Museum 2.0

APRIL 2, 2014

Song Reader didn''t come as a CD, or an LP, or a bunch of digital audio files. It is what it sounds like: a book of original sheet music, beautifully designed and complemented with artwork and text. Beck''s project is unusual because he deliberately resurrected a mostly-defunct participatory platform: sheet music for popular songs.

Participatory 52

Participatory Arts Music Learning 52

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 30, 2013

Earlier this year, I was fascinated to read the account of a participatory project at the Morrison County Historical Society in Minnesota, in which community members were invited to write essays about “what’s it like” to have various life experiences in the County. How did this project get started? How do we get the history of the poor?

History 51

History Museum Minnesota Participatory 51

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 22, 2010

In the most extreme cases, I've talked to folks from museums that are government-mandated to provide all content in multiple languages who say they are unable to invite visitors to make comments because they'd have to translate all of them and simply can't dedicate the resources to do so.

Museum 38

Museum Work North America Language 38

Museum 2.0

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve long admired Improv Everywhere , the NYC-based participatory public art group. I particularly like the MP3 experiments , events at which Improv Everywhere distribute an audio file to people for free as a podcast. The recording starts with two and a half minutes of music without talking.

Instruction 21

Instruction Instructional Nicaragua Experiment 21

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

What happens when a formal art museum invites a group of collaborative, participatory artists to be in residence for a year? Will the artists ruin the museum with their plant vacations and coatroom concerts? But for museum and art wonks, it could be. Will the bureaucracy of the institution drown the artists in red tape?

Artist 39

Artist Museum Project Public 39