Museum 2.0

AUGUST 28, 2013

Earlier in 2013, I was amazed to visit one of the new “Studio” spaces at the Denver Art Museum. The Denver Art Museum is no stranger to community collaborations, but we’ve been dipping in our toe a little more deeply when it comes to developing permanent participatory installations.

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Denver Museum Arts Collaboration 35

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

This simple participatory project invites visitors to contribute their own small objects in little alcoves in our bathrooms. We have seven participatory elements in our current exhibitions on three floors, ranging from voting to talkback walls to an in-depth "make a memory jar" craft activity.

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Museum Difference Examples Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? But the difference between the two examples teases out a problem in differentiating "participatory design" from "design for participation." In the first case, you are making the design process participatory. In the second, you make the product participatory.

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Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

For the past two years, I''ve been working on a project to activate the concrete space adjacent to our museum as a vibrant, community plaza. We are hiring a temporary contract curator to activate the plaza this summer with 25+ cultural events. creative placemaking design Museum of Art and History programs public space'

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Public Activities Active Activism 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2011

We've been offering a host of participatory and interactive experiences at the Museum of Art & History this season. I loved Jasper Visser's list of 30 "do's" for designing participatory projects earlier this month. Please share yours in the comments. I keep visitor comments in my office.

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Design Participatory Learning Instruction 45

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 11, 2012

We just started to try to live up to that vision, partnership by partnership, activity by activity. It also feels amazing to see some of my theories validated in this way--that giving people the opportunity to actively participate does really transform the way they see the institution and themselves. It feels pretty amazing.

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Audience Museum Participatory History 47

Museum 2.0

APRIL 15, 2015

"The arts are future-making." I wrote this down when Deborah Cullinan said it at a meeting of arts leaders about a year ago. Deborah''s vision for the arts leading the way to stronger future inspired me. Deborah''s vision for the arts leading the way to stronger future inspired me. The arts ARE future-making.

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San Francisco Arts Design Marketing 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Originally posted in April of 2011, just before I hung up my consulting hat for my current job at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Feel free to add your own questions and answers in the comments! Are there certain kinds of institutions that are more well-suited for participatory techniques than others? The Museum 2.0

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Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

JUNE 29, 2011

Every day when I walk by our visitor comment board, I feel like I'm getting little gifts from visitors. Some institutions have even banked on that charm to create compelling ad campaigns featuring visitors' comments. The comments provide me with some mental uplift, and they inspire me to keep pushing.

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Museum Participatory Comment Sound 47

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 23, 2014

They were “preaching the museum gospel” in NYC via alternative tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We interacted with the art and with each other through dynamic photo challenges, kinesthetic activities, and conversations. So I went on a tour…and experienced the museum in an entirely new way.

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Museum Interview New York Interaction 55

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 16, 2013

Then again, Saturday was hardly normal at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. This past weekend, in conjunction with our exhibition about Ze Frank's current participatory project, A Show , we hosted " Ze Frank Weekend "--a quickie summer camp of workshops, activities, presentations, and lots of hugging.

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Reflection Community Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 18, 2012

When talking about active audience engagement with friends in the museum field, I often hear one frustrated question: how can we get adults to participate? The common museum knowledge on this issue is that adults are timid, that we have lost some of the wonder, impulsiveness, and active creativity of childhood days.

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Interaction Design Museum Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 24, 2012

To that end, our exhibitions are full of participatory elements. Visitors can comment on how we can improve or what they would like to see. We actively seek participation and develop structured opportunities for visitors to collaborate with us. They can contribute their own stories, objects, and creative work to exhibitions.

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Platform Open Museum Participatory 41

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Schools and other arts organizations are rising to the challenge. Artists and arts organizations are contributing their spaces and their creative energies. Yet our posts contain similar phrases such as “21st century museums,” “changing museum paradigms,” “inclusiveness,” “co-curation,” “participatory” and “the museum as forum.”

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Museum Blogger Cleveland Missouri 52

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Recently, I was giving a presentation about participatory techniques at an art museum, when a staff member raised her hand and asked, "Did you have to look really hard to find examples from art museums? Aren't art museums less open to participation than other kinds of museums?" I was surprised by her question.

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Museum Difference Participatory History 29

Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

Feel free to add your own questions and answers in the comments! Granted, I live in an increasingly narrow world of people who are exploring these topics and want me to work with them, but I still learn a lot from the questions and struggles I hear from colleagues and people who comment on the blog. The Museum 2.0 Yes and no.

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Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2019

Today, I wanted to think about participatory elements, something so essential to this blog. Lumin at Detroit Institute of Art Now on to the interactives…I’ve been thinking a great deal about the function of interactives in museums. This activity went with an artist’s work where she told of immigration stories.

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Museum Participatory Interaction Classroom 35

Museum 2.0

JULY 31, 2013

You''re in for a treat, with upcoming posts on creativity, collections management, elitism, science play, permanent participatory galleries, partnering with underserved teens, magic vests, and more. Sometimes, this has led to an unreasonable amount of stress for an entirely extra-curricular activity. As the readership for Museum 2.0

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Museum Participatory Reflection Conference 35

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 9, 2011

It's a little living room in a lobby area that invites people to lounge on comfortable chairs, leaf through magazines and books related to art and Santa Cruz history, and generally hang out. The area that houses the Creativity Lounge also shows art. Teenagers are curling up with art magazines.

