Even though the show has only been over for a few days now, I thought it would be interesting and a little fun to recap some of the online stuff that happened around European Design.

As for interesting, turns out the European Design exhibition website was relatively successful in terms of traffic and Google PageRank. According to Google Analytics, through the run of the show, the site welcomed nearly 30k unique vistors and beat out our last two special exhibitions, Power and Glory and To Live Forever over similar time periods. For a young site with a short span of marketing relevance, European Design was able to muster a PR of 5 before the show ended. This is a little hard to believe but we also managed to keep the site’s bounce rate below 20%. That’s awesome. Good work.

As for fun, who remembers the European Design Facebook caption contest? I know I completely forgot about it until my trusted Facebook associate, Emily, reminded me about all the good ideas she’s had and how that was one of them. Below is a notable example.

It looks like that flower is "sponge worthy"... - Jake on Facebook

As for more fun, we also started up a Flickr group that fed into the EuroDesign exhibition site. Not only did group members get to see their designs streaming through our site but we also gave away a few tickets and some cool prizes like exhibition catalogs and Design Center gift certificates. Check out the Flickr group.

While I’m a little sad to see European Design leave, I’m super excited about what new interesting and fun online stuff is going to show up for Sacred Spain. While I’m not going to make any promises, expect some Facebook activity. And since it’s all the rage, my guess is that Twitter may make an appearance. As always, if you’ve got any ideas or suggestions, let me get ‘em in the comments.

As the IMA website indicates, we have taken official possession of the Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana. This will make the second National Historic Landmark property the IMA has in its collection (Oldfields-Lilly House and Gardens being the first). How’s that for bragging rights! As a practical matter however, home ownership is not all fun and games in this situation. Ahead lies a road of challenges for the staff working on MHG teams.

Columbus is an hour’s drive south of Indy, which makes it difficult to explore the house and conduct business with the current local staff. Director of Lilly House Operations Bradley Brooks, head of our team of six, has spent a lot of time on the phone and making the trek south in the run-up to taking possession of the property. He has interacted with everyone from members of the Miller family to a nephew of  Eero Saarinen. Bradley has been, and continues to be a very busy beaver.

The task of converting a residential property into a museum showcase has been an educational experience for our team, so far. It has forced us to look at all the things we do here at the museum, a lot of which we take for granted, and formulate how to adapt and transplant these practices to a former family home fifty miles away.

Chief Registrar Katie Haigh and Conservator-in-Charge David Miller (along with more staff down the road) will need to inventory, evaluate, photograph, and catalog the entire contents of the house. Katie and David are currently working with Buildings guru Bert Reader to determine what can be done with the climate control systems to best preserve the house and its contents. And don’t forget, the house itself is a piece of art–made primarily of steel, marble and glass—so David will have to develop a list of acceptable cleaning supplies, and a schedule for keeping the house spic and span. Structural drawings, building materials, maintenance records and other information on the house and other buildings on property will need to be collected and researched to assist with preservation efforts.

Bert, Safety Manager Mindy Summers and I have been looking at the safety and security needs of the house. Needless to say, there are some interesting and quirky aspects to MHG.

It’s been an Easter egg hunt at times to find some of the security devices hidden in the many nooks and crannies, and Bert has had to deal with the Complex Issues Dept. at the phone company. Who knew? In addition to proposing some upgrades to the existing security and fire systems, we have met with Columbus fire and police personnel to discuss access issues and response procedures to ensure smooth cooperation with local agencies.

Mindy and I will take our existing procedures from the IMA, such as access lists, on-call lists and key control, and adjust them to fit the Miller House environment. We will eventually have to add other safety procedures, such as a disaster plan and a hazardous chemical inventory, to the many books that will reside at the house. After the house is reconfigured to our satisfaction (or budget limits), we will determine staffing levels, work schedules, the inventory process, lockdown procedures and other security duties to be performed.

In the meantime, Director Max Anderson, Sr. Curator of Design Arts R. Craig Miller, Director of Environmental and Historic Preservation Mark Zelonis and others will devise the plan for how to present the house to the public.

