Museums hosting Meetups

(Crossposted @ Hyperkinesis Blog)

I recently wrote on the subject of Museums and the communities they serve and, coincidentally, today, I found an extremely interesting article on this same subject on the excellent blog Museum 2.0.

This is a must read for cultural enterprises that would like to start taking steps in the social media arena.

From the article:

“If you get people in a museum (or library) for WHATEVER reason, chances are they’re going to notice the exhibits sometime. And hopefully, start to value them”.

and:

“The key to these benefits is not the volume of online content produced but its reach. Don’t look at the number of videos, photos, or reviews. Look at the number of views (how many times each has been accessed). The Ontario Science Center YouTube meetup didn’t just spawn hundreds of videos before, during, and after the event. Each of those videos has hundreds or thousands of viewers. Some of the videos have as many as 35,000 views. And while not all of the videos mention their host by name (in fact, few do), the museum venue is frequently present in related text and links. Plus, folks who attended the event link to other videos shot at the museum, such as this “888 favorite” (shot in 2006) of someone using an exhibit. Number of views? 170,000 and counting.”.

This is, in my opinion, the future of any cultural institution that wants to be part of a community. Art should not about some detached view from the outside, it should be part of our lives, a fundamental component of our social interactions. For me, art is about the aesthetics that shape our world view and make us richer as a result. I might be a Utopian, but if art is worth anything, it should be for its power to change lives. Once someone has been exposed to the beauty of human creativity in any of its forms, they cannot go back to ignoring that side of humanity, and if we are lucky, they might start exploring their own creative sides as well.

New cultural district for Oslo

The Art Newspaper reports that Oslo has announced a plan to move several museums and its main library to a central waterside location near the harbor and close to the new National Opera house.

"The Munch Museum, the Stenersen Museum, which houses three private collections of Norwegian art, and the library will move as will four branches of the National Museum (the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, the Design Mus­eum and the administrative departments).

A series of architectural competitions for the new buildings are to be held next year, with completion scheduled for 2014. The reorganisation will make Oslo “one of Europe’s most outstanding cultural cities”, says Oslo City Council chair Erling Lae".

This will be an interesting development to follow as cities continue to see their identity and attractor quality linked to the strength of their art and architecture.

Museums and Stadiums ARE our new cathedrals, and if the Oslo airport, strikingly made of wood, is any indication, I am sure we can expect more great things to come here!