Cell Phones are Now Permitted Within the Museum

Gone are the days where cell phones are strictly forbidden at museums. At least at the Cleveland Museum of Art , one of the world’s most distinguished art institutions. I visited the Cleveland Museum of Art a few weeks ago and was amazed by the hidden nuggets that cell phones are revealing. Where some museums have signs reminding you of the prohibition of cell phones, the CMA has signs encouraging you to use your smart phone. They’re just not using the smart phone in one particular way. They are using both QR codes for advertising and mobile phone tours.

QR Code example provided via Google Image Search

QR is short for Quick Response, and the codes are two-dimensional black and white squares arranged in a specific matrix, much like that of a barcode. QR codes were originally used for vehicle manufacturing, but as you can tell these nifty little squares of technology are becoming quite popular outside the world of manufacturing. Artist Fabrice de Nola is working with QR codes within her oil paintings and QR Arts is turning practical and actual QR codes into designs for companies.

According to Museum Media the CMA is the first museum in Northeast Ohio to attempt to use QR codes. The Vancouver Opera and the Palm Beach Opera are also using QR codes in their advertisements. The codes were placed within advertisements in June 2010 for the reopening of the museum after its massive remodel and ongoing expansion. The codes directed people to the museums new website and allowed people to plan their trips to the free museum.

Tim Brokaw, managing partner of Brokaw Inc., the firm responsible for helping the CMA create the campaign said, “The art museum chose to experiment with QR codes for the first time to become more attractive to those people who often are early adopters of technology and are willing to try new things.”

QR codes are not the only new technology the Cleveland Museum of Art is using. They have started to use mobile phones for tours with the help of Earprint Productions. Founded by Jason Reinier, Earprint Productions, specializes in creating “exhibit design, mobile tours and apps, and scriptwriting for the museum community.”

Earprint Productions created an online and mobile tour called Art Conversations. Narrated by Dee Perry, “Art Conversations features voices of museum professionals, local artists, community members, and experts.” The audio is clear and allows the listening to hear these great insights without renting an antiquated listening device. We are now able to listen to mobile tours without wondering who used the device last. Unfortunately my phone did have some trouble receiving information, but other people within my group did not have the same problems. I blame my phone and not the technology.

Along with tapping into the smartphone niche the Cleveland Museum of Art has started their own blog. Within the blog contains posts about exhibits, artists and the construction project at the museum. I am glad that the Cleveland Museum of Art is advancing past what other museums are doing and into the world of technology.

Google Art: Viewing van Gogh Without Ever Leaving Your Home

Google Art Project Screen shot

No art was harmed in the making of Google’s newly released Google Art Project, only maybe the desire to visit the greatest artworks in the world. “With this unique project, anyone anywhere in the world will be able to learn about the history and artists behind a huge number of works, at the click of a mouse,” Google stated in their Feb. 1 press release.

Google is even boasting 17 “gigapixel” images of some of the world’s most recognizable and famous pieces of artwork. With roughly 7 billion megapixels per image these “gigapixel” images allow the viewer to zoom in and view details such as brushwork, only previously seen in person (and even then, since some museum won’t let people get that close). There are a total of 1061 “super high resolution” artwork images in 17 museums.

People can use Google Art Project to collect images of their favorite pieces of artwork merely by signing into their Google account. These collections can be shared with others. This is not necessarily something new. It’s a wonder technology hasn’t completely made physical experiences void, but there is still time.

Enough about the facts behind this new technology, I don’t have a split decision on the technology. I think the fact that Google has the technology to create a virtual museum world is amazing. I am truly undecided about the implications of this new project. On one side I worry about museums. I worry if revenue, patrons and visitors of museums will decline. On the other side I am excited for people to see artwork they would otherwise never be able to see. For me it allows me to relive my trip to Florence when I saw my favorite piece of artwork, Botticelli’s La Primavera.

In a discussion of the site on Facebook Zack Morrison stated, “I think this will be for art what downloading is for music, I think this will give a wider audience a risk free way to familiarize themselves with artwork and places they would otherwise never see…there is no substitute for seeing it in person be it a concert or Versailles.” I think this could be a very telling analogy. Downloading music has completely wrecked the economy of the music industry. According to the Institute for Policy Innovation believes the cost to be about $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the U.S. Economy and tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of lost wages. That being said, the sharing of music at a lower (non-existent) price does allow for a greater sharing.

In response J.B. Henry said, “I’m just afraid of the bombardment of information and pixel-visuals/digital sounds may become as good as the real experience for some.” To many seeing artwork on a computer screen might be enough. Why would they bother seeing a work they saw in super high resolution?

I am truly excited for the possibilities that this presents for education. In art history classes a professor can show better images of iconic artwork. Instead of slides that have suffered water and color damage students can view images that are true to the artwork. They can get a sense of the size of an artwork by seeing the piece in its space.

