Robert A. Baron wrote:

> Doesn't the Page Museum in LA incorporate a "window" into the back room,
> where visitors can watch some of the processes of cataloging and sorting as
> they happen.  The research area is turned into an exhibit like everything
else.

Starts to sound like a kind of surveillance used by corporations to
track employee efficiency. Or Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon used in
prisons.

My favorite examples of public access to museum work is when the project
has to be done in situ. Last time I was in the Louvre they were working
on a huge painting in the gallery and I found that fascinating. (If I
remember correctly when they tried to move the painting it fell over and
a big hole was gouged into it.)

When the Whitney Museum did their "Black Male" exhibition they conducted
a public forum prior to the opening in their forum on Echo BBS. Someone
connected with the exhibit led the discussion. I don't think it had any
impact on the exhibition curatorially but it did give those who were
intrested the ability to access the exhibit in a different way.

We're attempting this sort of approach with the PORT exhibit we're doing
at MIT by using a listserv and documenting our progress. Of course the
theme of the exhibit lends itself to this (networked world-building) and
it takes a great deal of extra effort. But in this case it is well worth
it and we plan to incorporate the preliminary work into the exhibition
itself.

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ROBBIN MURPHY, creative director, artnetweb
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