The following post was written by Kathleen Kiefer, Senior Conservator of Textiles.

Many of us at the IMA are working towards getting the Miller House ready to open to the public. In the spring of 2011 visitors will be able to tour the house in small groups, accompanied by a guide, embarking from the Columbus, IN Visitors Center.

Miller House living room with view out to the gardens

One of the many details to consider when designing a house tour is mapping the exact route visitors will take through the house. We want to provide an authentic experience of the architecture, interior design and gardens while protecting the original fabric of the house and its furnishings.

To accomplish this we will install custom sized carpet runners to mark a path for tours to follow. The carpet runners will be placed to create some distance between visitors and fragile furnishings, yet will allow visitors to move within the architectural space, rather than peering at it from a distance.

Kathleen Kiefer, Senior Conservator of Textiles, and Bradley Brooks, Director of Historic Resources, measure for carpet runners to mark the path for Miller House public tours.

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The Circle was anything but square today.

Today (yes, Friday the 13th) a couple dozen Andy Warhol look-a-likes dashed around Monument Circle to the rockin’ sounds of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Run Run Run’ for a little thing we like to call a flash mob.

That leaves two kinds of people in this town: those who saw it, and those who didnt.

You were there? Awesome! You can upload your pics and vids to using your Flickr account. Missed the action? Don’t get your wig in a twist. Stay tuned for great footage and images here.

You may notice a little ‘pardon our dust’ beginning this week in the Efroymson Entrance Pavilion of the IMA. Heather Rowe’s installation, Tenuous Arrangements has left the building. In case you missed it, check out her talk on ArtBabble below:

What’s coming to take it’s place? Architecture and design fans, rejoice! Los Angeles-based design team Ball-Nogues Studio will create an immersive, site-specific installation called Gravity’s Loom.

Ball-Nogues Studio, Feathered Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

The space will be filled with multicolored strings configured in catenary curves, arcs naturally assumed by the strings as they respond to the force of gravity. Trained as architects, Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues are working with the pavilion’s architecture to develop an installation related to the function of the space as a thoroughfare and meeting point for visitors.

Check out this wicked installation video from The Arts Council for Long Beach:

Strike a pose. We’ve been practicing our runway walk and ‘Blue Steel‘ for weeks just so we could serve you up this hot ‘n tasty video tour of Body Unbound. Check it out:

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Music and art go hand in hand. And what better pairing for Tara Donovan’s ‘extraordinary’ art than a performance by percussionist Nick Hennies?

This Saturday, you can experience the sounds Nick Hennies as he performs music from his forthcoming album, Psalms, as well as Objects, a new work dedicated to the exhibition Tara Donovan: Untitled and composed especially for this installation.

Drawing connections to Donovan’s work, Hennies’ piece makes seemingly familiar sounds become strange and new.

Check out one of Nick’s performances below:

New Sound Facilities #1 – Nick Hennies & Sandy Ewen from You and Yours on Vimeo.