Two great posts I just finished reading about social media (which reminds me that I still want to do a major recap of what I’ve learned from Museums and the Web…).

This article from NPR discusses the shift from the web being page-based (and focused on displaying past information) to a constant stream of active information (a la Twitter) and what that says about our society today.  The Pulitzer has a Twitter page and participates in this “stream” – do you?  And do you think this type of constant information will eventually replace static information on the web?  Which also ties in with something else I heard on NPR this morning – will these musings online have any hope for longevity?  What will our version of Shakespeare’s sonnets be?

The other piece I just finished reading was by Kimberly from the Kemper.  She wrote about social media and art on the Saint Louis Art Map and discussed how what we do on the web as museums needs to relate back to our mission and audience.  It reminded me of the paper Nina Simon presented at Museums and the Web, which takes this idea one step further.  She discussed how our approach to an online presence – with it’s emphasis on accessibility and the interactions with Web 2.0 – and how we should bring these ideas back inside the galleries.  As she calls it, “going analog”.  It’s an interesting read -check it out here.

The blog this week is full of announcements!  I’m excited to post the Pulitzer’s next exhibition, opening October 30th.   The current working title is “Matta-Clark: Urban Fragments”.  Here’s the official description:

Trained as an architect, Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) used neglected structures slated for demolition as his raw material. He literally carved out sections of buildings with a chainsaw. In this way, he revealed their hidden construction, provided new ways of perceiving space, and created metaphors for the human condition. When wrecking balls knocked down his sculpted buildings, little remained, which is why the artist documented his work with photography, film, and video. He also kept a few building segments, known as “cuts”. They include a piece of a floor from an apartment house in the Bronx, three sections of a house near Love Canal, a window from an abandoned warehouse on a pier in New York City, and four corners from the roof of a house in New Jersey. For this exhibition, the Pulitzer is borrowing from important institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and from the private collection of John and Thomas Solomon. The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark also plans to lend almost forty photographs that will be displayed throughout the Pulitzer. This will be the first time that the aforementioned “cuts” and photographs have been exhibited in St. Louis.

Matta-Clark’s poetic and daring involvement with the urban fabric did much to represent and reinterpret abandoned buildings and places. Using his work as a springboard for dialogue, the Pulitzer will prepare innovative programs that will help address critically the fate of many of St. Louis’s neighborhoods, which are presently filled with unoccupied structures and empty lots. Moreover, by placing Matta-Clark’s rough domestic “cuts” into the pristine public architecture by Tadao Ando at the Pulitzer, we hope not only to offer our audiences new ways to think about the artist and the architect, but also to incite questions concerning the social, political and geographical circumstances that give architecture its meaning.

Today’s post is more of a mini-announcement –

We recently extended our Old Masters exhibition through October 3rd.  Most of the works will remain on view, with the exception of the drawings in the Lower Gallery which will be going back home to Harvard.  In their place we’re installing photographs by Thomas Struth, on view beginning June 24th.  In the meantime, here’s why our director, Matthias Waschek, decided these works made sense within the context of this exhibition:

“The displacement of artworks can take place in the dimension of space and in that of time. We have chosen to “dis-”place Old Masters from the context of the Saint Louis Art Museum and Harvard Art Museum. But even before being acquired by these two collections, the paintings were within different contexts as well. The Pulitzer installation looks both towards the history of presentation in a pre-electrical world and towards a reconciliation of the old and the contemporary.

In my mind, Thomas Struth also confronts the old and the new. In contrast to the modernity of the visitors with their clothes, glasses and cameras, stands the “oldness” of the paintings. Seen optimistically, these works have an eternal value, and the reactions of the visitors transcend the time into which they were born. Seen pessimistically, the paintings look like dinosaurs or fossils, and the awe, curiosity, and sometimes the stressed expression on their faces show how little the visitors have in common with the world of the old masters.

Artworks need viewers. We hope that the the presentation of art at the Pulitzer invites the viewers to look afresh. Struth is an excellent fit for this exhibition, as he makes us view along with other modern viewers.”

We can’t officially announce which photos will be on view yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as we can!

The Staging Old Masters performances have been extended to run through this coming weekend.  If you haven’t been, this is your last chance! If you’re out of town (or in town but can’t make it) we’re also putting together a video featuring the full performance from start to finish – stay tuned for that.

The program will culminate on Sunday at 3:30pm with a special panel discussion.  Actors and program organizers will be on hand to discuss their experiences and where they hope to go from here.  It’s a chance to listen to their insights on the program and ask questions.  Here’s Lisa, the Pulitzer’s Manager of Community Engagement, with her thoughts.  She’ll be a part of Sunday’s discussion:

We’ve just posted two incredible sets of interviews with the actors of Staging Old Masters.  Check it out here:

And here:

There are also two new articles out about the show – read Judith Newmark’s take in the Post-Dispatch here, and Bill Beene’s recap in the St. Louis American here.

