After a look at The Awakening sculpture, recently moved to the site from Hains Point, and a stroll around the rather deserted shops and convention center, I came upon Art Whino. Brimming with interested faces, this art gallery seemed to have all the attention of the harbor’s visitors. The current exhibition, Inked Souls, is an artist collaborative of canvas pieces on the wall each paired with customized Tagur sneakers by the same artist. (Tagur in and of itself is a blog post.) In this case, the footware company and Art Whino teamed up to give artists the opportunity to paint the Tagur AKA Blank model shoes. Then Tagur responds to the crowds’ reactions by producing a line of shoes with the most popular design. You can even buy your own pair to paint and send a photo to the company for consideration. According to the Tagur brand motto, the customer becomes the producer.

Art Whino knows how to take chances in marketing, moving from its location in popular Old Town (Alexandria, Va.) to its new National Harbor location, just outside of Oxon Hill, MD. Collaborating with companies that give their visitors a chance to interact with the art is a smart move. I even spotted local Indiana artist Emma Overman’s works near the front of the gallery.

Maybe it was the painted kicks that drew a crowd or the shared experience of witnessing and being a part of something creative and “soulful.” Regardless, locating an art gallery or museum in a developing area can not only prove commercially sucessful but also serves as a welcoming place of community and excitement.

New Media produces a diverse collection of projects that support exhibitions, our permanent collection, the website, marketing efforts, and many other things. Project ideas typically originate from IMA departments, curators or one of the 4 New Media staff. This week alone, we are working on an audio guide, video documentation for two contemporary installations, updating IMA’s flickr page, trying to finalize a video shoot in Walla Walla, Washington and much, much more. Beyond this week, our focus for the next few months will be continuing our video production, rolling out some new audio guides that will be available online and through iTunes, and in general, bringing more stories and content from the IMA to you. One of our biggest projects includes documenting an upcoming art installation by Maya Lin. The projects we produce are done with the visitor in mind, which is why it would be great to hear some of your ideas.

This is the 10th blog post since our new web site launched in early September, and we still don’t have any comments (sad, I know). It’s not that people aren’t reading – they are – there are just no comments. I realize that logging in or registering is a little confusing at the moment (we are working on this), and that visitors are not used to blog entries appearing on IMA’s site. That’s okay, because we will continue experimenting with new ideas, projects and content at the museum and online. So feel free to chime in…eventually.

On a personal note, some of us at the IMA are big fans of the Sony Bravia ads, and they just released one that involves NYC, clay bunnies, the Rolling Stones and a lot of time lapse. What more could you ask for? Check out Hi-Res and behind the scenes footage here, or watch the embedded video below.

Later.