The to-do list is endless, but having another landmark property like the Miller House adds a huge feather to the IMA’s cap and broadens the art experience that we can offer to our visitors.

They didn’t design the accompanying clouds you see here, but what if they could have?

by Theater of Inclusion

Fellow IMA blogger Ed Bachta recently told me about a new film called Owning the Weather.  Premiering last week at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the film tells the story of weather modification science.  The film features “seeders,” scientists who inject clouds with substances that hasten condensation, thereby making rain.  The doc also gives voice to philosophers on both sides of the debate about whether weather interventions are a handy solution to the global warming blues…or a sacrilegious crossing of the line between human and god.We can’t help but ask how long it will take some meteorologically-inclined contemporary artist to whip up a blizzard at the next Venice Biennale.  It could happen…

How about designer plants and animals?  It’s being done.  As physicist Freeman Dyson writes, every orchid, rose and lizard is the work of a skilled breeder.  The designers whose work is on view in the IMA’s current European Design: Shaping the New Century exhibition offer mind-blowing conceptions of chairs, lamps, etc.  Future design exhibitions may include the latest microbe, engineered to feed on plastic: an innovative design solution to the problem of reducing that gargantuan mass of trash floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Or, Dyson notes, Open Source biology may allow artists (or even third graders) to design their own genomes.  This is the premise of video games like Spore (whose designer we’ve been trying to invite to the IMA to give a talk).

As designer Bruce Mau asked in the exhibition Massive Change: “Now that we can do anything, what will we do?”

For now, I am going to keep it simple and join the international Cloud Appreciation Society.  I’m no sculptor but know how to savor a fine cumulonimbus, authored by no one that I know of.

Image from toxel.com

While roaming the Internet one day, I ran across a design website with photos of fun coffee mugs of all shapes and sizes. It made me think of our newly opened European Design exhibit, and work, and drinking coffee since that’s what I do at work–drink coffee.

I found some more interesting websites about coffee, especially ones where coffee intersects with art and design. And I thought back to the old days when our coffee arrangement here at the IMA was entirely different. Cue the harp sound effects and wavy visual for a flashback…

Back in the day, the IMA was a different place. Security was a brand new department with all its damn rules and procedures, and the staff lounge was on the Service Level (basement, for the uninitiated), now the Art Viewing room. Coffee was free and the Bunn always had a pot of Joe on the warmer, thanks to Marty Krause, our Prints and Drawings curator. You see, smoking was allowed in the break room back then, and Marty had a reserved table where he smoked his pipe, wrote on his legal pads, and answered the phone (usually calls for him).

Staff from all departments would come in at various times of the day to grab a cup of java and sit and chat with whomever was present at the time. Conversations were often lively and wide-ranging, and everyone could get to know the new security people. The officers guzzled coffee to stay alert while working 12-hour shifts.

Move to the present and we find that coffee is no longer freely supplied by the museum. As a result, various departments have their own coffee and coffee makers. In addition, departments which once lined the corridor along with the old break room have now been moved up and away, a sort of urban flight which has impacted cross-department chit chat. Add a new location for the staff lounge, a new café, and new technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and this site and you have a situation where staff is more inclined to stay in their own neighborhood, so to speak, instead of venturing out and having casual, face-to-face interactions with co-workers.

The idea of a “coffee break” was to get workers away from their activities in order to relax and refresh themselves. With a combination of economic needs (no free coffee), restructuring (department relocations), and new technologies (Twitter) the chance for workers to relax, share ideas, and entertain each other has been reduced.

Now, I find myself refilling my mug and either conversing with my own staff or returning to my desk to check email, the IMA blog, or get my political news fix. I have the luxury of being able to get out and wander the building and grounds, and speak with other folks, but too often my interactions are limited to email or meetings. I miss the days of sitting in the break room listening to travel stories, tales from the C.I.A., and hearing about who fell asleep on post. Sigh.

Image from toxel.com

Euro Design at the IMA

Let the conversation continue long after the thought-provoking Q&A sessions at the European Design Symposium on March 6th and 7th at the IMA.

Got something to say? We’d like to invite you to use this blog as a forum to ask questions and post comments about anything and everything to do with European Design.

