I like museums and stuff

This is where I post all the stuff that I collect in my research. Interesting to me but not necessarily to anyone else.

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Graffiti Art in Northbridge. Night image so a bit dark....photo by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Stormie Mills in Perth CBD pic by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Barcode Stencil which I like. East Perth. pic by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Street Art in Perth. Photos by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Very interesting. I seem to have arrived here by being forced to observe Darwin while a guest in a New England farmhouse.http://misterchu.tumblr.com/post/6271299425/anonymous-askedGood work, by the way.

Thanks...I think!

[meganschlipalius-blog]

iStuff in Museums

Looks like iPads and iPhones are coming to museums in a big way. Just like other forms of technology - it becomes a 'have' and 'have not' situation where opportunities are missed due to the visitor not having the 'right' phone/tablet/thingy. Personally, I'm off iPads, iPhones and iEverythings as you end up paying for absoultely everything... I favour generic tablets and the like but more and more museums are choosing to use particular branded products.

I understand that the technology is enabling some pretty amazing forms of interpretation but sometimes the simple things in life are often the best. Good old objects and labels, decent lighting and well thougt through contexts are all a museum really needs....

But what may make this technology appealing - even for the technologically reluctant is the opportunities for interaction and participation between museums and their visitors. Q-Rator is a new interactive tool being branded as a 'living label' enabling visitors to upload their comments and material to the label used in the exhibitions.

"The project will create small printed tags (QR codes) for museum objects, linked to an online database.  These will allow the public to view curated information and, most notably, to send back their own interpretation and views via their own mobile phone or interactive digital label. Their thoughts subsequently become part of the object’s history and ultimately the display itself via the interactive label system, allowing the display of comments and information directly next to the artefacts." Public Engagement Unit, University College London

It looks like some kids have had some fun with it and have often ignored the prompt questions from the museum to direct the conversation but it looks like it could be an interesting tool....Here is a link to a conversation page about whether museums should treat human specimines differently to non-humans. http://www.qrator.org/portfolio/humans-or-animals/

This one is about replicas and real specimines in museums...http://www.qrator.org/portfolio/real-or-fake/

The conversation quality does vary but it is interesting to see how people respond to replicas and the 'real'.

Herere is one of the latest museum apps for the Terracotta Warriors currently on display as part of Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy” at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, 24 Jun 2011 - 16 Oct 2011. At least this is free. http://yesterday.sg/museumsheritage-galleries/free-terracotta-warriors-iphone-app/

"The main feature of the app is an interactive story-driven exhibition tour featuring Augmented Reality (AR) experiences and mini-games. You can witness terracotta warriors come to life at the exhibition (for example, shooting and reloading crossbows) via AR technology, which superimposes animated 3D objects into the real exhibition gallery space." yesterday.sg

I wonder how much this adds to the experience.... The use of 3D technologies to show how the artifacts were used may be quite informative.  Storytelling as a way for people to connect with the objects is also a nice idea. The games and other features looks fun too.... but should museums get into gaming? Or is this the just the latest in infotainment? Today, I think anything that engages a bored 16 year old (or 60 year old) is fantastic! But tomorrow I'm sure I'll be more of a purist wishing that people would go back to looking, thinking and feeling rather than crashing into things because they can't stop looking at a screen...

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Graffiti - the next collectable?

Banksy - amongst many graffiti artists are now being salvaged/saved/stolen/collected and as we see in this latest case in Encinitas CA - the illegality of the practice in public spaces still causes debate over what to do about public forms of expression not sanctioned by councils and other regulatory bodies...

Bridges are not to be appropriated by the people  - even when there is some talent involved as this article in The Australian indicates.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/illegal-mosaic-draws-crowd-but-sparks-debate-about-graffiti-versus-art/story-e6frg6so-1226072319320

Art restorer Jessi Taylor tests the possibility of removing a mosaic of the Virgin of Guadalupe riding a surfboard, from under a train overpass in Encinitas, California. Source: AP

Well...not all Banksys are collected and indeed there are many that have been permanently buffed out of existence. His material near the London Eye was nearly completely removed. All the rats. Only a long white line of paint remains that used to lead to two policeman snorting a line of something... So which ones to keep? And who gets to keep them? Now that's where it all gets interesting .... City councils are now employing curators of street art - both the public commissions and incidental graffiti. Though much of what is being preserved are the more popular, iconic, longer term works left untagged out of respect for a good piece. But who should be the taste police with graffiti? Especially new works in turf attempting to eradicate graffiti - art or not - or in  areas known to be a site for constant turnover. Are art school graduates or people with a curatorial background the best people to judge this? Or people in local government? And how are cities and local governments exactly going to protect the works - security cameras and/or security guards? Complete removal from the street and placing them in more secure locations? (Which is considered sacrilegious by many street artists.)  The financial and cultural implications are considerable. There are some dilemmas here...

