Cognitive Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga, a pioneer in the study of hemispheric (left vs. right brain) specialization describes ”the Interpreter” – a left hemisphere function that organizes our memories into plausible stories. Less romantic, perhaps, than Gone With the Wind, the Interpreter may help to explain our species’ profound relationship with storytelling.

An exhibition for exhibition-makers. A museum without a house. A house full of mountains. Four universities with a lot of boxes and eight exhibitors with a lot more ideas. For the second time, the EXPOCASE format extends beyond conventional constraints.

via Expocase 2011 Part 02 Jasper Visser on Vimeo.

The UK’s Oil Painting Collection

The United Kingdom holds in its galleries and civic buildings arguably the greatest publicly owned collection of oil paintings in the world. 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings are held in institutions ranging from museums large and small to town halls, universities, hospitals and even fire stations.

However, four in five of these paintings are not on view. Whilst many galleries make strenuous efforts to display their collections, many paintings across the country are held in storage, usually because there are insufficient funds and space to show them. Furthermore, very few galleries have created a complete photographic record of their paintings, let alone a comprehensive illustrated catalogue of their collections. In short, what is publicly owned is not publicly accessible.

via The Public Catalogue Foundation.

Article from the New York Times earlier this year about Museums around the world now using social media for interesting visitor engagement.

via Speaking Digitally About Exhibits – NYTimes.com.

via QR codes and museums | MuseumNext – Europe’s big conference on social media and digital media for the museums.

via Chickens, eggs & QR codes | Fresh & Newer.

Adam Greenfield at Urbanscale just posted some interesting research his team has been doing in NYC on the citizen familiarity of QR codes.

This is especially timely as QR codes are getting a lot of interest (finally) from the cultural sector. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has been doing QR codes for a few years – first failing – but now perhaps getting good traction with them now that the code scanner is built into the exhibition catalogue App. Shelley Bernstein’s team at the Brooklyn Museum have also been rolling them out. And Wikipedia’s been promoting the nifty language ‘auto-detect’ QR codes that Derby Museum & Art Gallery have developed (QRpedia).

Five films about the Turner Prize 2011 made by young people as part of Arts Award Bronze. The nominated artists are: George Shaw, Martin Boyce, Karla Black and Hilary Lloyd.

John Pasche was still a student at the Royal College of Art when he was asked to design an image for a Rolling Stones tour in 1971. As Pasche explains in this film Mick Jagger invited the young designer to his Chelsea home to brief him. The logo was initially inspired less by Mick Jagger’s famous pouting lips than by the Indian goddess Kali who is often portrayed with a protruding pointed tongue. The image was an immediate success. Pasche was paid £50 and commissioned to design a logo which has featured on every Stones album since.

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