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Museum Arts History Columbus 51

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Here's the short version (read the whole thing here ): The Museum of Art & History is committed to creating exhibitions that inspire our diverse audiences to engage deeply with contemporary art and Santa Cruz County history. We see our visitors as partners in actively interpreting and exploring exhibition content.

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Museum Artist Participatory History 38

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 9, 2017

Hosted by a sound art collective, Ultra-red, the 2015 event promised "to investigate listening as a political activity and to interrogate the stakes of participation in neoliberalism." Should I comment on whether museums should acquire artifacts related to police violence against African-Americans ?

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Participatory Museum Voice Press 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 5, 2008

I was captivated by Chris Alexander 's story about participatory online/onsite efforts at the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA). The mysterious unseen gods of YouTube had anointed the Road Trip video with top billing, which shot the views way up (over 80,000 to date) and sent comments and video responses pouring in.

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Case Study Participatory Studies Museum 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 2, 2012

Today is my one-year anniversary as the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. We went through a dramatic financial turnaround and redefined our relationship with our community through a series of experimental participatory projects and new programmatic approaches. It is incredibly rewarding work.

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Museum Director Participatory Culture 55

Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2014

I''ve now been the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for three years. I''m open to any questions you want to share in the comments. I''ve never worked in such a supportive, energized, active environment. Participatory work can be very labor-intensive. In the meantime, here are some.

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Museum Director History Teen 49

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

Most of my work contracts involve a conversation that goes something like this: "We want to find ways to make our institution more participatory and lively." I don't know - and I hope you'll share your thoughts in the comments. We want to cultivate a more diverse audience, especially younger people, and we want to do it authentically."

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Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

What does the word "participatory" mean to you? The various definitions of participatory projects can lead to confusion and misunderstandings. In the collaborative model, visitors are invited to serve as active partners in the creation of an institutional project which is originated and ultimately controlled by the institution.

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Public Research Participatory Report 36

Museum 2.0

JUNE 12, 2012

It made me think in ways that I haven't before about the relation of art--as expressive culture--to democracy. It is multi-disciplinary, incorporates diverse voices from our community, and provides interactive and participatory opportunities for visitor involvement. Note: you can view these photos of the exhibition on Flickr here.)

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Participatory Museum Blackboard Game 51

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2013

He''ll be able to watch how certain activities evolve into coordination and what kinds of histories the people who most easily coordinate have in common. I wholeheartedly believe it has the power to advance science (and art and cultural heritage) through the power of play.

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Museum Roles Game Participatory 51

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

What happens when you combine reality TV tactics with a traditional art collection? This guest post, written by Philippa Tinsley, Collections Manager for the Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum (UK), describes the innovative Top 40 exhibition they mounted in the summer of 2009.

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Museum Chart Picture Arts 23

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2011

Lots of museums these days have video comment booths to invite visitors to tell their stories, but how many of those booths really deliver high-impact content? Last week, I talked with Tina Olsen, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum, about their extraordinary Object Stories project.

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Story Interview Museum Audio 53

Museum 2.0

JUNE 1, 2010

You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 The primary activity in third places is conversation among patrons. Third places are more participatory and offer fewer basic amenities than most cultural institutions provide. This is the only post written by me, Nina Simon. Facebook discussion board here.

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Place Discussion Culture Museum 41

Museum 2.0

APRIL 29, 2015

These are the slides and notes for the talk I gave at the American Alliance of Museums conference on Monday, April 27 about the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. When I became the director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History four years ago, I took this work with me. We exist for people who live in Santa Cruz County.

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Build Community Museum Artist 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 9, 2009

Last month, I met an artist who was part of a group that created a renegade podcast tour for the Portland Art Museum. But I also found myself wondering if this imagined set of interpretations for the art was any more compelling or useful than any other imagined set of interpretations. Not every visitor is willing to be subversive.

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Museum Alternative Portland Artist 22

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 3, 2019

As I imagined a world without Nina Simon ’s Participatory Museum , I felt sad about all the visitors whose voices (and post-it note comments) weren’t honored. About a decade ago, I remember reading "Nuns sat here" at the Detroit Institute of Art as the title of a label for a piece of wooden convent furniture.

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Museum Work Social Media History 21

Museum 2.0

APRIL 3, 2009

The experiment is a multi-step activity in which you talk to strangers, get strangers talking to each other, and then build a social object that mediates conversation among strangers (more here ). Please feel free to comment or ask questions about topics on the forum, but I'd prefer if only those who think they might actually attend vote.

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Experiment Seattle Indianapolis Denver 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 2, 2008

And when I think back on the last year and how it compared to year one of blogging, the shining difference is you--your interest, your comments, and most of all, your extraordinary example. But enough of these experiences have convinced me that the participatory museum is not a fringe concept. Today, Museum 2.0 I started the Museum 2.0

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Museum Voice Minnesota Participatory 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

I also learned that the best money in museums for someone who's starting out is in art modeling. After a long day running around a science center, I would show up at the Worcester Art Museum in the evening and make $20 just to stand around and listen to a painting instructor talk about art.

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Museum Boston Participatory Job 52