To Museum-L Recipients:

My deepest apologies.  The release is only 1 1/2 pages long--shorter than
the two page limit required by Museum-L.  I sent it as an attachment as
there was art work on it.  I will no longer send artwork and therefore, will
always have the text open.  The text-only version of yesterday's release,
opened, follows, with the URL listed at the end.  Once again, my strongest
apologies.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           Press Contacts: 202-606-8339
November 4, 1999                                Eileen Maxwell
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                                                Mamie Bittner
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American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Explores Museums in DAEDALUS

Washington, DC-Museums in America have undergone a radical transformation of
purpose in the last half-century.  No longer simply storehouses of valuable
objects, no longer destinations mainly for the well-heeled or intellectual
classes, museums today strive to educate, to draw diverse audiences, and to
be a vital part of their community's social fabric.

The Summer 1999 issue of Daedalus, funded in part by the Institute of Museum
and Library Services, critically examines the changing face of American
museums and their impact on our intellectual and cultural life. The
collection of essays features the voices of some of the most respected
thinkers in the field and many others who, through expertise in other
disciplines, add new ideas to the colloquy, including:

*       Whitney Museum of Art Director Maxwell Anderson, who argues for
museums to embrace new technologies to capture the "market" and to serve
their educational mandate.
*       Victoria Newhouse, author of the recently published Towards a New
Museum, who explores the question of whether one can speak of the "idea of a
museum" today, given museums' new community outreach goals and their
functions as places for shopping, eating, performance.
*       Bernard Tschumi, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture at
Columbia, who writes with his colleagues at Bernard Tschumi Architects on a
range of ideas for the future of museums, including the "Museum of Modem
Art," a virtual gallery accessible over the Internet, complete with virtual
catalogs and gift shops.
*       Kathleen McLean, Director of Public Programs, Center for Public
Exhibition at The Exploratorium, proposes a description of the history of
exhibition as a continuum, with the exhibitions of rigorous scholarship for
the specialists at one end and exhibitions of entertainment for the masses
at the other end.

Other contributors:
Bonnie Pitman, "Muses, Museums, and Memories"
Executive Director, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, California
Neil Harris, "The Divided House of the American Art Museum"
Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History, University of Chicago
Chon A. Noriega, "On Museum Row: Aesthetics and the Politics of Exhibition"
Associate Professor of film and television, University of California, Los
Angeles
Harold Skramstad, "An Agenda for American Museums in the Twenty-First
Century"
President Emeritus, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Elaine Heumann Gurian, "What is the Object of this Exercise? A Meandering
Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums"
Acting Director, Cranbrook Institute of Science
Willard L. Boyd, "Museums as Centers of Controversy
President emeritus, Field Museum; professor of law and president emeritus,
University of Iowa
Stephen E. Weil, "From Being about Something to Being for Somebody: The
Ongoing Transformation of the American Museum"
Emeritus senior scholar, Center for Museum Studies, Smithsonian Institution
John H. Falk, "Museums as Institutions for Personal Learning"
Director, Institute for Learning Innovation
Emlyn H. Koster, "In Search of Relevance: Science Centers as Innovators in
the Evolution of Museums"
President and Chief Executive Officer, Liberty Science Center
Susanna Sirefman, "Formed and Forming: Contemporary Museum Architecture"
Adjunct Associate Professor of architecture, City College of New York
Charles Correa, "Museums: An Alternate Typology"
Charles Correa Architects/Planners


This issue is available by writing the Daedalus Business Office; 136 Irving
Street; Cambridge, MA 02138 or by visiting their website at
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About the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - Created by the
Museum and Library Services Act of 1996, IMLS is an independent Federal
grantmaking agency that fosters leadership, innovation and a lifetime of
learning by supporting the nation's 8,000 museums and 122,000 libraries.
For more information, including grant guidelines, contact:  Institute of
Museum and Library Services, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC
20506, (202) 606-8536, or http://www.imls.gov.

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