James Baldwin, whose lived experience was sitting at the intersection of both American anti-Black racism during the civil rights era and anti-LGBT fervor had perhaps a more poignant addition to the “life imitates art” discussion going on over the past 2,000 years of intellectual dialectic. James Baldwin said, “Life is more important than art; that’s what makes art important.” When cultural spaces, art galleries, and other curators of artistic tradition fail to see this simple truth—that life supersedes art—they will fall prey to the white supremacist traditionalism that turns Black suffering into an exhibit.

The biggest mistake white curators and gallerists can make is to ignore Black voices or egregiously sidestep Black involvement while promoting Black art. This unsurprisingly is a common practice among well-respected galleries and art spaces.

CASE STUDY: THE WHITNEY MUSEUM

The Whitney Museum in NYC sidestepped and undercut Black artists to create an exhibit highlighting responses to the BLM movement and the COVID pandemic in 2020. The museum experienced severe pushback and calls to cancel the show via social media when the featured Black artists found out that their work was acquired without their knowledge at a discount.

The Whitney Museum reached out to the featured artists, informing them that their work had been acquired and that they would receive lifetime passes to the museum as compensation. The museum had announced the exhibit, titled Collective Actions: Artist Interventions in a Time of Change, before informing the artists and acquiring consent.

Not only was this move a blatant attempt by the Whitney Museum to cash in on a profoundly crucial social movement to demand respect for Black lives in response to systemic racism in the US, but the Black people behind the artworks were left out of the conversation entirely. Treated as an afterthought, they were denied agency by a powerful, mostly white institution.

This is not how galleries and art museums support anti-racism. This behavior commodifies Black suffering and further entrenches anti-Black racism by exploiting Black artists to appear progressive. Luckily the Whitney Museum canceled the exhibit.

HOW CAN MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES DO BETTER?

There are several ways museums and art galleries can actually help fight anti-black racism in the United States. Most of the changes have to start within the institutions themselves.

THE RACIAL MAKE-UP OF MUSEUM TRUSTEES NEEDS TO BE MORE DIVERSE

In 2017, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) surveyed its members and found that nearly half of the museum boards in their association, which totals 850 institutions across the US, were entirely white. Museum boards with a more diverse make-up were still vastly skewed toward whiteness.

This shocking case of self-reporting by the AAM was an important inflection point for museum boards to take action and incorporate diversity into their ranks. Some have made progress diversifying their boards, but more progress is needed.

WHO GETS TO TELL THE STORY?

Museum donors and trustees strongly influence not only the types of exhibitions featured in their museums but also the narrative behind the artworks and, consequently, the narratives behind the artists.

Art curation is more than simply hanging paintings on a wall—it is meant to tell a story. When the writers of that story are mostly white, museums end up creating and recreating the Whitney Museum disaster.

THE RACIAL MAKE-UP OF MUSEUM STAFF NEEDS TO BE MORE DIVERSE (ACROSS ALL ROLES)

A 2015 study found that the racial make-up of museum employees was more homogenous than the actual demographics of the US, which at the time were 62% white and 38% non-white. On average, 76% of museum staff were white, and only 24% were people of color.

Then, in a follow-up study three years later, the numbers had improved slightly—72% of museum staff across the US were white, and 28% were people of color.

However, these improvements were unevenly distributed across various roles in museums. Most of the changes happened in curational and educational departments, but museum leadership roles were still mostly non-Hispanic white. 85% of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) directors were white as of 2021.

This shows that prominent and highly influential museums are slow to change in any meaningful way at an institutional level. Hiring diversity chiefs and thinking that the issues are resolved reveal either a genuine lack of understanding on behalf of museum boards or a disgraceful disingenuousness and lack of desire to grow into more equitable institutions.

FIND AND SUPPORT LOCAL ART GALLERIES, ARTISTS, CULTURAL CENTERS, AND SPACES THAT MORE ACCURATELY REFLECT AMERICA

Meaningful change is not easy. America unequivocally has an ongoing racism problem. This article focused primarily on anti-Black racism, but there are many heads on this historically omnipresent monster.

