From: Eric Segal <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Cyber museum bibliography
For a course on the history and theory of museums, I am looking for
interesting articles dealing with museums -- art, history, natural history,
etc. -- and the internet. Rather than seeking essays concerned with
practical issues, I am looking for discussions of, for instance, the
ontological status of real and virtual objects or collections; the nature of
the museum "audience" or "visitor" in cyber space; the ideological
implications of the de-materialized authentic; etc. etc. etc. In other
words, can you suggest articles that are concerned with _theoretical_
questions of museums on/of/and the web?
I am not sure if this what you meant...
The Virtual Aura - Is There Space for Enchantment in a Technological World?
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/hazan/hazan.html
Abstract
As Walter Benjamin described in his famous essay, "The Work of Art in the
Age of Mechanical Reproduction", the role of art in society and the notion
that art has become modified through mechanical reproduction has engaged
not only artists, but also curators and the museum public. Benjamin
embraced the severing of the quasi-mystical 'aura' from the original as a
potentially liberating phenomenon, both for the reproduction of works of
art and for the art of film, thereby making works of art widely available,
introducing new forms of perception in film and photography and allowing
art to move from private to public, from the elite to the masses. While the
loss of the aura for Benjamin represented new possibilities, what was
forfeited in this process were the 'aura' and the authority of the object
containing within it the values of cultural heritage and tradition. This
paper evaluates the different ways that museums are responding to life on
the Net, and will look to three models of museum Web-sites: the
documentation of traditional collections through online databases, the
virtual museum with no concrete counterpart to resonate the online
experience and the proliferation of Web based contemporary art. This
attempt to map out the different ways that museums formulate their identity
on the Net will address the notion of the lost aura or perhaps the
emergence of new cultural phenomena, the virtual aura.
Key Words: Walter Benjamin, aura, Michel Foucault, Scott Lash & John Urry,
Anthony Giddens, Alfred Gell, magic, enchantment
___________________________________________________________________________
Susan Hazan - Curator of New Media
The Ruth Youth Wing - The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Tel: 972 2 6708066 Fax: 972 2 6708077 Tel (direct): 972 2 5618224
http://www.imj.org.il/shazan
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