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By James Kelly, November 12, 2009

Photo copyright Eric Orns 2000

The Brooklyn Museum used online crowdsourcing to a exciting end, in the conception and delivery of their Click! photography exhibition, in a process which invited the museum’s visitors, the online community, and the general public to participate in the exhibition process.

It began with an open call—artists were asked to electronically submit a work of photography that responds to the exhibition’s theme, “Changing Faces of Brooklyn,” along with an artist statement.

After the conclusion of the open call, an online forum opened for audience evaluation of all submissions (all works were posted as anonymous). As part of the evaluation, each visitor answered a series of questions about his/her knowledge of art and perceived expertise.

Click! culminated in an exhibition at the Museum, where the artworks were installed according to their relative ranking from the juried process.

The results are, of course, online, where the public can engage with discussions and analysis of the work, and the entire process.

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By James Kelly, October 29, 2009

Those of you who were at the Arts Council’s New Media, New Audience? conference last November may remember a speaker from the Royal Shakespeare Company. He spoke of the RSC’s strategy of using the internet to reach out to new audiences, many of which the RSC felt would never actually make it to their venue.

Their site is indeed a fantastic resource for anyone interested in Shakespeare, or theatre in general. You could, for example, watch insightful footage of a rehearsal of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. There is no direct ‘sell’ involved with this, i.e. they’re not selling tickets to Romeo and Juliet. In monetary terms it may be hard to see a financial return from this kind of web activity. However, this degree of online endeavour clearly reinforces the RSC’s brand internationally, and it’s claim to be the world’s leading authority on the works of Shakespeare.

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The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is taking things a step further, and are now ‘the first museum on the European Continent to have developed an iPhone application’.

The app, called “Yours, Vincent” is a little work of art in itself. Free to download from iTunes, it incorporates a selection of beautifully produced short films, interviews and images to bring the user through selected accounts from Vincent van Gogh’s letters, and related paintings.

The app was developed to go along with the exhibit “Van Gogh’s Letters: The Artist Speaks” which opened earlier this month, and runs to January 3, 2010 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

For those unable to make it to Amsterdam, all of the letters are also available to view online at www.vangoghletters.org.

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By James Kelly, October 19, 2009

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TAKE YOUR SEAT – MONDAY NOVEMBER 9TH – SATURDAY 14TH 2009

For the first time in Ireland, performing arts venues all around the country have decided to take action, joining forces to promote the performing arts in Ireland. Take Your Seat is the name of a nationwide promotion happening in November aimed at encouraging people to return if they haven’t been for a while.

The Take Your Seat promotion will be built around a dedicated website, www.takeyourseat.ie, providing the consumer with a one-stop-shop of exciting, live performances happening in venues nationwide, supported by a nationwide radio and print campaign alerting consumers to the promotion and driving them to the website.

Take Your Seat provides a model of innovative practice for public and private interests working together to address the issues which arise in difficult times.

The idea for the promotion came from those working in the industry, and is being co-ordinated by Arts Audiences, with the support of the Arts Council, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Fáilte Ireland, and RTE Radio. Private sector interests have also rowed in, providing considerable pro bono promotional support for an initiative we all hope will be the first of many.

Full details about the venues and arts centres taking part in Take Your Seat will be published on www.takeyourseat.ie

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By James Kelly, September 21, 2009

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Fancy seeing the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on October 4th? Tickets are still available for their forthcoming performance of Chopin’s 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos, at a price of €9.90 a head.

The catch is, of course, that you will experience this concert live (8pm, Berlin time) via broadband beamed into the comfort of your own living room (kitchen, bedroom or study)… what you lose on the physical experience, you gain on savings (no need for flights / babysitters / taxis etc).

Launched at the end of 2008, the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall is an exciting development, and no doubt a sign of things to come over the coming years. Such online experiences will never replace the actual experience of attending a performance, and in this sense (I hope) would not compete with the live experience.

Rather, could it be the case that an increasingly diverse range of high quality artistic experiences will become available in the comfort of our own living room, providing stiff competition for television, which has long held a monopoly on such matters?

Faced with the choice of an evening with the Berlin Philharmonic, two hours of ‘Friends’, or another indepth report on ‘the crash’, the philharmonic could well win out.

It’s worth mentioning that there are still some barriers to be overcome – for one thing, computers on the whole still occupy a different space in our homes, and are more often located in a work context than a leisure one (e.g. in the not so comfortable ‘home office’). Secondly, you need a very good broadband signal to guarantee an uninterrupted experience. However, it is early days, and over the coming few years these barriers will be overcome.

I’ve yet to view a performance, and would be keen to hear if anyone has given it a go?

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Appearing one night only – Berlin Philharmonic – neat dress essential

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By James Kelly, September 9, 2009

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston runs a ‘Teen Night’ which combines art, socialising and a sense of shared ownership of the event.

It started out with one wild (alcohol free) party with music, dancing and general socialising. Gallery staff were on hand to answer questions about the art, but the primary goal seems to have been to get young people in the door.

It has evolved into a quarterly event that is conceived, promoted, and run by teens, employing short programs inspired by the collection. There have also been classes on video, weblogging, podcasting, digital photography, video boot camp, design graphics, t-shirt design, a DJ school, and an in-school writing program.

Started with a small group of teenagers in 2005, ICA is now drawing 300 to 450 young people per event and hitting its goal of engaging 2,500 teens annually, up from 700 in 2005.

More info from www.icateens.org

It would be great to hear if these is anything like this going on in Ireland – do let us know!