Technology is doing new, wonderful and possibly dangerous things to the world of art. Time will only tell about the longevity of Google Art Project. In a few months this new art technology discussion might not even be relevant. Once the newness of the site has warn off it might go the way of Myspace and be forgotten in a few years. Or it might be completely revolutionary to the world of art.

Links
https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/art-project/
http://www.googleartproject.com/
http://www.ipi.org/ipi/IPIPublications.nsf/f726f4998ba46f86862567d80074727a/d95dcb90f513f7d78625733e005246fa?OpenDocument

Beyond Four Walls

The Internet has allowed the world of art to expand past the walls of museums, galleries and homes. The individual can be their own curator. They can be exposed to much more than ever before. Gone are the days of the Academy telling people what to like, but a person can decide what art is to them.

Grand Tours of the European Continent are a thing of the past, but a quick perusal of Web 2.0 and Google provide a plethora of images and inspiration. Websites are catering to this need in many ways.

Social media allows people to discover, read and share art on the Internet at a near alarming pace. The Internet is making more than ridiculous video personalities famous. It’s more than about connecting to art, it allows people to connect to the artists in a personal way. Artists can and should use social media to the fullest extent, especially blogging. For the artist it is more than sharing every minute detail of their life, but the essence of their work, where their inspiration comes from and other topics related to their work.

Social networking sites seem to rise and fall in popularity every few years, but some have real staying power by allowing people to adapt and use the site for many different purposes. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be great for artists, but there are more art-specific sites available. Like social networking sites, there are hundreds of options when it comes to art networking sites.

Following are three sites that are helpful and artists use. There are many more, but these have active communities and are contemporary when it comes to art, news and contests.

DeviantArt: “Where ART meets application!”

DeviantArt boasts the largest network of art and users. They claim the ability to browse over 100 million pieces of art and 13 million members. Upon setting their sites on the website a person will see the green hues that are unique to DeviantArt. The color takes away some of the pretentious nature of art and makes it more amateur friendly. On the front page there are upwards of 24 of “recent deviations”. A deviation is a piece of artwork the user, deviant, uploads. From the homepage a person can browse and search deviations, participate in polls and sign up for a free or paid profile. Even with a free membership artists can sell prints of their work.

A deviant profile consists of artwork, deviantID (profile picture), blog and favorites. As a member of DeviantArt you can collect your favorites for others to see and easy access. If you want more customization for your profile go ahead and buy a subscription. At under $5 a month for many it is worth it. Deviants can even go as far as buying ads that show up when people are browsing.

DeviantArt is a fan boy or girls haven. They can see artwork of their obsession in all sorts of mediums. Anime, fanfiction, and original writings, are some of the more non-traditional arts that are rampant on DevianArt. Jewelry and artisan crafts are represented, but not at the same level as other types of art

ARTslant: “The #1 contemporary art network”

Artslant is more commercial than DeviantArt. The ability to buy works is more apparent, but a person must have a paid subscription to sell their works. In keeping with many art based sites Artslant’s appearance is built upon a black and white grid model. Based on appearances Artslant is best suited for three types: working artists, agents and the occasional consumer. A feature that I love about Artslant that I have yet to see on DeviantArt is the exhibitions feature. Here you can see where, when and with whom, the artist has exhibited. While Artslant is the more professional version of DevianArt it does not seem to foster personal connections to the same extent. It is much more a virtual gallery.

Profiles pages are much more streamlined and display less personal information and more what a gallery would be interested in reading. Depending on the artist there is more content, but the option to have as much as DeviantArt is not there.

Artspan: “Contemporary Art”

Artspan can be summed up easily in my mind: a virtual arts and crafts fair. Unlike some of its competitors Artspan caters to even wider realms of artistry: jewelry and crafts. These are represented at the same level as artists and photgraphers. According to their “Quick Facts” Artspan is the #1 ranking for contemporary art by Yahoo and Google. The home page is very similar to that of Artslant, but it offers more information about the website and benefits on the front page. Profiles are standalone websites and customizable. A major drawback of Artspan: it’s going to cost you after the first month.

Artbridg Thoughts

Of the three websites, I am only a member of DeviantArt, and not a very active member at that. I have been a member for about 6 years and the work posted spans about an 8 year period. I am thinking about joining Artslant as part of the maturing from an art student into an artist, but at this point I won’t be spending money to join Artspan. Considering I hadn’t heard about it until this week I do not think it will be worth my money when the other two sites are free and seem to have more visitors.

In terms of looks, DeviantArt reads like a website, but Artspan and Artslant read more like art magazines on the Internet. When viewing both you have to look around the ads and the gridded content to find some of the better functions. The fact that they remind me of an art magazine is not necessarily a bad thing. It does contribute to a sense of continuity among a genre of work.

Whether an artist chooses to stick with the big three of social media (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) or venture to the art-specific sites, they can make a world of difference by harnessing the power of the Internet masses.