One of the things we’ve thought about with the Art On Call project is extending it beyond just cell phone use, especially for the artwork stops. Cell phones are great, most people have them, but not everyone wants to be on the phone and using thier minutes in the galleries. How else can we distribute this information? Enter podcasting.
Podcasting isn’t new, it’s been around for a bit and is moving ever more mainstream each day (in fact the new version of iTunes due out within 60 days will have podcasting built into it). You can think of Podcasting as blogging with audio. You set up an RSS feed, and embed links to MP3 files in it. You subscribe to these feeds just like you do to a blog, and when your news (podcast) reader checks for updates, it downloads any new podcasts it finds to your computer for you to listen to.
A lot of news organizations are starting to do this. It also allows anyone with a microphone and a computer the ability to comment and share their thoughts online. It’s like Tivo (time shifted) and Wayne’s World (average user created) radio. Since the files we use in Art On Call are simply MP3 streams, we can basically podcast tours online for users to download to thier iPods and bring to the Walker and listen to when standing in front of artwork.
One thing we’re also looking into is adding a docking station to our lobby Kiosks, that let people who bring their iPods with them to sync up and download the latest audio tour to it. There’s even talk about potentially doing a “remix” podcast and letting our Teen Arts Council comment are various artwork and using their interpretations of art as a different perspective for users to contemplate when touring the galleries. There are a lot of options here.
There are also a lot of questions. Today some iPods arrived at the Walker for us to start testing this out. I’ve already made a sample podcast on our dev server to test as well. There seem to be several technical limitations to the current way podcasting is done, given that it’s time sensitive and one show at a time, whereas our idea involves the potential for an entire playlist of audio, with perhaps multiple podcasts. There’s still a few things to work out and test, but the results should be pretty interesting, and will give visitors yet another way to experience our artwork. Updates on progress are sure to come soon.
I read in the nytimes a while back about ‘unofficial’ audio tours to museums, like MoMA. I checked for the article, which is available only by purchase now, but here’s a link to the people who are doing it: http://mod.blogs.com/art_mobs/2005/05/art_mobs_to_rem.html
Comment by Renda — 6/9/2005 @ 2:11 am
Yup, that’s actually where we got the idea to do the Teen remix of the audio tours. Thanks for sharing that link with others who are interested.
Comment by Brent Gustafson — 6/9/2005 @ 9:31 am
I think there are a variety of uses that you could make with podcasts and the Teen remix is a very good idea for a creative community involvement use. I also very much enjoyed the Walker’s old in the lobby theater and found it an excellent resource and/or introduction for education and providing curatorial perspective on the exhibitions.
Podcasting would allow walker curators and educators to take this further out into the community by allowing people to view/listen or just listen to a podcast similar to the old Walker sideshows either prior to arriving at the Walker or docking in the lobby. The Walker could also extend the viewers background experience of the art works or artistic process by providing sounds and interviews with the artists during the period of the installation. I could easily see people setting up a Walker playlist on their iPod with a variety of music, essays, poems, interviews, artists reflecting on other artists, your guest critic during the Regis dialogue (Kenneth Turan on Alexander Payne reading a statement) that play in conjunction with your exhibitions as a compliment, a teaser, and/or an educational resource to all the activities at the Center. You might also consider working with artists-in-residence at the Walker to have them provide spoken word pieces and diaries. My impression is that very, very few people in the community get access or even know who Walker Art brings in for the residencies.
Frankly, very few people get to see Alexander Payne and the other guests for Regis dialogues because tickets are impossible to obtain and other community exposure and contact is discouraged. Even with the Walker expansion and the ability to boast about sold out events, reaching further into the community and giving a wider more popular exposure to artists and art should continue to be a mission in the community.
Thanks for making the effort to explore new technologies and see new opportunites like Podcasting as part of Walker’s scope of serving the community.
Comment by Robb — 6/9/2005 @ 4:21 pm
I think part of our goal, as a department at the Walker, is to do just that, use technology to help educate people in different ways. You’re comment about wider artist exposure is noted, and one of the reasons we started doing blogs. In the future we plan to have an Aritst in Residence website, and one of the features each artist will have is their own weblog to document their work and process while they are in residence with us. It will also allow users to comment on their postings, to have a sort of diaogue with the artist.
We’re also trying to do as much webcasting as possible. Though it isn’t always feasible, when we can do it, I think it’s a great asset to those who can’t be here to view a lecture or artist talk, etc, as well as a great archival tool.
And you’re right, Podcasting is just another extension of all that, as is Art on Call. As we move forward we hope to do even more exciting new things like this.
Comment by Brent Gustafson — 7/5/2005 @ 9:15 am