Idea Bar #3: Social Museums

When I lived in NYC, the Museum of Modern Art had a late night - Thursday's, I think - that was well known as a type of pick-up gig. That's not what I mean by Social Museums.

Ever go to a museum and not know where to start? I tend to just wander around and actually cannot stay inside a museum for more than about an hour to an hour and a half. I am not likely to take an official tour. I love art and history and science but the only great audio tour I ever took was at Eastern State Penitentiary narrated by Steve Buscemi. (it was full of stories vs. simple facts) What I would love to do is follow a path to see things someone recommends.

Likewise, I love the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I am a fan. I am drawn to the great Marcel Duchamp collection and all those great guys and gals that came after Cezanne. I could take you on a great surgical strike tour of that Museum.

What if museums encouraged vloggers to create their own quick tours of the museum and posted them online for visitors to view. You would hear a personal point of view about why Nude Descending the Staircase is so pivotal and why you shouldn't let your 6-year-old look through that little peep-hole installation in the Duchamp exhibit. The Museum could collect online galleries of these tours and encourage a league of enthusiasts to guide others to what they find special about the experience (not just the exhibits).

Hurdle #1: many museums don't allow photography. Some just don't allow flash photography. The former is probably about copyright protection. Who wants anyone infringing on the revenue of museum store sales of coffee table books and postcards? Not me. But with an average video camera recording at 72 dpi (300 dpi or better needed for quality print production), is that really a risk?

Hurdle #2: the cacophony of vloggers self-narrating while they stand in front of Water Lillies would disturb the other visitors. I would argue that the screaming kids do more harm there. So, hold special hours for vloggers. That could be part of th epromotion that ought to go into creating the new Social Museum.

Hurdle #3: the culture of "experts" suggest that only curators or the surviving spouses of artists can lead people. Time for a new museum culture.

These can all be overcome. Allowing vloggers to create video tours would engage a group of museum fans to own a piece of that experience and share it with others. It would break down the formality of the museum experience without disturbing the quality. It would introduce new relevance to museum-goers and energize a new generation of enthusiasts.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is already doing some interesting things like adding RSS feeds to their site and offering podcasts like this one from curator Kathy Foster on the Andrew Wyeth exhibition. And many have video. But I have seen no examples yet of vloggers who give their favorite "tours" of a museum.

Which museum will take me up on this? I offer to become the first vlogger. Come on Philly.

Comments

[Alison Byrne Fields]

I never get the audio tour because, and you may have observed this, I'm not a big fan of following directions. ;)

I like the idea, because I'm confident that it could help museums to attract a broader audience or perhaps just a new generation of visitors who have expectations about moving beyond observation to engagement.

It's an idea that doesn't necessarily need to solely apply to vloggers. If museums were set up with wi-fi, bloggers could be posting live from within a museum if only through text and still photos. Maybe it's something that the new Newseum should consider as a nod to the impact that Web 2.0 has had on mainstream news media -- even if only to promote the launch, whenever that finally happens?

Hurdle #4 -- I wonder if museums would also be concerned that the vlogger tours would lead potential museum goers to think that they now don't need to bother to come to the museum (and pay admission) because a vlogger they trust has already shared all the highlights with them? Reading a blog about a piece of art is obviously not the same as seeing it with your own eyes, but it's still not a baseless concern . . .

Hurdle #5 -- I don't need an expert, but I also don't need a dreadfully dull narration rattled off like the play by play commentary of a family's summer vacation. Can the museum have editorial control -- if only for quality control?

[Stace Carter]

Nice John, that Fountain always gets my attention - and it's why I changed my major from Communications to Philosophy ("what is art?")oh-so-many years ago.

This is a great idea for the bar - so great in fact that it's being widely adopted already:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodtours/

I haven't listened to any of these and assume they are developed by the represented institutions - but what a great way to develop interest. I visit the Hirshhorn whenever I get the chance on my trips to D.C., now that I've seen this I'll probably listen to the tour on the three-hour drive into town and be "prepped" for the cultural experience ;-)

All that being said, I think this would be a great category for user-created content - museums often have "special-interest" hours and this would be a great group to get in while developing free PR for the exhibits.