Over the holidays we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) several times. Last weekend we went again as my kids are taking some art classes there and I had an opportunity to re-visit some of my favourite things on exhibit, and I noticed a very interesting technical element that was being experimented with.
As I walked into their The Future Now exhibit, where the gallery invites you to experience art through their experimental installation strategies, I noticed a little icon on a number of signs depicting a cellphone. At first I thought that it was one of those "no cellphones please" signs - you know the ones that are intended to keep people from yapping away on their cellphones while others are trying to quietly enjoy the art around them. But this little icon didn't have the strikeout symbol on it. Rather it was encouraging the use of cellphones. Hmmmm....I was curious. What they are doing is this. At certain exhibits, for example, let's take a painting, you will find a sign beside or beneath the work of art that displays the little cellphone icon and a phone number. It also provides options you can select once the number has been dialed. An automated recording answers your call and you can select an option to hear commentary on the art you are standing before. I think this is a great idea. I've been to museums and galleries where you are issued a headset when you arrive. What I've never liked about that approach is:
- you are using headsets and gear that countless others have used
- you need to listen to the commentary in a linear fashion, hence you can't walk the gallery as you like.
What is really nice about this cellphone approach at the AGO is that it allows you to move at your own pace, it allows you to get commentary on the items you want and it allows you to easily replay something you might want to hear again while standing there. Everyone carries a cellphone, so the gallery can easily extend this added dimension to art to their visitors without the need to provide equipment. I wandered from piece to piece, pressing different options (e.g., press 2 to hear a professor of art tell you the history of the piece, press 3 to hear an art student describe the changing roles of gender in art, etc., etc.). I really was surprised, impressed and pleased to see something like this being tested at our very own art gallery here in Toronto.
Other technology things that the AGO is doing are things like:
- maintaining a blog
- photographing the kids art they do there during kids programs for creation of a website
- providing a podcast
All of these things make art accessible in a different way and I think it is exciting and very positive. One of the things that the AGO could consider doing was something I saw at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. There they were leveraging the fact that many many people carry/have iPods, especially young people. In an effort to reach out to young people they provided art exhibition information on a computer in iTunes at the Museum of Art. People would simply plug their iPod in, sync the content and then wander from exhibit to exhibit listening to the content.
So hats off to organizations using technology to make art more accessible. Art is an important part of society that is often overlooked, when it should be viewed as important. Good for the AGO for exploring this as well as they undergo their transformation! I look forward to seeing more of this in my ongoing visits to the gallery.
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