This problem is deeply woven into social, political, and cultural institutions. The art world and the powerful elites that direct its gaze is not immune to implicit and explicit racism just because their Twitter feed is full of upraised, Black fists.

Meaningful change starts with each individual examining honestly their relationship to white supremacy and their potential complicity in it. Then, after reflection, individuals must look outside themselves to examine how they can positively impact their immediate worlds—whether that world is a small art gallery or the MOMA.

About the Author: Roni Davis is a writer, amateur art enthusiast, and legal assistant operating out of the greater Philadelphia area. She writes for FNRP, a commercial real estate investment firm.

The post Intentional Anti-Racism Moves for Art Spaces and Galleries to Embrace and Deploy appeared first on Art Business News.

However, others managed to handle these difficult times and switched to online. This year has been a tough one not only because of these abrupt changes but because of the effects they’ve had on people’s mental health. Not being able to travel, to meet with your friends, and needing to spend so much time inside drained some people of energy and positivity. Mental health problems are on the rise, but so are the solutions that can help people manage these times successfully.

Even though we are not allowed to travel as we did before, there are new options available. You can explore art museums, fairs, and events from the comfort of your own home. Think about the most popular museums and places and the huge queue from the entrance. Now you don’t have to wait in the queue or travel to enjoy them because a new door has opened.

We will share 8 virtual museum tours and interesting events you can attend while lounging comfortably on your couch.

1. Machu Picchu, Peru

You have probably heard about Machu Picchu and the mysteries that surround it. Built in the 15th century, this Inca citadel was later abandoned. Maybe one of the most astonishing things about Machu Picchu is the fact that it is located on a 2430-meter mountain range, in the Andes Mountains.

Taking into consideration the fact that the walls and buildings were built without mortar and they are arranged according to astronomical principles, Machu Picchu became an international attraction. More than 2,500 visitors a day and more than half a million annually were visiting this Inca citadel until 2020.

Now, you can explore the astonishing beauty of Machu Picchu and admire the panoramic views online. This UNESCO Heritage Site can be visited in 360-degree views. During this tour, you will also find out more about its history and mysteries because the voice of a narrator will tell you the story of this Inca settlement.

2. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Who has not heard about the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, known for cutting his ear and his unmistakable painting style? He painted over 2,000 artworks, most of them dating from the last two years of his life. Some of these famous paintings can be admired at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Here you can find out more about his life, relationship with his brother Theo, and the most used techniques in painting.

Van Gogh Museum can be explored from the comfort of your home. It represents the largest collection of artworks by this tragic painter and you can get the chance to see over 700 paintings and drawings, as well as over 750 personal letters.

3. Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is one of the wonders you must see at least once in your life. These incredible artworks created by humans in secluded and inaccessible places arouse your admiration for the human race. However, the Great Wall of China is threatened by climate change and people are trying to preserve it by offering virtual tours. If you head straight to Google’s project Heritage on the Edge and you can explore it in 3D.

4. The Louvre, Paris

We can all remember those endless and discouraging queues in front of the Louvre. It is one of the most famous and visited museums in the world, every year seeing millions of international visitors. However, due to the current restrictions, the Louvre is closed for visitors. But, exploring it through a virtual tour is now possible. You can explore Egyptian artifacts, admire DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, the statue of Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, and more than 30,000 individual artworks.

5. Guggenheim Museum, New York City

On the list of the most visited and popular museums of the world, the Guggenheim Museum ranks near the Louvre. The architecture of the museum is a monument to modernism that houses art collections and special exhibitions. Guggenheim Museum in New York is a must-see for every age, having lots of exhibitions and galleries to admire, but also amazing architecture, both inside and outside the building. Here you can see artworks by Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, or Paul Cezanne.

6. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta

Georgia Aquarium is one of the most amazing aquariums in the world. In fact, it is the largest aquarium in the western world, being the only institution outside Asia that houses whale sharks. You can explore the amazing underwater life with a live tour of the aquarium. It has seven major galleries you can visit and learn more about thousands of animals and species you can now see virtually.