By the way, footage from this weekend’s events will be on ArtBabble.org very soon, so keep an eye out!

New Media will be pretty busy starting today and into the weekend.  We’ll be documenting both days of the symposium and grabbing interviews with some of the biggest names in the Design world.  Pretty cool.  Now that we’re running ArtBabble, we need to work harder and smarter to bring you the best possible video content.  The European Design Symposium is a perfect opportunity to do add to the ArtBabble selections.

Juli Capella's Homepage

Also participating in the Symposium is designer and architect Juli Capella.   His site is delightful, playful, surreal, funny and professional (all things I hold in high regard).  It’s hard to pull that off, but Juli manages to do that in the physical and online world.  His site is a must see and you can stop by the Symposium to hear from him directly.  I promise its worth it.  So why am I singling him out?

This past fall, I had the opportunity to interview Juli for our In the Factory series.  This series can be found on our iTunes U page or on ArtBabble and focuses on direct interviews with artists and designers.  Dan Dark and Danny Beyer in the Nugget Factory, shoot and edit this series in the same style and we use the same line of questioning for every interview.  I love ITF and once ArtBabble gets out of the beta phase (I promise, very soon), anyone with an internet connection can hear directly from people like Juli Capella, Maya Lin, Emily Kennerk, Alfredo Jaar, Orly Genger and more.  It’s about artists talking directly and honestly about their creative processes, experience in the art world and the act of creating.  Dan and Danny do a fabulous job of revealing these insights through their own creative approach to video editing.  It’s the type of content we should all be focusing on.

So I leave you with Juli’s In the Factory (one of my faves).  It may be Thursday, but it already feels like a Friday.  See you at the IMA?

Phil: Good morning, Dynah. How are you?

Dynah: Ay-Yay-Yay! I don’t see you anymore. What, you don’t have time for Dynah? The only one of you that comes to see me anymore is the one they call Peeper. You can’t stop by? Say hello to little ol’ Dynah?

Phil: You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m in Public Affairs now and don’t handle Lilly House A/V anymore. But we’re talking now aren’t we? After all, this is your interview.

Dynah: You said you’d call. I miss my handsome green eyed shaygets.

Phil: Whoa, Dynah, whoa! Hands off. Sit. Drink your tea. Tell me about something. Anything. Have you been to The Toby yet? Seen a show?

Dynah: I have. But forget that little girly of yours. She can’t cook like I do…

Phil: Dynah, I’m sure you’re better. But can you elaborate on your Toby experience? Please?

Dynah: (Pouting) If you insist. I like the foreign films and a human of mine is going to sneak me into your Winter Nights this Friday. She says the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra is going to play along to “The General.” Oh, how I enjoy Buster Keaton. Care to join us?

Phil: I may stop in for second. What else? Are you excited about our next exhibition? European Design Since 1985?

Dynah: How many more questions do you have? I thought we were going to talk about us?

Phil: Two more, I promise. And I promise we’ll talk later. But now, Dynah, please, our next exhibition?

Dynah: Fine, but you’re going to talk to me later. Yes, as you know, I live in the Lilly House, and I have an affinity for fine design. I’m also close friends with James Dyson’s house-elf, Margaret. We used to play bridge together. She’s excited about the exhibition too because she has in her silly head that the show will have one of the very pieces she used to clean Jim’s carpets.

Phil: That’s interesting. She sounds lovely. Last question and you’ll have to forgive me, but fans of house-elves everywhere are asking, do you know Dobby?

Dynah: Sure I do. The putz dated my cousin.

The IMA pharmacy prescribes the following links to combat Monday online anemia.

Jeremy Mayer – A week ago, I saw the “Bodies…The Exhibition” exhibition in the basement of the Indy Weber Grill. At the end of the show, you are given a little glimpse of what a human looks like underneath when there’s metal implants and stuff grafted into flesh. I’m into cyborgs in general and T-800 in particular and I have a feeling Jeremy is too.

Obamicon.me – Make your own Obama “Hope” poster with this fun website from the Paste Media Group empire.