I wonder if the City of Perth will keep the space invaders ... a very nice style of graffiti using tiles. There are a few around the place and after a quick look at http://www.space-invaders.com/gmap.html I'm pretty sure they are authentic - but should this matter?

[meganschlipalius-blog]

No one suspects the butterfly....

Poor forgotten Wallace - even in the American Museum of Natural History he isn't remembered that well. I asked guards where Alfred Wallace's cabinet was when I was lucky enough to go to NYC when the rosewood cabinet thought to be his was on display. The first guard I asked blankly looked at me... who's Wallace? I began explaining that he was a co-founder of evolution - along with Darwin. They cut me off - clearly not impressed with evolution as a subject and swiftly directed me to the Human Evolution hall... After not finding Wallace's cabinet anywhere I asked the next museum person I saw - another guard. Once again I explained who Wallace was. They also thought it would be in the Evolution Hall somewhere....

Frustrated I began to just explore the museum and came upon the Grand Gallery with amazing feature items.... The spider silk cloth I was also looking for and... Wallace's rosewood cabinet. I was absolutely transfixed... here were the specimens that led a great mind to ponder fantastic thoughts... and what a beautiful cabinet.

Wallace's Cabinet, AMNH, 2010 by M.Schlipalius

The cabinet is thought to be Wallace's as many of the species are referred to in his writings and are collected from places where he lived and worked. The handwriting on the labels also matches other documents.... But is this enough evidence for such a claim? It did have quite a bit of 'object attracting power' - or what some punters call 'aura' or maybe I projected that..... or maybe I was just transfixed by the butterflies... everyone likes butterflies, right?

Butterflies in Wallace's Cabinet, 2010 by M.Schlipalius

More information found at http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/wallace/

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 2011  Photos by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 2011, photo by M.Schlipalius

One of the last exhibition buildings from the era of The Great Exhibitions. Absolutely stunning inside and out. And enormous. Even now with all the annexes gone. It was lucky that the whole thing was not bulldozed in the 1950s to make a car park.

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Walmor Correa ....chimeras, museums and other fantastic themes

That bookcase got me thinking about an artist I adore - Walmor Correa. He explores metamorphism, chimeras and other lovely themes. He likes to create museums of his own filled with fantastic creatures, superheros and villains.

      His anatomy drawings of mermaids have been everywhere...I'll give you Catwoman and Spiderman from 2008 instead!

        This one is like a natural history drawing... all seems to be okay and then you take another look at those...birds?

         From this show:

METAMORPHOSIS AND HETEROGONIAS/ITAPARICA ISLAND MEMENTO MORI - Instituto Goethe, Porto Alegre/RS - Brasil

See website for more lovely pics....

http://www.walmorcorrea.com.br/php/inicio.php

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Wow - I can't believe that is a bookcase! amazing!

[meganschlipalius-blog]

[meganschlipalius-blog]

I love those photos of the Melbourne street art you posted. Do you know what the laneway was called? I'm going in two weeks and that street art is brilliant!

The laneway is off Franklin St near Victoria Markets. But there are so many lanes with street art. Fitzroy had the Storm Troopers and the firemen. Have fun!

[meganschlipalius-blog]

I had so much fun taking these photos in a lane in Melbourne at Easter in 2011. Photos by M.Schlipalius

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Damien Hirst... whats a blog on this sort of material without a little gallery of art by this artist...

[meganschlipalius-blog]

Do you think we should remove all viruses from collections?

I think it is rather impossible to get rid of every trace of viruses as there are many undocumented materials in medical collections - it is unlikely we will test and discover all possibly contaminated material. Plus there are scientists with freezers around the place with samples of materials which are not always well documented.... but I guess we can try to get a grips with it and keep it in mind when working with historical medical collections...