In the great green garden-room
There was an elephant ear alocasia
And some blue and white balloon flowers ….”
Brilliant red of the native sourwood tree with the clear yellow of Photinia in the background. IMA/Oldfields border garden near orchard.
Arisaema and sourwood leaves
This Saturday, November 7, choreographer Oguri and the L.A.-based dance company Body Weather Laboratory bring Caddy! Caddy! Caddy! to The Toby. Named for a character in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and The Fury, the performance features slow movements drawn from the modern Japanese art of Butoh. In the interview below, Oguri puts his work in context.
Last Sunday, The Toby overflowed with thirsty fans lapping up the sounds of edgy string quartet Osso and Bloomington-based songster DM Stith, with his sweet voice and dark ideas. They also couldn’t stop watching The BQE, the first film by musician Sufjan Stevens, who jammed the screen with a triptych of imagery in homage to a crazy traffic artery in New York called the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. I had to be the one to stand at the Toby doors and turn people away for this sold-out show – I hated doing so and was very bad at it.
A full house (Photo by IMA Photography Dept.)
Osso (Photo by IMA Photography Dept.)
DM Stith and Osso (Photo by IMA Photography Dept.)
One of the things I’ve been proud of during my time here at the IMA is the museum’s commitment to institutional transparency. It’s always just made sense to me to concentrate on doing the right thing first, and then sharing as much as possible with others. (See, Mom… I wasn’t tuning you out all those years) If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you’ve probably heard us talk about the IMA’s Dashboard a time or two. Well, it’s hard to believe, but the Dashboard turned two years old in October! I thought this would be a fitting time to spend a bit of time talking about the how’s and why’s of transparency and IMA’s experiences in running the Dashboard during that time.
I had originally authored this as a paper to be published in print form, but I think it will actually work better in a blog format like this one. I’ve really appreciated the feedback and input readers have contributed to my last few posts, and would love your thoughts on this text as well.
Perhaps the most prevalent concern shared by peers about adopting similar approaches to transparency is a latent fear of the unknown, or a feeling that sharing the gritty details with the public will be too overwhelming and therefore misconstrued. I’m happy to say that the wheels haven’t fallen off the IMA’s apple cart yet, hopefully this series will illuminate some of the benefits we’ve seen from taking these steps.
The concept of Transparency has received significant attention in the media and online recently. This attention comes at a time when public doubt in corporations, government and corporate executives is at an all-time high. High profile failures of some of the nation’s largest and most trusted institutions have shaken our assumptions about what had always seemed to be untouchable industries. Museums have always jealously guarded their trusted place in the public’s perception, but is there a risk that this trust will someday be lost? As caretakers of this trust, what is the best way to foster open communication about the challenges and opportunities that face us as we try to achieve the mission of our museums? As comprehensive and easy access to operational information becomes the norm, how can museums embrace this as an opportunity and confront internal fears about sharing their performance metrics with the public?
To begin, we must first come to a common understanding about Transparency. Institutional Transparency is a concept that is notoriously difficult to define precisely. Principally, Transparency can be defined as the open sharing of information regarding a museum’s operations and performance. But questions soon arise regarding what to share, when to share, and how to share it. These issues are much more significant for museums to consider when crafting an organizational stance about Transparency.
The Pharmacy prescribes the following links to combat Monday online anemia.
Blog: Vogel Appliance Blog
Flashy? No. Practical? Oh yes. If you’ve ever wondered how much dish soap you really need, this blog is for you. This local appliance blog gives you tips and tricks that might help you save serious moolah come the winter season. And it’s coming soon.
ArtBabble Video: Jean Shin: Common Threads
Artist Jean Shin and Curator Joanna Marsh discuss the exhibition Jean Shin: Common Threads at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Topics include: new work commissioned by the American Art Museum titled Everyday Monuments, a cityscape constructed from losing lottery tickets called Chance City, and Unraveling, an installation inspired by the complexities of the Asian American Art community.
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