A Very Overdue Update

I know that it is cliché to say, but time sure does fly when you are having fun! This week is my fourth week interning at the DAM, and I am happy to report that I’ve been quite busy working on some very exciting projects. I’ve managed to now complete 4 artist files, the last one being Katharina Grosse from Germany. By the end of this week, I should have completed two more files (Nicola López and Shinique Smith), for a running total of 6 files. After a review of the work load, Sonnet decided to cut back on the number of files that needed to be completed—some artists are local, thus not needing much attention, and others are so well-known that the museum has had a lot of experience working with these individuals. In any case, I will be training another intern to complete the rest of the files.

I’ve also placed the “Talking with Visitors” papers on hold, given the fact that there are more urgent tasks that need to be taken care of as soon as possible. I’m really looking forward to these papers. It will be a great way to incorporate my knowledge of how visitors function in museums with my art history background. Last week, I even went on a Collection Highlights tour based upon these papers in order to get a sense of how the docents utilize the information educators have given to them. I found the tour to not be too far off from what I have generally experienced on art museum tours; however, I did notice the inclusion of quotes from artists, the informal atmosphere cultivated by the docent, and the focus on the visual. All of these things are imperative in creating visitor-centered dialogue with artifacts. Still, there is a lot of work to be done here.

Another exciting thing I have been dabbling with here and there is facilitating an interactive gallery experience within the current special exhibition The Psychedelic Experience: Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area, 1965-71. When the situation arises where there is no one to work the Side Trip interpretive area of the exhibition, I head over to the main building and assist patrons with making posters that mimic those seen in the galleries. This Side Trip area is an immersive environment that brings you back to the late 60s with the white cube of the museum gallery transformed into a colorful, comfy space filled with components such as lounge areas to watch TV and read magazines from the 60s, to write your own thoughts/comments/first/confessions from this era on rolodexes, music listening stations, etc. This is probably one of the coolest museum experiences I have encountered. Nina Simon, blogger of Museum 2.0, came to the DAM and then proceeded to blog about her experience. Check it out on the link below!

http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/03/take-side-trip-to-denver-art-museum.html

I’ve also been briefed concerning various public programs that the DAM offers. More specifically, I have currently been exposed to Untitled, a public program that occurs once a month over roughly a six month period that serves to transform the museum into a more user-friendly environment. The DAM is currently using an IMLS grant to support this project, and I have been asked to assist in completing some of the goals of the grant for its first year. As a result, I will be researching how to measure advocacy within museum patrons, for that is something that the DAM wants to see develop through Untitled. I’ve also been asked to work on specific programming for upcoming Untitled experiences. This includes finding outside parties to come and perform various “Demo and Dos” relating to the museum’s collection and the themes of death, collaborative creation, and multiplicity. Lastly, I ended last week by attending an Untitled meeting with the other interns regarding how to market the next topic of the program…the problem was communicating the importance of the collection within the theme of “Old School.”

Now on to the meat of my internship (or at least what I want to be the focus of my time), the installation by Rupprecht Matthies. Last week, Sonnet, Emilie (education department’s administrative assistant), and I went to visit the two community organizations that we will be working with to generate content for Rupprecht’s installation: Emily Griffith Opportunity School and African Community Center. We reintroduced the project to them, I delivered to them a packet of images and essays about Rupprecht that I compiled, and we set up dates for the workshops. Those will happen in late July when Rupprecht is in town for 3 weeks. These groups were chosen because they both serve recent refugees, and Rupprecht’s theme for the words he will generate is arrival. We talked to Rupprecht via phone (he was in Munich), and so far our ideas about the pillow creation are on the right track (mentioned earlier).

Other than that I have sat in on NUMEROUS meetings concerning the interpretive plans for Embrace! , and we have made some progress on the lounge…floor plans, etc. I’m missing so much, but that is my update for you!

Oh, and there is a possibility that I am going to stay until November to document the process of the artists’ installations, assist in interviewing them, meet them (obviously), edit audio content from the interviews for the cell phone audio guide, etc. SO Exciting!!! We shall see…