The approaching New Year is bringing great and exciting changes at the IMA. In the Publishing and Media department, we are working towards an update of our much heralded art video site, ArtBabble.

After receiving praise from the New York Times in September for its easy-to-use interface and wealth of content, we are planning to build upon our success and make ArtBabble even better. Since its 2009 inception, ArtBabble has garnered an exceptional roster of partners from around the world and is currently host to over 1,200 videos from not only the IMA, but other prestigious institutions like the Smithsonian, the Met, MoMA, LACMA, and the National Gallery of Art. Thanks to one of our newest partners, Museo del Prado in Madrid, content is now also available in Spanish. So how can we make ArtBabble, an already amazing resource, even better? As a Masters of Library Science student at IU Bloomington, I can tell you my answer: organize, organize, organize!

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Filed under: New Media, Technology

This past weekend, the IMA’s video team (Daniel Beyer and I) arrived in Venice to film the installment and opening of Gloria by Allora & Calzadilla at the U.S. Pavilion for the 54^th Biennale di Venezia. Venice is a glorious backdrop, it is as romantic and complicated and ancient as it looks in pictures. In fact, it is hard to take a photo or video shot that doesn’t look suitable for a postcard or commercial. Everything is just too perfectly picturesque. Because of this, Venice makes a great foil for telling stories about the global cutting edge contemporary art scene, all of which it seems, lands here every other year for the Biennale.

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Filed under: Art, Exhibitions, New Media, Travel, Venice Biennale

Statue of Rocky outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A group of us here recently attended the annual Museums and the Web conference, held this year in Philadelphia.  The conference brings together museums from around the world to explore the role of technology in our various initiatives – whether they be online, in the galleries, or even in how our museums function.  Between lunch runs to Reading Terminal Market (amazing), the references to Ben Franklin (ever-present), and meeting with colleagues old and new (always a highlight), we each came away with a list of projects/ideas/encounters that grabbed our attention and will inspire our work throughout the upcoming year.  Here are our top takeaways from this year’s conference:

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Filed under: Museum Community, New Media, Road Trip, Technology, Travel

While sitting in an interview on a recent trip to New York, I had a moment of terror when artist Guillermo Calzadilla, of the duo Allora and Calzadilla, questioned one of my questions. “Do you have an example?” I did, in fact, have one eventually, but I can only hope my face didn’t immediately betray my feelings as I scrambled to come up with a response. I figured falling off the chair and playing dead was not a viable option.

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Filed under: Contemporary, New Media

“Life has been rough with me, how it been with you?” Thornton Dial questions me through headphones as I enter the first room of Hard Truths. “Well, pretty rough too.” I think to myself, hoping Mr. Dial and myself can find more things in common. “Life is rough with everybody,” he says. “We all have had a hard time. If you got a million dollars you still got a hard time in life because it ain’t nothing easy.” I agree with Dial, but I still want a million dollars.

A visitor to "Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial" using the TAP tour.

Today I’m trying out our hand-held TAP tour. The TAP tour is a mix of audio, video and picture content on an iPod Touch. It guides patrons through the exhibition, giving them additional information to enhance the experience. I did my best to read every label, give every painting a sufficient amount of time, and listen to each sound bite, but that’s not necessary. If the exhibition is laid out well (just as this one was) then you flow through it, feeling a slight current supporting you the entire way.

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Filed under: Exhibitions, New Media, Technology, Thornton Dial