Happy New Year 2014!!!

With renewed energies this blog wishes you a very creative, cultural and positive new year 2014!!!

Cristobal Balenciaga Museoa - Guetaria, Spain

The year 1987 marked the 50th anniversary of the Balenciaga Fashion House in Paris, that was somehow the begining of the foundation of the same name, but it was ont until 2002 that the idea of a museum to house and display the collections of the Balenciaga House, could take shape and eventually become a reality.

The website is a vey good place to get to know the personality of the couturier and admire some of his creations. 

It is also a tool where to start research abut the house history, collections and other museological work, i.e., the conservation department working on restoration of some of the pieces they store in its ateliers as seen in this video.



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Shop at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

The Stedelijk Museum' shop is airy, atmospheric, grandiouse architecture designed as a connection to to the entracen and foyer of the building, but is human scaled 

and inviting to browse over selected books, and a table is set to make possible some conversations over the books offered or the visit to the museum,

and the view through sends you to the museumplein, breaking the boundaries between inside and outside.

Textiles resources at the V&A Museum, London

The Clothworker’s Centre for the study and conservaton of textiles and fashion is a very interesting and expected new section of the V&A to open next fall.  In their own words:

The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion opens on 8 October 2013. It is located at Blythe House, at Olympia in West London. The aim of the Clothworkers’ Centre is to provide the best possible access to the Museum’s outstanding collection of textiles and fashion in a relaxed and peaceful environment. ….. 

The aim of the Clothworkers’ Centre is to provide the best possible access to the Museum’s outstanding collection of textiles and fashion in a relaxed and peaceful environment. 

More info about the upcoming opening and on the centre's resources.

The online section for textiles is also a must for the scholars and textiles interested in general.  A special note to the link with a introductory reading list, and the link to the general page for textiles resources.

Text and photography at the Stedelijk, Amsterdam

A label about Gerard Kiljan's ideas about photography in the 1930s in The Netherlands, the Stedelijk Museum.

Different approaches to photograph art

TED's talk: Weaving narratives in museum galleries by Thomas P. Campbell, director MET

I have been watching some TED's talks that develop the notion of narration and came across this one about interpretation  and constructing narratives in the museum, by MET's director, Thomas P. Campbell.  One of the interesting quotes was about the encounter between visitors and real objets in the museum:

“Bringing people face to face with [museum] objects is a way of bringing them face to face with people across time, across space, whose lives may have been very different to our own.” 

"As the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Thomas P. Campbell thinks deeply about curating—not just selecting art objects, but placing them in a setting where the public can learn their stories. With glorious images, he shows how his curation philosophy works for displaying .....  (from TED's website)

Ruth M. Anderson, photographer for the Hispanic Society

"Atesorar España" was an exhibition about some travelers-photographers-researchers who found inspiration for their work in itinerant journeys around several regions in Spain in the end of XIX century ans especially in the beginning of the 20th century.  Curators were Joaquín Bérchez and Patrick Lenaghan.

One of the well know was Ruth M. Anderson, who was commissioned by the Hispanic Society in New York, dedicated time and efforts to document costume in Spain in several travels she paid to several parts of Spain.  The exposition only shows part of her extensive work coming from her travels, but it is an introduction to her fantastic archive mostly archived in the Hispanic Society.

The exposition toured for different institutions, but is is important to have the chance to review the historic images taken buy Anderson, including the one above showing her during work that was taken by her father.

Different views of the venue in Bancaja Art espace in Valencia, Spain, Mar'12

Images of the pictures in the exhibition

Traditional costumes and textiles (private collection in Valencia, Spain)

Exhibition of film at EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam

At EYE Filmmuseum, the permanent exhibit is in a room where films are shown as a panorama surrounding the visitor with moving images from the collection of the museum, but this shot here transforms the moving images into a still image, a frozen moment.

The role of Touch in discussion (Museum Practice issue)

There is an interesting segment about "the role of touching" in the UK Museums Association's Museum Practice section section of the site.  In this months issue several articles analyze the notion of touch in the museums from different perspectives and interests, which brings up the discussion of the distance between the object and the visitor.  It also considers the difficulties or complicationso of working with handling collections.

Interesting topic whe it is a momento of redefinign many statements in times when engaging with your audience should be based on more than temporary exhibitions.

Using visible storage rooms, attracting visitors

Images from the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Design galleries.
Visible storage should be consider much more often a posibility for attracting visitors regularly.

If visitors are not only allowed but to encourage to open a drawer to inspect objects inside, with the less possible restrictions of distance or the glass in between you and object, it does turns the visit into a completely rewarding experience.

With this range of display a new connection can be bond with the interest of the visitor in observing the objects on show from different perspectives.

