Ask Oprah, and she’ll tell you she’d invite Jesus to her dream dinner party…(watch the clip below)

Ask us, and well, after last week, we might have to say Felder Rushing. IMA TV stopped to chat with the Southern gentleman in the Oldfields orchard while he was at the IMA for his talk as part of our Planet Indy series. Check out the latest IMA TV episode and you’ll see why we’re crazy for this offbeat gardening guru.

Filed under: Education, Horticulture, IMA TV, Interviews, New Media, The Toby

IMA TV chats with Sarah Green while installing Atelier van Lieshout’s Funky Bone Benches in the 100 Acres Art and Nature Park at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Joep van Lieshout, with his studio Atelier van Lieshout, will present a group of 20 benches with drawings of large bones that will together form the shape of an enormous, stylized human skeleton.

The work grows out of ideas about native heritage and cultural development, with bones iconically referring to artifacts and remains from previous occupants. The artist, who encountered visitors sitting on rocks and other natural perches on his visit to Indianapolis, wanted to create benches as sites for resting in 100 Acres.

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Current Events, IMA TV, Interviews, New Media

In a few short days, you’ll have the chance to experience Tara Donovan: Untitled at the IMA and take the TAP tour along with it. Opening this weekend, it’s been a mad dash to finalize this exhibition experience that features audio commentary, polls, videos and high-res imagery, all accessible on an iPod Touch. Oh, and if you’re an IMA member, TAP is free to you.

This is the second TAP tour we’ve done for an exhibition, and another major accomplishment for the Nugget Factory. NF FTW! As with any project, the second go-around always seems a little smoother. We certainly couldn’t have done it without the collaborative spirit of the contemporary department. Also, big ups to our applications team for some slick interface modifications to the TAP software. Did I mention the entire software development, content production and implementation was done entirely in-house?

Another difference you’ll notice if you took the Sacred Spain tour last winter is that this tour focuses more on the visitor’s interpretation and experience and offers many different perspectives.

You’ll hear voices from curatorial, design, education, and conservation at the IMA. One of those voices is IMA’s Phil Lynam, Manager of Art and Design Education. We hope this sample stop will entice you to TAP into Tara Donovan:Untitled at the IMA. Listen below:

Stay tuned for more exciting news about TAP!

Filed under: Art, Conservation, Current Events, Design, Education, Interviews, Marketing, New Media, Technology

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Interviews, The Toby

Acclaimed film director Julie Dash worked with six area high school students over the course of their participation in the IMA’s Museum Apprentice Program to produce short films featured in the exhibition Smuggling Daydreams into Reality: Yesterday, Today and Forever.

The exhibition opened Saturday and runs through January 18, 2010 in the IMA’s Star Studio. I spent my Tuesday lunch in the exhibition. The students’ video works and the film documenting the process with Dash drew me in. I was also tempted to add my own daydream to an IMA Flickr set shown in the exhibition as a slideshow. But my stomach was growling so I’ll have to go back.

I was delighted to sit down with Julie for a quick chat earlier this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Education, Exhibitions, Interviews