Digitally archiving art spaces
2 Feb 2014 5:07 AM IST
This month president of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dr Douglas Druick addressed the experts and practitioners from the arts and culture. He laid emphasis on digitisation of museums as digitisation is gaining increasing importance as museums across the world want to reach out to the public like never before.
He said in the inaugural talk of a lecture series, ‘Every museum should digitise its collections and put them online for wider sharing with the public.’ The head of the Art Institute, which has now collaborated with India’s Ministry of Culture to invite curators and museum practitioners of the country to visit the establishment in America’s third most populous city, noted that an art museum is not just about collections and exhibitions. ‘It involves deep research and interaction with academic institutions and curators to gain credibility and make way for new initiatives in the field of fine arts,’ he pointed out.
As for public-private partnerships in the field of art conservation and storage facilities, he said museums should invest in strengthening their own facilities as well. ‘For museums where adequate space is a problem, such steps are being taken after ensuring proper security of the objects,’ he added, in reply to a post-talk question.
National Museum director-general Dr Venu V said Indian museums need to have a robust art acquisition policy to be able to expand their collections, to which Dr Druick said his Art Institute was deeply engaged with acquiring new works. ‘In such instances, the faculties of a senior curator are very useful. Often curators submit proposals for purchasing or acquiring new objects for the museum; sometimes such acquisitions are also funded by sponsors,’ the speaker said.
Dr Venu, while noting that the ‘NM Lecture’ series would provide an exclusive opportunity for audiences to interact with experts, revealed that the February lecture will be delivered on the 9th by Dr Hans Martin Hinz, president of International Council of Museums, an acclaimed international body for museum professionals on the theme of Global Trends in Museums.
He said in the inaugural talk of a lecture series, ‘Every museum should digitise its collections and put them online for wider sharing with the public.’ The head of the Art Institute, which has now collaborated with India’s Ministry of Culture to invite curators and museum practitioners of the country to visit the establishment in America’s third most populous city, noted that an art museum is not just about collections and exhibitions. ‘It involves deep research and interaction with academic institutions and curators to gain credibility and make way for new initiatives in the field of fine arts,’ he pointed out.
As for public-private partnerships in the field of art conservation and storage facilities, he said museums should invest in strengthening their own facilities as well. ‘For museums where adequate space is a problem, such steps are being taken after ensuring proper security of the objects,’ he added, in reply to a post-talk question.
National Museum director-general Dr Venu V said Indian museums need to have a robust art acquisition policy to be able to expand their collections, to which Dr Druick said his Art Institute was deeply engaged with acquiring new works. ‘In such instances, the faculties of a senior curator are very useful. Often curators submit proposals for purchasing or acquiring new objects for the museum; sometimes such acquisitions are also funded by sponsors,’ the speaker said.
Dr Venu, while noting that the ‘NM Lecture’ series would provide an exclusive opportunity for audiences to interact with experts, revealed that the February lecture will be delivered on the 9th by Dr Hans Martin Hinz, president of International Council of Museums, an acclaimed international body for museum professionals on the theme of Global Trends in Museums.
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