7. The Broad, Los Angeles

The Broad is a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles that houses over 200 artworks of the Broad’s collection. Even though the museum generally offers free admission to its galleries, it’s now closed due to the current state of the world. However, you can virtually explore the galleries of The Broad museum, and its most popular room, the Infinite Mirrored Room of Yayoi Kusama. Now you can spend all day in the twinkling abyss of the infinite.

8. A Trip to Mars

Even though real trips to Mars are not available, NASA has teamed up with Google to offer people all over the world a virtual tour to Mars. The Red Planet has always aroused humanity’s interest and now you can explore it in a 3D Virtual Tour and find out more about its surface and history. Thanks to technology, you can explore outer space without leaving your home. How wonderful is this?

Conclusion

The world has changed, and it will continue to evolve in ways we cannot even imagine. For the moment, there are travel restrictions. And for people who love exploring new places and meeting new cultures, this is a major drawback and disappointment. However, to stop the spread of the virus, these restrictions are necessary.

Choosing to see the full part of the glass is important during these times, and it can foster more positive experiences. Virtual tours can be a saving option, especially because you can choose what iconic and historical place you want to explore. You can choose from a wide variety of historical sites, museums, aquariums, and iconic places that can be explored for free, from the comfort of your own home. Give it a try — start exploring and visiting virtually.

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Author Bio: Michael Gorman is a highly skilled freelance writer and proofreader from the UK who offers the essay writer at a dissertation writing service and essay writing service uk. Being interested in everyday development, he writes various blog posts and discovers new aspects of human existence every day. Michael loves traveling, history, and deciphering myths of the ancient world. Feel free to contact him via Facebook or check his Twitter. 

The post Your Virtual Can-Dos: Here Are 8 Virtual Museum Tours & Interesting Events to Enjoy appeared first on Art Business News.

How galleries control the value of art

Art galleries invest a lot of their resources in the artists they have chosen to represent. They visit their studios, mentor them, and build relationships with collectors across the world to help shape their career. However, they usually represent rising artists only for a short amount of time before the artists’ progress to other high-class galleries.

Galleries promote artists by showcasing their art at regional and global exhibitions along with art fairs. Before any work is showcased, the galleries take a forward step by offering the pieces to their favorite clients, such as museums and major private and public collections to expose the artists work to industry professionals.

Gaining control of the market is very important to galleries. It is not easy to find a gallery that will sell a piece of art to collectors who will display the art in a secondary market, which is commonly represented by auction houses. When a piece of art goes to an auction, the prices are set by the public; it is observable to everyone and anyone can purchase it. In most cases, gallery owners will go to auction houses to bid their artists’ work in order to control the price.

Becoming a credible gallery

When collectors discover how manipulative your gallery is, they will avoid buying art from you, which leads to suffering for businesses and artists. Credibility is a prerequisite for success in art galleries. Here are some of the things you can do to have a reputable and credible gallery.

1.     Provide accurate information

Before collectors decide to buy from a gallery, they spend a lot of time researching and identifying the credible ones. They look at the artists represented and how the gallery performs at shows and in exhibitions. You need to provide clear, comprehensive, and reliable information for your collectors.

2.     Analyze feedback and rating

In the art market, word of mouth can easily be your greatest asset or your biggest liability. Collectors who have experience buying pieces of art from a specific gallery will recommend it to their loved ones and colleagues, or on the other hand, turn their loved ones and colleagues away from a gallery.

You can find out how collectors perceive your gallery by directly asking them or analyzing online feedback left behind on your official site or social media accounts.

3.     Provide quality work

In general, a gallery that does not provide accurate information on the condition, authenticity, and provenance of a piece of art is a red flag to most collectors. Reputable galleries provide comprehensive information when making a sale and follow up with new relevant details about upcoming fairs and the artist. As a buyer, you should not struggle to get important information about the artists and events when working with a gallery.

Importance of having a credible art gallery

1.     Attracts high-end clients

In general, credible art galleries attract numerous clients from across the world who are willing and ready to purchase quality artwork. No buyer wants to associate themselves with art galleries that are not credible or reputable. By having credibility, you will successfully grow your business and clientele.

2.     Artists will focus on creating

An art gallery that does not sell or promote pieces of art due to clients’ lack of trust is a liability to the artists they are representing. Artists who are distracted cannot create moving art.

