Do a Technorati search for “museum blog” and you won’t find much. There’s the Beer Can Museum blog, the Army’s Airborne & Special Operations Museum blog, and even one for the Museum of Leftwing Lunacy. But aside from Ron Kavanaugh’s Bronx Mus(eum)ings, and a few others, there’s not much precedent, especially in the arts. So the Walker’s blogging initiative may be leading the pack, especially in contemporary art, but where we’re leading it is anybody’s guess. My hope is that staff from various departments–curators in all disciplines, library and archives staff, education people, designers and editors–will use it as a place to do two things: stockpile and share research (interesting links, ideas we’re noodling, interview snippets that didn’t make it into the catalogue or Walker magazine, etc.), and offer both personal insights into our work and behind-the-scenes glimpses of our processes.
But, what do you want to see? I asked a few art bloggers their wishes for the Walker blog or museum blogs in general. Tyler Green, author of Modern Art Notes at ArtsJournal.com, says “museo-blogs are a clear trend,” citing the fact that Kriston Capps from Grammar.police will be blogging for the Smithsonian, and pointing out good institutional blogs like Eyebeam’s reBlog and the Pulitemporary. “I don’t think anyone knows what’ll work,” he says. “But I think a lot of people will have fun figuring it out. I think museums like the Walker (which is different from the Pulitemporary) need to involve their curators.”
Caryn Coleman, who blogs at Art.Blogging.LA, says she doesn’t read museum blogs because they tend to regurgitate (my word, not hers) promotional copy and plug events. She’d like to see:
…something more personal, something that’s not going be on the official website. Perhaps press/reviews regarding exhibitions from publications, reviews of staff, of programming and/or performance, curatorial insights, anecdotes about installation, execution, general thoughts, images, artist interviews that are included in current exhibitions, etc. Anything that supplements and rounds out the programming and, perhaps, includes the viewer. Blogs can make the possibilities of what an institution can do endless and with ease.
Some of those changes will be coming soon: assistant Visual Arts curator Doryun Chong and installation technician Phil Docken will begin blogging in a few weeks on the complex installation and the wide-ranging concepts (from Chinese medicine to post-colonial theory to astrology) related to our upcoming Huang Yong Ping retrospective. Beyond that, what would you like to see here? Leave a comment. I can’t say we’ll deliver, but it’ll certainly get us thinking…
[Update: The Visual Arts blog is now up and running. Click here.]
Howdy!
Thanks tons for the linky love. In the comments to my post, you missed one, ,a href=”http://contemporary-pulitzer.blogs.com/contemporary__pulitzer/”>The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts/Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Blog. Yes it’s a mouthful.
Then, I still find Google to be more effective in finding other blogs, than Technorati.
Comment by zeke — 8/4/2005 @ 9:03 am
More! Like the artist interviews in the monthly mag — is it safe to assume that the entire interview doesn’t make it to print? If so, could you publish the entire interview on a blog? Or even podcast it? What about Artist-in-Residence blogs?
Comment by masami — 8/5/2005 @ 2:57 pm
Thanks for the shout out in your blog. I had not idea the Bronx Museum was on the cutting edge. It’s satisfying to know that someonee is actually reading the post.
Comment by Ron — 9/15/2005 @ 10:15 am
Thanks for the mention. We at the Contmeporary-Pulitzer a.k.a. Pulitemporary Blog are trying hard to meet readers expectations and also find new ways of interacting with visitors (virtual and real). I regulalry read the different Walker Blogs and also try and guide our visitors that way too. Perhaps we can all work together to get our Museum Blogs more prominence on the search engines?
Comment by mark macleod — 11/9/2005 @ 11:39 am
I really enjoy reading your articles. Keep up the great work.
TBoardenson
Comment by Tom — 3/6/2006 @ 11:35 am
Hello, I enjoy museums. I am very intered on more info on The Institute of museum and Library Services. I am currently searching for grants.
Comment by atif — 9/26/2006 @ 10:04 pm
Some of the information i can find is here.
http://logical4.com/a/a-Institute-of-Museum-and-Library-Services.aspx
or here
http://www.imls.gov/
Comment by atif — 9/26/2006 @ 10:05 pm
VERY GOOD !
I INVITE YOU TO ENTER MY MUSEOBLOG
http://isabelvictor150.blogspot.com
Comment by isabelvictor150 — 11/15/2006 @ 6:35 pm
Good site! I found in google.com +
Comment by Edouard — 3/14/2007 @ 3:43 am
Just an up to date, even monthly will do, of the goings on within the Center would be most appreciated.
Comment by Dan Wodarcyk — 4/1/2007 @ 9:08 pm
Hi Dan,
If you’re looking for our e-newsletter (biweekly emailings on Walker events), click here. We’ve also got RSS feeds and automatic updates to your iCal software; check out our newscenter for more.
Comment by Paul Schmelzer — 4/2/2007 @ 10:28 am
Great article. I hate technorati for not showing some sites or do not have at all any information about the really good ones. I know a lot of sites that are not showing in technorati and they are still good and valuable.
Comment by Forex Trading Blog — 8/5/2007 @ 9:47 am