There are actually more than 10 reasons to visit

What, you haven’t been to the IMA’s new Tobias Theater yet? Consider this your personal invitation…along with ten good reasons to get thee to The Toby to catch a film in the next two weeks:

1. To be surprised: Little Fugitive, a black-and-white beauty made in 1953, is probably a film you’ve never heard of. Let that be a good thing. This 80-minute indie gem is about a boy who runs away to Coney Island. Think of it as Leave It To Beaver infused with art, subtlety, and cinematography to die for. Sneak away and see it at The Toby Tuesday, December 30.
2. The sound rocks: As the museum’s senior AV technician, sound hound Chris Cruz made sure the sound system in The Toby is top notch. Three refrigerator-sized speakers lurk behind the movie screen to give you blasts of aural delight.

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Filed under: Public Programs, The Toby

New Media, Developers, our IT staff, members of the Design Studio, and Marketing are currently working on a new space in the museum.  It’s an area that in the past has experimented with visitor-focused technology.  Some of these projects have included an interactive approach to exploring highlights of IMA’s collection, a chance to interact with Asian objects in a dream-like, 3-D environment, and the opportunity to explore the Roman Forum, virtually of course.

The X Room, shortly after the IMA reopened in 2005

2009 will bring a new approach to this tech environment, that I hope encourages our museum visitors to talk back to us.

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Filed under: New Media, Technology

That sums it up.  You can always tell how stressed out I am by how messy my desk is.  To the untrained eye my desk might look pretty neat.  But only I know that I have stuffed papers that ought to be filed into that little tray and I have five new projects with documents waiting for a file folder.    (So maybe I am a little crazy with the organization…I think it keeps us all together in the long run.)

Check out this photo on Flickr to see a diagram of my crazy.

This is a super-busy time for the Nugget Factory and it just sort of happened.  For a couple of days last week, Daniel was out of the office with Dan shooting some video in San Francisco for the upcoming show, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty. I found myself sitting at my desk, working at a normal pace…and bored out of my mind.  Two days later, with the full factory back in action, things sort of erupted, with new tasks flying in at every angle.  I guess I prefer it that way…Check out this selection of stuff we have coming soon: Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Exhibitions, New Media

Today we are pleased to welcome Anne Laker, our newest IMA blogger, representing the Education department. She is also known for her compassion for all things green, so please enjoy her inaugural post on this most appropriate occasion.

Never underestimate the potential of a bruised banana. Around the office at the IMA, my desk is known as repository for fruit that’s past its prime. Colleagues know—as an obsessive recycler—that I will repurpose their bananas by taking them home, tossing them in the freezer and using them in a smoothie.

The re-use ethic is the foundation of freeganism, the practice of strategic food salvaging. Freegans use their wits to rescue perfectly good food out of the back doors of grocery stores and other venues. Freegans and freecyclers can imagine other uses for other people’s garbage. [If you are an Indy-based freegan, please respond to this post!]

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Filed under: Local, Musings

Even though it hasn’t even opened yet, I feel like Breaking the Mode is already over! For me, it is almost a wrap, but for most it is just beginning. I spent the last couple of months working with a team of IMA staff representing education, curatorial, marketing and web design perspectives to create the web site for this exhibition. Now it is up-and-running and the show will be coming soon. Often this is the case. We spend tons of time developing material whether it is audio, video or web content and usually it wraps up just as the show is opening, so it is a weird feeling for us to be moving on to the next project as everyone else is just getting excited.

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Filed under: Exhibitions, New Media