Artists need to spend most of their time practicing and creating; not worrying about the  marketing or publicity of their works. A credible gallery will represent artists comprehensively, allowing artists to confidently focus on their craft.

3.     Increased art value

In most cases, art collectors will consider an artist’s works if he or she is represented by a reputable and trustworthy gallery. A reputable gallery increases the value of a piece of art in a very short time. You need to analyze an artists’ works before placing them on the wall.

Ensuring that the art is priced fairly will build the reputation of your gallery and increase the value of the art you display.

4.     Artists get recognized

Most galleries organize events and exhibitions, such as workshops and talks, to help the represented artists meet influential people in the industry to build relationships and gain exposure.

Galleries also control large events like art fairs to present opportunities for artists to attend these events and showcase their works. A credible art gallery will not only increase sales, but also help artists get recognized internationally.

5.     Financial boost

As we said earlier, credible galleries attract high-end clients who are willing and ready to buy the best pieces of art. Unlike low ranking galleries, reliable galleries are financially strong, so when a sale is made, artists will get their cut successfully. Since credible galleries know how to price artwork, they sell at higher prices, leading to a larger gain for artists.

6.     Attracts emerging artists

Emerging artists will be compelled to work with reputable galleries because they want to increase their net worth and get recognized. As an artist, marketing yourself and managing your time effectively can be a major challenge, which is why you should work with reliable art galleries. Gallery representation will boost your career progression and help you achieve your goals easily.

Conclusion

The art market is growing at a rapid rate. Therefore, each player need to be transparent, reliable and reputable for the industry to flourish. Art galleries play an important role in the art industry by helping collectors invest in pieces they are looking for all while promoting artists. Begin exercising honesty and transparency in your gallery, as your business and artists depend on it.

Bio

Michael Gorman is high skilled freelance writer and proofreader from UK who currently works at college paper help and custom paper writing service. Being interested in everyday development, he writes various blog posts for essay writer and discovers new aspects of human existing every day on write my thesis.

The post The Importance of Being a Credible Gallery for a Collector appeared first on Art Business News.

Pick up any art magazine published in the last decade and you’ll see articles discussing the intersection of art and technology. From a purely subjective perspective, it’s useful. It shelters artists who are uncomfortable under the tent of “conceptual art.” It suggests a cutting-edge approach, while terms like “media” might include relatively older gadgetry, like video art.

Technology has also radically altered the way we interact with art. Social media has provided a new platform for discovery. Savvy dealers and gallerists use online and social media as a means create a direct connection to prospective collectors. This gives galleries the ability to reach beyond their walls and showcase work remotely.

For all the advances in recent years though, it’s easy to understand why a field like art, which prizes expression and preservation over the ephemeral and efficient, might be reluctant to embrace technological change. But there are bigger, more practical reasons galleries struggle. Technology sometimes fails to deliver a personal connection and experience, despite its many promises. Then there’s the sheer physicality of artwork: it’s cumbersome to deal with. It defies easy digital solutions.

The Mingei International Museum in San Diego confronted these issues head on when they renovated their Balboa Park space earlier this year. They had to rehouse their entire collection in the process. “It was such an intensely monumental task that the people who were taking it on literally didn’t know where to start,” Alexis O’Banion, Creative Director & Technology Strategist of The Mingei International Museum recalls. “There was a lot of ‘What is this thing?’ We hadn’t done a thorough housekeeping in quite a while.”

The Mingei’s collection is a singular mix of decorative art and functional objects from across the ages, and around the globe. It’s a unique place, housing mid-century modern marvels alongside contemporary African masks and 13th century manuscripts. The collection comprises 26,000 objects of high art, all of which were designed with a functional purpose.

The task of moving and tracking this type of collection is no small feat when time isn’t critical. Not to mention, Mingei’s old inventory system was an outdated database that made everyday work a challenge. “There was no remote capability, no API,” O’Banion explains. “You had to be on a desktop to use it.”

The logistics for the project were further complicated by having to accommodate multiple stakeholders on different teams. O’Banion summarizes how a museum works: “Everything kind of is around an exhibition. You market it, you create programming around it, you use it to sell memberships. Everybody has their jobs to do, but it all relates to one big project.”

