Wibbet 64
Below - Drilling proposal, posted by aur2899