The program has been so popular that we’re extending the performance run by one more weekend – May 9th and 10th, with a special panel discussion with the participants on the 10th at 3:30pm.  So if you’ve already seen it, and would like to come back and hear the actors speak about the program in their own words, or if you have any questions, come to the panel!

I’m back in St. Louis, and full of ideas from Museums and the Web.  More to come on that soon.  In the meantime, I’d like to talk about my love of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

I’ve written before about how much I admire their approach to museum transparency, but this was my first opportunity to visit in person.  The new Davis Lab gave me ideas for the presentation of our own in-gallery kiosk and the surrounding 150 acres of gardens (with prompts to post your photos on Flickr – nice) was perfect after being cooped up inside hotel conference rooms for days. Their director, Max Anderson, gave an inspiring opening address to the conference, which set the tone for all the great ideas that were to follow. Watch his intro here (ah yes, Art Babble – another reason to love the IMA!).

To add to this always-growing list – here’s a blog post about the “Indy Culture Matters” rally they participated in yesterday and the associated website. Reminded me of Amy’s post a few months back on visiting Jefferson City  (and also here) and how important it is to keep the arts at the forefront and convey their importance to our community leaders.

I’m in Indianapolis, ensconced in my hotel, and ready for tomorrow’s sessions at the Museums and the Web conference.  The program looks great, I can’t wait to meet the people behind so many of the sites I admire, I get to talk web for 3 days straight, and finally I’ll get a chance to visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art!  In conclusion: I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time.  I’ll try to tweet updates on the Pulitzer’s Twitter account (follow us here: http://twitter.com/thepulitzer) as much as I can and maaaaaybe a blog post, if there’s time.  But expect a full update when I’m back next week.

The Old Masters exhibition is a unique to the Pulitzer for many reasons.  For one, it takes us away from the modern and contemporary art we typically show.  For another, the research conducted for both the print and web catalogues was more extensive than ever before.  We privileged source material written as close as possible to the lifetime of each artist.  We focused on information about the artists lives and stories about the subjects of the paintings.  Beyond that, we have two curatorial roundtable discussions about the exhibition itself, and the decisions behind it.  All of these are available in a print catalogue that’s available at the Pulitzer (because it’s also our biggest print catalogue yet, this one costs $5).  And now online: oldmasters.pulitzerarts.org.

The web catalogue also includes features that only the web will allow – gallery 360 views, zooms on certain works, a virtual walk into the Cube Gallery, videos of each curator talking, and opportunities to submit questions to each of them directly.  See what you think!

The Symphony’s Carnegie Hall performance that I mentioned in this post, was reviewed in the New York Times on Sunday.  Sounds like it was a trip full of challenges, but with amazing results.  For example, David Robertson filling in for the soloist at the last minute!  Read about why and what happened here.

I was lucky to be invited to last Friday’s Symphony performance by their blogger extraordinaire, Eddie Silva. He organized Bloggers’ Night, luring us in with promises of free tickets, drinks, and a chance to mingle with fellow bloggers.  In exchange we promised a blog post about the experience. Genius!The Pulitzer collaborates regularly with the Symphony, so they’re no strangers around the Pulitzer (I got a kick out of trying to find musicians on stage that had performed here in the past).  But this time, I enjoyed going down the street to hang on their turf for once.   Listening to the performance at Powell Symphony Hall, was in strong contrast to our stark, modern concrete.   At the Pulitzer, performances are very intimate, but I loved being in the middle of that large hall, dressed up, and surrounded by beautiful gold gilding and chandeliers.

Powell is one of my favorite buildings in St. Louis, and each time I walk through its doors – either for a performance in front, or for a meeting in back – I’m always reminded of my childhood.  I remember going to the Christmas concerts, and the main lobby with its red velvet, gold and mirrors, decked out in its holiday best, was the pinnacle of elegance.  My favorite part of the night was always walking up and down that grand staircase.  I still get a kick out of it.  If I worked at Powell, I’d use that staircase every day.  Or eat my lunch on it.  Though that’s probably not allowed.

We were lucky to be able to watch the Carnegie Hall preview performance.  Here it’s mentioned on Alex Ross’ blog, The Rest is Noise (he also gives a well-deserved shout-out to Eddie!).  It featured the full orchestra (also something we never get to see at the Pulitzer!) performing Wagner’s Good Friday Music from Parsifal and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5.  They invited two incredible guest artists – cellist, Anssi Karttunen, (his fingers moved so fast, I could barely keep up) who performed on Zimmermann’s Canto di speranza and Mirage by Saariaho, which he performed with soprano Karita Matilla.  My favorite piece of the night was when she sang Sibelius’ Luonnota.  We were sitting towards the back of the hall, and even at that distance, she was completely captivating.

I enjoyed getting outside of the Pulitzer’s walls to experience one of our regular collaborators in all their full Powell Hall performance glory.  I hope I can not only finagle an invite to the next Bloggers Summit (cough cough) but also return the favor very soon.