Culture ‘Seen’
New England Museum Association Holds 93rd Annual Meeting in Hartford, CT
The subject is cultural diversity and the role of the museum in a changing world. More specifically, museums and historical sites are examining their evolving role in their communities—urban regions, cities and towns—where rapidly shifting demographics and altered economic factors are influencing institutional programmatic decision-making. The long-standing role of the museum as a repository for America’s history, both artistic and cultural, is transitioning, as the ethnic and racial make-up of those very locales is in rapid flux.
Left: An oversized white swan graces the NEMA proceedings and entertains attendees to the rhythmic beat of Caribbean drums as they await the start of the Keynote Session, Museums in the Mirror: Reflecting relevance in a Diverse Culture.
With growing percentages of African-American, Latino and Asian populations joining the mix of those joining
the mainstream culture, museums are anticipating and planning for the shifts in programs, events and exhibitions that will address the interests and needs of those groups. Museum collections and archived materials will have to be re-purposed to attract new members and visitors in the doors; acquisition strategies are shifting to reflect ethnic diversity, and programming is being tailored to address the interests of younger audiences with a perspective on the world shaped by global diversity and a perspective shaped by instant access in the Internet Age.
Right: (from left to right) Kay Simpson, Springfield Museum, V.P. NEMA; Ken Yellis, museum & cultural organization project development specialist, Newport, RI; Marilyn Cruickshank, Educational Consultant, Massachusetts.
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‘Digital 2011: The Alchemy of Change,’ Opening reception, October 2, 2011, The New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY
(left) Art & Science Collaborations, Inc., Director, Cynthia Pannucci, with Art Murphy, beside his photographic studies of prehistoric, pelagic, Devonian fossils, found in the Hudson River Valley of upper New York State.
Part of an ongoing series of exhibitions organized by the Art and Science Collaboration at www.asci.org
The theme is chemistry, in any of its artful manifestations:
“The images in Digital`11: The Alchemy of Change echo the centuries-long struggle of chemistry to find effective modes of visualization. Alchemical imagery often sought to locate chemical transformation in a cosmic perspective, making the unfolding of creation a chemical process couched in allegory. Alchemy’s schematic symbolism of the elements became John Dalton’s atoms. Today, fuzzy micrographs rub shoulders with computer-rendered molecules and abstract depictions of electron orbitals. They are all here, reminding us how important visual codes have been in chemistry’s efforts to convey what can’t be seen.”
—Philip Ball, writer, author and exhibit co-juror
“The sheer variety of the works produced by all the artists highlights exactly what ASCI wanted – to open the public’s eyes to the nature of chemistry. Not just the chemistry foun
d in laboratories so secluded from our day-to-day lives, but something active all around us and more than that – something we can find inspirational. The works which make up the final exhibition illustrate how many different strands branch out from this initial concept, and it is this diversity which made judging this competition all the more difficult but all the more interesting. The works which caught my eye were those which took on a playful or personal approach.”
–Robert Devcic, owner/curator, GV Art, London Gallery
(right) ARTES publisher, Richard Friswell, with Helen Glazer, ARTES contributing writer and photographer, beside one of her hand-colored, Cloud Series, photographs.
Exhibit runs until February 5, 2012 at the New York Hall of Science, in a beautiful, re-purposed, post-modern building on the grounds of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, NY.
