The following hinges on: I don't believe the dresses were museum objects. As
explained before.

Considering they took it down off the original site, the way I see it: this
group of museum professionals just helped to censor an artist's creative
expression.  An expression the wasn't harming anything, but the museum
professionals' own sense of decorum regarding the sacredness of language
about collections. Even if it was "real", shouldn't museum professionals
know how important it is to challenge popular conceptions? Were would we be
without artists and academics challenging our beliefs?

I find condemning artist expression of this nature to be a very slippery
slope. Were does it end? No more loaning of objects? No receptions in
galleries? No more visitors in the museum?

How do we use our objects to educate, if we can't *use* our objects (or in
this case the *idea* of the object)?

We should protect artistic expression (especially challenging expression),
and find ways to use to create an educational dialog - not keep it from
being seen.


I'm 100% for protecting our collections. I'm 100% for protecting artistic
expression. I'm 100% for using objects and ideas to educate.

I believe more than 100% that museums' have an obligation to make sure these
3 happen, and never disappear. Even at our own expense.


I think this points to the larger issue of museum survival. If museum
professionals and current practices can't be questioned (especially
artistically), then how do we expect to adapt our institutions to meet the
demands of a changing society?



Jason




On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:22 AM, . . <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> Thankfully, it got reblogged a few times.  It's available at
> http://reevesy.tumblr.com/post/3498026123/a-pair-of-kindred-spirits  (For
> those that are unsure as to what reblogging is, think of it as a "reply"
> function on a blog.  It preserves the original message but you can add to it
> as well.  The link I've included, it's fairly easy -to me- to be able to
> tell where the "reply" ends and the original post begins.)
>
>
> -Isabella
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:15:25 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
>
> Subject: Re: Concerning Blog Post
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> By the way, it looks like those bloggers took down that post. When you
> click on the link you get this message: The URL you requested could not be
> found.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1
>



-- 
GREAT MUSEUMS

<http://greatmuseums.org/>
 <http://www.facebook.com/greatmuseums>
<http://twitter.com/greatmuseums><http://youtube.com/user/greatmuseums>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).