Joshua Heuman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
> I think the main focus of art museum interactivity is not the museum
> audience, ingeneral, but the children visitors, specifically.
 
>From what Ralph Appelbaum says the use of interactive displays
to entice children has more to do with how trustees and directors see
children in the museum environment (make it a game, keep them busy)
than how children learn to look at/with art. Children already see
with art, it's the adults that need the education. American business
complains that employees lack the ability to think creativly in order
to solve problems. Art shows you how to look from multiple points of
view, to manipulate material, to think creatively. As Nam Jun Paik
has said, "We don't need digital art, we need art for a digital age."
So, perhaps what we need is not interactive exhibits, but exhibits for
an interactive environment.
 
MoMA has been experimenting
with approaches to interactivity in their environment for the past
five years or so with some success. They reintroduced their
project space and have invited artists to use the collections in
curatorial projects. The DIA has been doing this since day one.
 
Robbin Murphy
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