The museum needed a barcode system for tracking the movement of objects, all of which had to be packaged in different ways. As O’Banion recalls, “We had to create labels for the boxes that the objects were going in. One box could probably hold three or four objects depending on the size. Some objects were crated separately. You had the object, then you had a container, then you had a crate or pallet. These objects were kind of nested inside of their vessels.”

What’s more, every time an artwork is moved, a record has to be kept of the physical state the object is in, a process known as conditioning. “Any time that an object is packed, no matter if we are loaning something or storing it, we need to condition it. Another museum will condition when they get it, and then condition it again when it goes off view. We needed a way to quickly condition an object, label it, package it, and then crate it. Times 26,000 objects.”

The team needed a tool which that could be used remotely in their storage room, on a phone or tablet, which was robust and flexible enough to meet their own specific requirements, and which could be used by everyone on their team. Airtable was the solution—it allowed The Mingei to track the movements and condition of every object, every step of the way.

The approach was so impressive that they received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “It’s a really big deal in the museum community,” O’Banion says. “They were the first ones to fund people digitizing their collections. They don’t really do that anymore, unless you’re doing it in a way that’s game changing.”

The IMLS grant came with a warning that what the Mingei was attempting was a huge undertaking, and that the funds might not be sufficient. As O’Banion recalls, “They said, don’t be discouraged if you don’t accomplish it. And that was all I needed to motivate the notion that not only are we going to accomplish it, but we’re going to accomplish it like it’s no big deal.”

Airtable wasn’t the first choice. O’Banion, at the time, was also trying to get everyone to communicate via Slack. It proved to be overwhelming to the team, who started to think that everyday there was another aspect of the system to employ and learn. The exclusion of non-technical staff in a project or process is antithetical to the way a museum needs to function. “Any time we introduce new technology to our group,” O’Banion says, “It has to be really easy to understand and catch onto. It has to be very accessible. Anything that needs intense training is just not going to fly because we have really lean resources.”

Airtable proved easy for the entire team to master. “It was just starting from a spreadsheet. Starting from a spreadsheet is great because everybody knows what it is and knows basically how it works.” And with the ease of Airtable, the use multiplied. “I think it inspired our team to realize, “Hey, this is a really flexible tool. It’s not just something that the design department can use to track their projects. We can literally move a collection with it. We can track our events with it. We can make it do whatever we want.”

If there’s a particular synergy between The Mingei Museum’s and Airtable, it relates to their philosophy. As O’Banion puts it, “Function and beauty are interchangeable, in a way. A well-designed piece of furniture, a beautifully woven textile, a beautiful piece of jewelry is just as valuable as a Monet. We think an Eames lounger is just as valuable as a Monet, and in fact, maybe even more so because you can sit on it and it’s comfortable.”

But a product is only as good as the results it allows users to achieve. And the results? “We can literally see how many weeks it took us to pack certain objects, and there’s a graph week-by-week of how many objects are packed in a week. You can see some weeks they packed close to 4,000 objects. You can also see by color, which person was doing the packing. It was just this really cool way to see the number always ticking up. Even our director commented, ‘Oh, looks like we packed 10,000 more objects this week.’”

“We literally moved every single object in our collection, we know exactly where it is, and it’s going to be something that we’re going to be using for years. Years.”

The Mingei has officially embarked on the major renovation of the Balboa Park building. Find portions of the collection popping up all over San Diego, including at the store and café now open at Liberty Station.

Follow the updates on The Mingei Museum move at www.mingei.org

For more information on Airtable, please go to airtable.com

The post Creating Streamlined Processes that Provide for Function and Beauty appeared first on Art Business News.

by Michael Mascioni

At museums across the United States, artists and visitors have embraced the “maker culture” of 3-D printing technology, which allows users to create a physical work of art from a 3-D digital model. Museums now use 3-D printing to educate visitors about collections, inspire them to view collections in new ways and encourage them to create new works.

The technology plays a key role in the museums’ education and enrichment programs. Kim Robledo-Diga, director for innovation and learning at the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey, says that the technology aligns with the museum’s mission to “explore the nexus of art and science.”

