InclusiveMuseum.org

Newest Michigan Museum Showcases Racist Artifacts

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:10:00 +0000

In a March 14, 2012 photo, David Pilgrim, the founder and curator who started building the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, adjusts a display at the museum in Big Rapids, Mich. The museum says it has amassed the nation’s largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond. Photo by: Carlos Osorio/AP Photo
By Mike Householder from The Associated Press
The objects displayed in Michigan’s newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque — a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe.
That’s the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation’s largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

An Online Art Collection Grows Out of Infancy

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:06:00 +0000

The expanded second iteration of the Google Art Project was unveiled last week. Photo by: Google Art Project/Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
By Roberta Smith from The New York Times
I don’t know how many wonders of the world there are by now, but it is possible that the Google Art Project will someday join the list.
The greatly expanded second iteration of this online compilation of self-selected art museums and artworks was unveiled last week. It makes available images of more than 32,000 works in 31 mediums and materials, from the collections of 151 museums and arts organizations worldwide, forming a broad, deep river of shared information, something like a lavishly illustrated art book fused with high-end open storage.
But world-wonder status will not happen tomorrow.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

Manual of Museum Planning; Sustainable Space, Facilities, and Operations

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:28:00 +0000

Manual of Museum Planning
Sustainable Space, Facilities, and Operations
Third Edition
As museums have taken on more complex roles in their communities and the number of museum stakeholders has increased to include a greater array of people, effective museum planning is more important than ever. The Manual of Museum Planning has become the definitive text for museum professionals, trustees, architects, and others who are concerned with the planning, design, construction, renovation, or expansion of a gallery or museum. Rewritten and reorganized, the third edition features revised sections on planning for visitors, collections, and the building itself, and new sections on operations and implementation, which have become an essential part of the planning process. This new edition of the Manual of Museum Planning has been updated to meet the needs of professional museum practice in the 21st century and includes contributions by leading museum professionals.
Order your copy of the Manual until May 15, 2012 using promo code BS12MSBKS to get a special discount offer of 30% off from the publisher, AltaMira Press.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

Museum Torches Artwork in Austerity Protest

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Antonio Manfredi looks at an artwork by French artist Severine Bourguignon burning during a protest. Photo from ABC
From Yahoo News
An Italian museum has begun burning its collection of contemporary artworks to protest against harsh budget cuts that have left many cultural institutions out of pocket.
The Casoria Contemporary Art Museum near Naples held a bonfire in its grounds for the first torching of a painting by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favour of the protest and followed it on Skype.
Museum director Antonio Manfredi said: “Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the indifference of the government.”
He plans to burn three art works a week in an initiative dubbed “Art War”.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

No Indian Museum Among World’s Top 100

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:51:00 +0000

From Merinews
LOUVRE OF Paris, which houses “Mona Lisa”, tops the list with about 8.9 million visitors last year. Other nine top museums of the world listed are: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Washington DC), British Museum (London), National Gallery (London), Tate Modern (London), National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), National Palace Museum (Taipei), Centre Pompidou (Paris), National Museum of Korea (Seoul) and Musee D’ Orsay (Paris).
Founded in 1793, Musee du Louvre, also sometimes referred as “museum among museums”, besides “Mona Lisa”, also contains universally admired works like “Venus de Milo” and the “Victory of Samothrace”. Henri Loyrette and Herve Barbaret are President and Managing Director respectively.

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Alésia Museum Visitor’s Centre by Bernard Tschumi Architects

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:48:00 +0000

From Dezeen
a visitor’s centre with an ornate herringbone facade by Bernard Tschumi Architects opens this weekend on an archaeological site in central France.
The cylindrical centre occupies the same position held by the Roman army during a historic battle against the Gauls over 2000 years ago and its wooden exterior references the timber fortifications that would have been constructed nearby.
A second museum building, contrastingly clad in stone, is also being constructed a kilometre away across the battlefield and the pair will together comprise the Alésia Museum complex.
To Read More….

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

Announcing Book Launches at the 2012 Inclusive Museum Conference

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:41:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce the launching of 5 books in the Onmuseums Book Series!
1. Deborah Tranter, Museums and Communities: Changing Dynamics. An analysis of the Cobb+Co Museum in Toowoomba, Queensland 1987–2010, Chicago & Melbourne: Onmuseums Series, Common Ground Publishing, 2012.
2. Rae Sheridan, International Heritage Instruments and Climate Change.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

Announcing Book Launches at the 2012 Inclusive Museum Conference

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:41:00 +0000

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

World Reacts to Jerusalem Antiquities Forgery Trial Verdict

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:47:00 +0000

From Popular Archaeology
Despite the recent verdict of Judge Aharon Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court acquitting accused Israeli forgers Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch, the jury is still very much out on the actual authenticity of the subject antiquities they were accused of forging. After a seven-year trial with 120 sessions where the judge heard 126 witnesses and dozens of experts, producing 12,000 pages of testimony with a final 475-page verdict, the world seems to be no closer than before to determining the truth about the antiquities in question. Among them, the James Ossuary inscription, the Jehoash Tablet inscription, and the diminutive Ivory Pomegranate inscription, await further research and testing before most or all experts can agree that they are, in fact, what they have been purported to be.
On the criminal side of things, witnesses in the trial revealed a dark portrait of the Holy Land antiquities trade, including the looting of burials and under-the-table West Bank exchanges of large amounts of cash. Aside from the acquittal on forgery, the judge’s decision still found Golan guilty of three counts of violating the Antiquities Law and possession of suspected stolen property.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com

Future tense, VII: What’s a museum?

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:46:00 +0000

By James Panero from The New Criterion
What’s a museum? Lately, it seems, the answer is whatever we want. Today’s museums can be tourist attractions, department stores, civic centers, town squares, catalysts of urban renewal, food courts, licensing brands, showcases for contemporary architecture, social clubs, LEED-certified environmentally conscious facilities, and franchise opportunities. A “well-run museum is eerily like an upscale suburban shopping mall,” says an article in The New York Times. A cafe with “art on the side,”?advertises London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. “We are in the entertainment business, and competing against other forms of entertainment out there,” says a one-time spokesman for the Guggenheim museum.

Read full article at OnMuseums.com