Ursula Richens wrote:

>I am currently researching Museums and the Internet for my Master of Museum
>Studies course. In particular, I am looking for / at museums that have
>produced on line exhibitions.
>
>Questions that I have are:
>-Do you transfer existing exhibitions to an online format or develop them
>specifically for the Internet?

So far I've transfered existing exhibitions, but am very interested in
developing some just for the Web.  I've initiated a "virtual wing" which at
present has a link to an artist duo based in Spain, called "jodi."

>-How do you evaluate the exhibitions (frontend and formative evaluation, for
>example)?

As far as web-specific exhibitions?  It has to be work made for the Web,
i.e., work that would not make sense in any other medium.  I see the whole
museum website thing as a curatorial challenge and the Web as a space --
just like the physical gallery is a space.  As for exhibitions that have
occurred in the gallery, I have created an archive of online catalogues and
see the web as a documentation medium.

>-Of what benefit to museums are online exhibitions? Why do them?

The marketing and public relations benefits are obvious, but I think
websites can be much more.  The majority of the human population is yet to
come online, but in technologically advanced societies it is doing so at
exponentially increasing rates.  Museum professionals will soon find
themselves with vast new audiences, not all of whom will visit the physical
museum itself.  What kind of information or experience will they offer that
audience?

Nothing on the Internet replaces the authentic experience of standing
before a work of physical art.  The Internet can't do this and shouldn't
try.  But the Web can maximize the residual effects of an exhibition,
expand its scholarly domain, and provide a richly textured experience of
its own.  My guess is that it will increase a desire to visit the "real"
space, not the other way around.

One new thing we are going to try is to give website visitors an
opportunity to add their own critical commentary to any of the exhibitions
in the archive, making their views a part of the discourse that helps
define the meanings of  art which is displayed.  After writing and
submitting their commentary electronically, their words appear immediately
on one of the site's webpages.  This is not operational yet, but should be
in a few days.

>
>Any suggestions?

There was recently a conference called "Museums and the Web" in Los
Angeles.  You can link to its archive at
http://www.archimuse.com/mw97/mw97toc.htm

>I would appreciate any information that is available or addresses for
>relevant websites.
>

Visit the Williamson Gallery at
http://www.artcenter.edu/exhibit/williamson.html

Best,

Stephen Nowlin
Vice President
Director, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery
Art Center College of Design
Pasadena, California