Thanks artgeek... This is a great article.
I was avoiding this thread BUT some years ago I was deeply involved  
in early art/religion(s)-mythos of the fertile crescent  region.
During a visit to a museum on Crete I was APPALLED by the incorrect  
signage and the guided tour in English which contained not one  
reference to pre-patriarchal "roles" of the gods and goddesses  
portrayed. The artifacts were curated from a Christian (i.e. 33 bce)  
perspective.

So, I took my traveling companion back thru the museum on our own, so  
I could more accurately describe the pieces. By the time we were half  
way through a small crowd had joined us, there were lots of questions  
and we all had a grand old time.

I was an academic then--and had not had a notion of ever becoming a  
"museum person."

Would I be shy of doing the same now??


Lois

Lois Brynes, Principal
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On Mar 14, 2006, at 8:18 AM, artgeek wrote:

> Hello, listers.
>
> I know some have called for the topic to be dropped, but this recent
> "Washington Post" article made me think this may be an issue we need
> to continue grappling with (if not on the list, then in our own
> institutions):
>
> ---===------===------===------===------===------===---
> A Curate-Your-Own Museum Web Site
>
> By Linda Hales, Washington Post Staff Writer
> Saturday, March 11, 2006;  Page C02
>
> The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is about to
> take its Web site where no museum has gone before.
>
> Where that is isn't absolutely clear, but it merits getting excited
> about. The so-called "online national design museum" promises to open
> the museum and its vast collection to visitors anywhere in the world.
> What's more, if development can keep up with vision, the site will
> turn museumgoers into participants in a bold cultural experiment.
>
> Interactivity is the key.
>
> Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Thompson describes "an open theater for
> ideas." And John Maeda, a digital guru at MIT and a trustee, talks of
> a "new paradigm" for museums.
>
> They're right. But here's the catch: The traditional museum autocracy
> will have to accommodate democracy.
> ---===------===------===------===------===------===---
> Read the entire article online:
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/ 
> AR2006031002342.html
> ---===------===------===------===------===------===---
>
>
>
> Cheers / Angelique Weger
>
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