And this applies especially to museums with collections of modern crafts, design, etc.

room panel with general information pf content for next rooms

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, panoramic

"The perception of space" exhibit at Es Baluard, Palma

Es Baluard, museum d'art modern i contemporani de Palma is showing the exhibition "The perception of space" until the beginning of March. The show "is dedicated to sculpture, ...  with a selection of works form the permanent collection of the museum",  in words of the exhibition's curators, Soad Houman and Catalina Joy.

The exhibit is small in number of pieces and space dedicated. but also in the dimensions of the works exhibited.  The perception of the visit is possible just right down the stairs from the main floor of the museum, that is the entrance way, which helps with the itinerary of the visit, clear from the beginning.

The open plan of the room, only broken by two constructions housing some of the works selected, offer a scenario or a general view of what the show is offering, could interpreted as the statement of the curators, at least because it does indeed forces to reflect on the perception and the space containing and contained.

The proposal should then be to review the meaning of both concepts used in the title of the show, by using works from the permanent collection of the center, something that should be highly appreciated in theses days of overspending in loans, with travels and security complicated budgets.  But also because the reason for building a collection should be to show the pieces in it and not to stored them for years accumulating dust and being ignored.  the curators themselves expressed this: some of the pieces are showed for the first time in the center.

The show is focus in the idea of the sculpture in relation with the space where is inserted.  

Baltazar Torres "Island of a perfect world III" 2007-08

But there are parts of the exhibition that are confusing, whether for the bad design or the bad and location of the works in the room.  Here below it is obvious that perhaps the most ethereal piece in the show, is completely ruined by the location and the background of "the mechanics of the building" that should be either hide by means of a temporary wall, or positioned the work in another part of the hall.

Fernando Megías "Espacio para contemplar el silencio" , 2007

At least another works have the space surrounding to be perceived by themselves.

David Nash, "Crack and warp wall panels", 2008 

But, is the square signal on the floor a part of the sculpture, or is it just a warning: do not approach and/or touch?  If the latter,  it is not what is expected from a show about contemporary art.

Josep maria Alcover, "Sense titol", 2007

This piece could be perhaps, one of the most interesting in the show for the adding of extra content: light and ecology sensitization.

Jaume Plensa, "What plants can grow along the shore?, 1999 

Another piece using light as one of its components is enclosed and locked in one of the furniture-cabinet-constructions used in the show to individualized the works. It has a small doorway positioned in a way that was not contributing to the appreciation of the piece.

Pep Llambias, "Tallat de lluna", 2007

All in all, it is an admirable gesture to go back to work/research in collections to conform a temporary exhibit.  At least, artists should be glad to see their works shown openly to the public instead of being buried in the museum's storage rooms.

Exhibits at the Museum Volkwang

The Museum Volkwang in Essen, Germany has extended some more days into January the exhibition  "The ecstasy of colour, Munch, Mattisse and the Expresionists".  The section dedicated to the exhibit in the website has an appealing intro, some sort of short trailer with zoom in and out and very much color and explosive soundtrack, it is innovation in the onine presentation of a show.  Another added is the Making of, a video about how the mounting of the exhiit with words and explanations from the curators interspersed with a good number of images from paintings in the show.  It is simple in the concept but quite informative since it offers you a good idea of the content of the visit.

Another interesting exhibiton is Video Studio that runs until 7 April 2013,

In 1969, Museum Folkwang installed a studio for video editing, making it the first museum in Germany with the facilities to produce this then young medium. ......    The first presentation “Video Vision” recalls the early days of the video studio and the media experiments of the 1970s and 1980s. It shows artistic video works that were produced in the Folkwang studio.

from the museums website

Entrance - Es Baluard Museu d'art modern i contemporary

The art center Es Baluard  - Museu d'art modern i contemporary de Palma, is a museum inserted in a medieval former fortress that has an intricate in between the stone walls entrance.

The indications are clear once you have reach the plaza, when you can see the huge glass wall, that is the main entrance to the center and the façade of the center.  Inside there is an open plan, narrow but large room looking at the plaza and filled with day light.  Inside the distribution is the reception desk and shop on both sides of the hall and the passage to exhibitions rooms in the middle, so there is no doubt how to enter the building and the way in to the visit.   

The hall is of a considerable size, distributed in different departments, the reception desk is right at front, even visible from the outside,

and on the other side you can find the museum shop, small, colorful and quite well sorted, 

A huge painting in the wall shows the chart with the floor-plans, graphic but not that helpful after all,

Once inside and before heading to the exhibit rooms, you can have another view and perspective, 

The model before the reception desk, allows to have a visual idea of the different buildings that conform the museum and their inter-connections. A very helpful hint before and after the visit.  All and all, the entrance is modest, but sufficient, at least in low season.  But the excessive light of a winter bright sunny day talks about the inconvenience of that situation in summer months. Is there a cover to protect this space from the intense luminosity?