Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

Though I’m writing this post from NYC I don’t want you to get the impression that I travel a lot.  The vast majority of my days are spent down in the “service level” of the museum conserving objects.  But today is a rare exception:  I’m at the Conflux Festival for the rest of the weekend with IMA adjunct curator Rebecca Uchill to experiment with ways to enhance our work with documenting variable art – art without a static original visible state (such as time-based media or ephemeral art).

Here’s a link to our project description.

Since the Conflux Festival is “The art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space” we thought this would be an ideal place to expand our ideas and methods for documentation as we prepare for a number of upcoming projects in the contemporary department.

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I’m glad to have Irvin’s report that clearly shows spring is on its way and to know that in a matter of weeks the sky won’t be that low, oppressive grey. This means soon I’ll be working on the outdoor sculpture – from washing, cleaning, and waxing to the occasional, necessary repair. You may have seen some of the conservation work we’ve done on the IMA’s famous LOVE sculpture in this youtube video.

But this year I’d like to ask you to lend me a hand in taking care of the IMA’s outdoor sculpture. No, no, I’m not talking about actually getting you to join me in doing the labor, but I’d like to ask you to participate in a kind of experiment in documenting some of the sculpture on the grounds – that is to say make Wikipedia entries and upload some pictures of the IMA’s sculptures. If you don’t’ already know, anyone can make Wikipedia entries!

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Prostitution. Politics. Humiliation. The headline of The New York Times yesterday read, “Foes of Sex Trade Are Stung by a Champion’s Fall” in bold letters. For most people a cover story about the sexual exploits of a major politician would stop them at page one. Not me.

Don’t get me wrong, the downfall of a two-timing governor is fascinating. Typically, I’d be all over that story, but Wednesday’s The New York Times (NYT) had more thrilling tales buried deep within…

What could possibly be more captivating than a bona fide sex scandal? If you peel yourself away from page 1 and dig deep into the paper, past sections B, C, and D, and continue all the way to section H, you’ll find the NYT’s annual special section on Museums. It’s 44 pages dedicated to the art, business, and people of museums.

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