Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

The comments in my last post about our new computed radiography (CR) system spurred me into writing a second post about this topic.

In the comments on that last post Karen T discussed the importance of being able to make a 1:1 comparison between a radiograph and a painting, and then Christina responded with some first-hand experience with our new system. I confess, though: I cheated a bit and asked Christina to answer that question because, after all, Christina is an experienced paintings conservator here at the IMA, and I’m not.

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Well it has been quite a week! Since my last post there has been all kinds of attention being paid to IMA technology efforts. Richard is still flying high on the blogosphere success of his Wikipedia hijinks, journalists have been in touch with us and Daniel and I even passed on our sage wisdom to a group of IUPUI Museum Studies students last Thursday night. All in all, it feels great to be in conversation with a variety of different audiences and honestly, it feels good to have fans! Though, we have really only just begun.

I think it should be a Nugget Factory goal to someday inspire the same fervent fandom that generated the film project Fanboys.

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I’ve got a few traditions I follow when I’m in New York – find the best possible cannoli, visit Chinatown to buy non-violent toy robots, see friends, drink $10 beers and now…always, always meet with Shelley Bernstein from the Brooklyn Museum.

Despi and I headed to Brooklyn to have lunch with Shelley at Juniors. [Quick side note: do you realize I ate cornbread, a fried chicken breast, mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes with gravy?] The food was absolutely delicious and it was a chance to catch up with Shelley about museums, technology and our projects. It’s rare to spend time with someone that is so honest and open and willing to collaborate or share experiences. That is what Shelley has done at Brooklyn and it’s that same spirit that we try to follow in Indianapolis.
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It took days to get here including 2 flight cancellations, roughly 12 hours of airport lounging, an almost trip to Boston and a 4:00am wake up call. Is SXSW in Austin worth it? You better believe it.

I love Texas. I always have. So it’s good to be in Austin for SXSW. It’s my first visit but honestly, I’ve never been a big conference fan. I’ve always appreciated the opportunity for professional development, the chance to meet new colleagues and of course learn something new, but I must admit, they can be boring. Is SXSW boring? No way. Keep SXSW weird.

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Following up on our recent blog posts with lists of top-10’s, summer movies, crushes and hotels, I thought I would follow suit. So let’s do this thing -

The good news is that the list of IMA bloggers will be expanding in the next couple of weeks. That means you won’t have to rely on my posts for your exciting look into the world of an art museum. Soon you’ll hear from a variety of perspectives, including conservation, curatorial, education and horticulture. I’ll still talk about technology, new media, art content and soccer, but I’m afraid you may have to wait a little longer. My apologies in advance.

Speaking of new bloggers, we are also working on the concept of Guest Bloggers. Yes, we are talking about people like Jay Z, Banksy, Jessica Alba, Jared the Subway Guy and other big names. I doubt we’ll get any of these celebs, but we are thinking creatively about who could be a guest blogger.

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