Designm – (By way of Jenny the intern) This website calls itself a blog, but it’s really much more than that. It has resources for everyone from a professional in the design world to the college student wondering how to get into the business. Even for us wannabe designers there are useful tips on how to better use illustrator, improve your website, etc. Check out the gallery for some inspiration…

IMA European Design Website – Brand new and up and running. View the trailer, read about designers, and sign up for the symposium at the online  home for “European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century.”

plenty more here

I’m in no way comparing our new site with Lolcats. But they mentioned a strategy that we have directly copied with European Design – and will be doing so with a another ‘art video’ site later this month. They shared with the packed Austin, TX audience (munching on cheeseburgers), that with I Has a Hotdog! they very quietly released the site. No major marketing campaigns, no online ads, no webcasts – you get the picture. It launched and they watched. They watched it gain traffic, made changes and waited. We’re doing something similar with European Design.

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century

This exhibition opens March 8, so in the weeks leading up to this opening, you’ll begin to see more marketing strategies associated with the exhibition and this new site. This will include print pieces, billboard, e-mails, etc. This is one of the earliest site launches ever done by the IMA and the site is still incomplete. I don’t see a problem with that.  With our projects, we often wait until the very last moment – or when we feel that it has reached the ‘perfect’ level.  I’m all for taking a more informal approach to what we publish.

We will be adding Designer Profiles on a regular basis between now and the run of the show. We will be adding audio and video content. And we have a couple of tricks up our sleeves for other content ideas. Some IMA staff have posted this site on their Facebook walls, e-mailed friends, or tweeted. You may have found it within IMA’s main site.

Now I’m letting the lolcat out of the bag – blog style. Come see a site that will keep getting better and before the real marketing campaign begins. It’s like a band that’s on the verge of making it, and you can say, “I knew it when…”

This past Sunday, Lewis Hamilton became the F1 champ passing Timo Glock in the last corner on the last lap of the last race of the season.  For less than 30 seconds, race winner Felipe Massa of Ferrari was the champ…until that last corner.  Lewis was crowned champion by 1 point.  Wow.

Lewis Hamilton, 2008 F1 Champ

I love Formula 1 (my dad worked in it) , I’m sad it doesn’t come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (for the time being), and it is at the technological forefront of auto racing (hey, I’m in New Media) – so I’m always happy to bore you with this stuff.  However.

Recent experiences have made me consider design in a new way, especially the design of every day objects.  For me, these might be the things we take for granted or not really consider ‘designed.’  I was recently in Spain working on a couple of New Media projects for upcoming IMA exhibitions, including one on European Design.  In Barcelona I had the opportunity to interview designer Marti Guixe and architect Juli Capella.  Since these interviews (and the omnipresence of Gaudi in Barcelona), I have paid more attention to the objects around me – their function, aesthetic appeal, construction and so on.  You can find beauty and innovation in even the most mundane objects.  I’m telling you this because I hope you share your own experiences with design.

I missed Lewis’ incredible last lap because I was on a plane (I love the graphic design of the airline safety cards) and this of course, as it always does, made me think of Patrick Smith’s fascinating blog post on the jet liner as art.   So the combination of F1, recent exposure to leading designers, and IMA’s first ever guest blogger, inspired me to share some of my favorite F1 cars as objects of design.  Here’s 3 -

The Tyrrell P34, 1976 – yeah, it had six wheels. Talk about innovation and risk taking.

Image courtesy of formula1.sport24.pl

The Brabham BT-52, 1983.  There something about the lines of this car combined with the simple blue and white.

Image courtesy of km77.com

And, I would come under harsh criticism if I failed to mention the Ferrari 156 F1 Sharknose, 1961-62.  Hey, it’s a Ferrari.

Image courtesy of ultimatecarpage.com

These are just three cars from thousands of F1 designs over the years, but they illustrate an area of design that interests me.

I also love the Eames Lounge Chair, Tag Heuer Monaco watch and Lego’s.  It just something about the way they are designed.

I’ve listed my favorite design objects.  Now it’s your turn.

]]> http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2008/11/06/lewis-hamilton-and-design/feed/ 1 Lewis Hamilton, 2008 F1 Champ The six-wheeler! The turbo charged BMW of Nelson Piquet Nice nose!