Posts tagged access
New York Public Library’s Stereogranimator Lets You Make GIFs Out Of 19th Century Stereographs:
“With the Stereogranimator, the NYPL is letting users transform 19th century stereographs into GIFs, which lets people experience these historical images the way someone in the 1800s might have. Drawing on a collection of over 40,000 stereographs, the Stereogranimator is a project of the NYPL Labs, an experimental unit at the library using digital means to develop new tools for research.
“If you look through enough of them, you start to notice that many from before 1900 come in seemingly-identical pairs. What you may not realize is that these pairs were meant to be viewed together, each side lending the other a sense of depth that a photograph alone cannot possess,” Joshua Heineman, who began a version of the Stereogranimator as a personal project on his blog, wrote on the Huffington Post. “Using stereoscopes, the entertainment-seeking public of the 19th century immersed themselves in these 3D photographs (called stereographs) in a manner akin to how we now view movies, video games or cellphone screens.”
Liverpool Museums: Prams and Pushchairs welcome
Have you ever been worried about taking your little one to a gallery or museum in case they make noise? Well the Prams and pushchairs talk at the Walker Art Gallery could be for you. (…) explore our new gallery British Art 1880 to 1950 and bring your little one with you, because we know children make noise!
This seems like a great initiative from Liverpool museums. In the same vein of the parent and baby cinema screenings where parents are able to see a film (a grown-up film) with other parents who won’t tut and become enraged when a baby makes noise.
Does anyone else know of any other museum programmes aimed at parents without being a specifically child-orientated activity, rather people-with-children-orientated?
hydeordie: Most expensive museums
Well, they have the Getty up there as $0, which is true, but it’s $15 per car to park. How do the other LA museums add up?
- LACMA -Single adult: $15 Family: $30 (Children free) Parking: Street parking is usually available if you don’t mind walking about a block. FREE: Second Tuesdays of the month and after 5 pm M, T, Thur, F. Also, Target sponsors free days throughout the year on random Monday holidays.
- Hammer - Single adult: $10 Family: $20 (Children Free) Parking: They have a lot under the museum that is per hour, rates are $3 for the first three hours with Museum stamp; $1.50 for each additional 15 minutes. There is a $3 flat rate after 6:00 p.m.. Free: Every Thursday.
- MOCA - Single adult: $10 Family: Family: $20-$40 (Children under 12 Free) I am fairly certain that if you buy admission to one of the locations that it transfers to both downtown. PDC location is free. Parking: It’s downtown, it’s always a nightmare and 9 times out of 10 you will be paying. PDC location you can usually swing metered parking and since it is a fairly small space, that is usually good enough. Free: Thursday evenings.
The decline of Britain’s public museums (?) cont…
Some of you might remember the blog entry/rant I had in response to an infuriating article in the Independant by Alexander Hamilton. Feel free to refresh you memory with the links above, as the rant continued in the comments section:
“Your Majesty” replied to the 1st paragraph of the blog which I posted in teh comments section with:
Oh, dispense with the melodrama already. The article raises a very sensible concern about the commercialisation of museums and how they’re becoming hosts to spectacles rather than guardians of our precious cultural heritage. Museums aren’t entertainment venues, and they oughtn’t be treated as if they are—appealing to wider and diverse audiences is best left to television stations and the cinema, where these audiences are called “markets.”
You’ll forgive me if I find that sort of attitude reprehensible when held by museum boards obsessed with making their institutions profitable. From the anti-intellectual libertarian rightists we hear that museums are unprofitable and should be let go, and from the ever insecure left, we hear that they’re élitist when done properly. How about we leave aside the tired pandering and let museums do what they’re supposed to, eh?
My reply - should you still be reading - read as follows:
But, can I ask what you mean by being done ‘properly’? Presumably as ‘guardians of our precious cultural heritage’ they shouldn’t be displaying items where there is the chance they might degrade through light, moisture, touch etc. etc. And what might you mean when you say ‘our’? Presumably, if you mean humanity (and you must, as museums like the British Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A etc have relatively small collections of British things in comparison to all ‘other’, and that is primarily the sort of institution this article refers to) then the museums should be as accessible as possible. Even when you mean British, that means the whole spectrum of British identity - not just white, middle-class people, but also people of African-Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese (the list goes on) descent and yes, people of all backgrounds who don’t show up at the museum door equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills to appreciate their precious heritage as much as they would like. People go for so many different reasons, but you ask most and they will say to learn, not to study.
And rather than blame museums for commercialisation, perhaps you should look at the wider picture? The current govt which has asked museums to brace themselves for wideranging cuts, for instance? Maintaining, displaying and insuring priceless treasures is no cheap business and museums can’t just sell stuff (be it artefacts or postcards) to tide them over.
We both agree that museums are important and their collections are vital and should be preserved, I think our disagreement is for whom. Universities are the places where academic content can be communicated to those who have gained entry and while museums shouldn’t be dumbing down their content, it should be layered so that as a public space - a public institution - it can be enjoyed and appreciated by the most people possible.
It is difficult to justify the amount of public money museums cost if they aren’t accessible to those who fund it. Take away the public, take away the public funding. Then you are in a big mess.
The comment didn’t surprise me, rather the lack of comments. Five comments in all (2 of which were me…), one “Your Majesty”, “Wagmamma” (who also argues that museums should be free and are doing a sterling job - I paraphrase) and one flippant comment from a commenter with a history of flippant comments (click his/her picture for an overview). Do people really care so little about the way we run our museums? And whether they are accessible?
And, what arguments/points did I miss out? This isn’t the first or last time I’ve had this discussion and if anyone has further ammunition for my cause (or indeed arguments against that “Your Majesty” didn’t bring up), please let me know!