The technique, along with Makerspaces, community spaces that promote creation and education, are “perfect fits for our museum’s long-term goal,” she says, and serve as ways to provide new educational tools beyond traditional art-studio classes. The technology gives visitors and artists the opportunity to use the museum collection as a resource to create new forms.

The Newark Museum first used 3-D printing in 2011 with its Makerspace Lab, which also offers a number of other creation tools for visitors. Robledo-Diga estimates that about 100 visitors have created objects using the museum’s two MakerBot 3-D printers, though thousands have observed the technology in action.

Robledo-Diga notes that the use of 3-D printing is at an early stage in museums, as museum staffs assess how to effectively use it. The museum plans to promote the 3-D printers to local artists and is especially interested in engaging the artist community in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey. Robledo-Diga believes that 3-D printing will help meet the needs of local artists and allow them to complete special projects. Last April, the museum also hosted the Greater Newark Mini Maker Faire, which showcased 3-D-printing artists and creative makers in the area.

The process of 3-D printing is an involved one, but the museum offers in-depth classes and workshops for youth and adults. The use of 3-D printing at the museum varies significantly; some visitors create their own designs, whereas others use the museum objects as references. All participants take their creations home.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has also initiated a range of programs to explore the use of 3-D printing at its museum. Visitors create mashups of objects in the museum by taking photos; using free software, such as AutoDesk’s 123D Catch, to turn those photos into 3-D models; and uploading the models to the thingiverse.com content-sharing site for 3-D models. Don Undeen, senior manager of the museum’s media lab, notes that this application of 3-D printing has “taken off without the museum’s involvement,” with many visitors discovering the program by word of mouth.

The initiatives are outgrowths of the Met’s digital-media lab, which is dedicated to experimenting with new artistic technologies and examining how they affect visitors’ museum experience. Undeen says that the use of 3-D printing gives visitors a new way of viewing the museum’s collection.

Professional artists can also use the 3-D printer to scan and model objects in the museum collection. One of the great advantages of using the collection is that “much of it is free of intellectual-property rights, allowing [artists] to enjoy free creative reuse of the collection,” Undeen says.

The Met has hosted a variety of 3-D printing programs, including its first 3-D Scanning and Printing Hackathon in 2012, which enabled a range of digital artists to test the technology. Last summer, the museum organized a five-day 3-D-printing study program for high-school students and held a series of meetups providing instruction for adults. The 3-D printers are open to the general public through special events.

Undeen sees “3-D printing proceeding on an experimental basis, initially in museums and then generating mainstream usage,” especially as 3-D printers become more widely available in schools.

Through thingiverse.com/met, users have downloaded approximately 2,000 model files from the Met’s 3-D model collection of 70 designs. Of the 10 most downloaded objects, eight are from the museum’s American Wing collection, and two are from the Asian department. Undeen attributes the popularity of these objects to the nature of the materials they use and to the more active involvement of the departments overseeing those objects in 3-D printing. Figurative pieces, classical art, human figures and animal figures tend to be the most popular objects for 3-D printing in the museum.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has also used 3-D printing to involve students with its collection. Barry Joseph, associate director for digital learning at the museum, explains that the mission of its 3-D printing programs has been to “harness the tools of digital fabrication to engage youth and immerse them more deeply in scientific content and processes.”

In February, the museum ran the “Capturing Memories” 3-D printing program, which gave students open access to memorabilia from the former planetarium, the scientific tools of explorers and models of exhibits and other objects from the museum. Students could scan the physical objects, work on computers to polish their scans and share that material with others online and in their schools. The museum’s 3-D printing program last summer, “Capturing Dinosaurs:  Reconstructing Extinct Species,” allowed students to prototype and explore dinosaur species through fossils.

Although the use of 3-D printing at museums is still at an early stage, the growing popularity among artists and visitors suggests that 3-D printing will soon become a more significant part of museum programing.

Michael Mascioni writes about digital media, clean energy and other topics for such publications as Internet Evolution, Inter Park, and Innovation & Tech Today. He is co-author of The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier, published by Gower Publishing. He also is a market research consultant in digital media, and serves as conference director of a hybrid energy conference. 

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