museum making: creating with new technologies in art museums

MUSEUM MAKING CREATING WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES

IN ART MUSEUMS

Desi Gonzalez

April 7, 2015

Comparative Media Studies, MIT

@desigonz // museummaking.com

Image:  met  media  lab.  Drop  ceiling,  fluorescent  lights  

•  Image: 3d prints

•  Oculus rift headset

Image:  met  media  lab.  Drop  ceiling,  fluorescent  lights  

MUSEUM MAKING

WHY ART MUSEUMS?

•  Snapshots from three museum making sites

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEMuseum making:

John Sloan, Copyist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1908. Etching, plate: 7 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (18.7 x 22.2 cm) sheet: 12 15/16 x 13 15/16 in. (32.9 x 35.4 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art.

•  New art making programs

•  Copyist programs at the met

When I talk about the maker movement, I make an effort to stay away from the word “inventor”—most people just don’t identify themselves that way. “Maker,” on the other hand, describes each one of us, no matter how we live our lives or what our goals might be. We all are makers: as cooks preparing food for our families, as gardeners, as knitters.

—Dale Dougherty, “The Maker Movement,” Innovations 7, no. 3 (2012): 11.

NAVIGATING THE INSTITUTIONHow does museum making happen?

Image:  met  media  lab.  Drop  ceiling,  fluorescent  lights  

•  Makerbot hackathon w/ logo

THE VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY

“we’re not technology specialists, we’re learning specialists”

•  PEM space: 3d printing, books, artmaking

•  Poop stamp

Art + Tech Lab artists en route to Jet Propulsion Labs © Taeyoon Choi

TO SUMMARIZE:

•  Historical precedents: – museums as sites of art making

–  hacker and maker cultures

•  Expand what’s culturally valuable while maintaining authoritative status

•  Build capacity despite limited funding and access to emerging technologies

•  Bring an ethos of playfulness, experimentation, and flexibility into the museum

WHICH AUDIENCES?So…

THANK YOU!@desigonz // museummaking.com