The museum

[Fleetfootphil]

Both what they have on display (certified by the experts as fit for consumption and bearing the stamp of cultural approval) and how it is displayed (written and video addenda, special lighting and special placement for particular works, etc.).

[Belinda]

I am not in the know about the internal politics of musem authorities and who finances them, but I reckon that the musem authorities feel that their selections and interpretations , not to mention academic level, have to accord with the interests of those who finance the musem.

Why is everyone not socialist?

[Fleetfootphil]

"Through its exhibitions, programs, publications, media and related activities, PEM strives to create experiences that transform people's lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes, and knowledge of themselves and the wider world."

That's a quote from a museum director who, apparently, plans to make people healthy and smart.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 93908.html

[Belinda]

Seems fair and generous to me. What is wrong with any offer of education?

Me, I don't want to waste my tiny powers inventing stuff that others have already invented and discovered in great detail and with tremendous talent, time and energy

[Fleetfootphil]

Because he is doing that, and expressing it in the most patently banal way, using words and phrases that mean next to nothing, to profit the finances of the museum, not for any of the purposes espoused.

[Belinda]

Maybe I am too gullible, and maybe you are not trusting enough. Either way, the cure is to get wise.

I suggest that the art gallery is more to the point than the museum, because the art gallery is more about how the items on show express and evaluate feelings, whereas the museum is about how the items express and evaluate facts.Fact are easier to substantiate than feelings.Some art criticism sounds pseudo, but it is possible actually to establish if what the museum pontificates on is true or false.

For instance I guess that if Fleetfootphil distrusts a respectable museum how very much more heshe would distrust that museum of plastic dinosaurs that the dafter Creationists established in a flamboyant attempt to disestablish natural selection.



Fleetfootphil quoted:

Through its exhibitions, programs, publications, media and related activities, PEM strives to create experiences that transform people's lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes, and knowledge of themselves and the wider world."

The first clause mentions materials mostly so no problem there unless they fail to deliver the goods. The second clause is true to the extent that for instance if I know what life was and felt like for a medieval peasant woman I can compare and contrast that life with my own life so that I get a more objective view of my life. An objective view is less foggy .

There is a bigger question though which relates to postmodernism. It is, is it the case that such as museums and art galleries are too entrenched in received opinions and perspectives? If this is the case it is not necessarily as Fleetfootphil suggests because of not very nice financial interests, although we have to be on the qui vive.

[Fleetfootphil]

It's he.

[Belinda]

You sound like male gender but I try to be politically correct when I remember

[Fleetfootphil]

Yes. Brash, blunt, domineering, hostile, self-serving and ruthlessly self-promoting.

[Belinda]

Not at all. Blunt, up front,incisive, to the point, concise, sense of humour

[Fleetfootphil]

What about The Rose Museum and others selling their art? What about the politicians in Philadelphia overturning the wishes of Barnes and moving his collection against his specific wishes as laid out in his initial bequest?

[Belinda]

I don't know those stories. If you do, Fleetfootphil, and are up in arms against corruption or whatever else may be wrong, good!

[Fleetfootphil]

I'm an observer.

-- Updated February 2nd, 2013, 1:29 pm to add the following --

I just ran across an article lamenting the misguided direction libraries are headed, so I am not alone on this issue. I wonder what ever became of common sense. Was it replaced by the need "to rock"?

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/bring_b ... ibrarians/

[Belinda]

I agree that libraries should be for peaceful learning etc. If any museum, art gallery or library is overrun by querulous or otherwise noisy kids I avoid it. I guess that formerly peaceful venues are sometimes given over to the modern cult of children and teenagars as important because they are children and teenagers. This is a form of political correctness which needs to be disputed in the media.

Perhaps immigrant communities tend more to respect elders and learning in the old traditional ways.

-- Updated Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:18 pm to add the following --

I'm an observer.

-- Updated February 2nd, 2013, 1:29 pm to add the following --

I just ran across an article lamenting the misguided direction libraries are headed, so I am not alone on this issue. I wonder what ever became of common sense. Was it replaced by the need "to rock"?

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/bring_b ... ibrarians/

Yes, I suspect that the need to rock is akin to the need to be politically correct.

[Fleetfootphil]

I think the need to rock is akin to the need to be seen.

For myself, I have a desire (as opposed to a need) to be rather anonymous.