Today, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, an excellent Museum.  The Museum makes use of Tactile Graphics in their painting gallery.  Tactile graphics are images that are designed to be touched rather than looked at. The content of the graphic is represented by a set of symbols selected to be easily read and understood.

Links regarding Tactile Graphics:

RNIB National Centre for Tactile Diagrams

Tactile Graphics, by Polly K. Edman

American Foundation for the Blind

American Foundation for the Blind, Resource List

Tactile Graphics Website

Texas School for the Blind, Tactile Graphics Page

Producers:

Touch Graphics

Zychem ltd

4 of 5 Stars

Posted: February 7, 2010

Museo Pambata
Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive
Manila, Philippines 1000
Telephone: (632) 523.1797
Facsimile:(632) 522.1246
Email:info@museopambata.org

Website: http://www.museopambata.org

Admission Price: 100 Pesos ($2.17 USD)

Size: approximately 30,000  sq. ft. of exhibits

Wheelchair Accessible: Yes

My Review:

The museum is just doing so many things right!

• A mobile library
• An in museum library
• Fun entrances to spaces
• Layers of information
• Spending money on theming as appropriate
• Including Children’s Art
• Cultural Galleries

Summary:

• A collecting Museum
• A “true” Children’s Museum in the model of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum (The first museum for children)
• Excellent Exhibits
• Lighting, painting, finishes could be improved
• Issues of ergonomics, tables to tall, graphics hung too high
• Exhibit cover a wide range of topics in a relatively small space

Ground Floor:

• Old Manila
• Environment
• Children of the Global Village

Second Floor:

• My Body Works
• Science Through Discovery
• Marketplace
• Career Options
• Money Matters

I have been been traveling in Asia for almost six months now. The last two months I have been volunteer teaching English and Art here in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

Here in Bali everyone belongs to a Banjar, the Bajar is your local village and the Banjar is the local form of government. Each Banjar has at least one temple and also governs the schools. I asked to be introduced to the Kepala Dusan the “Mayor” of the Banjar and expressed an interest in teaching English and Art to the local kids.

The Kepala Dusan was very excited and set a meeting for the next day to introduce me to the Principal of the local school, Sekolah Dasar Negeri 1. The Keala Dusan expressed that the local kids don’t have much to do in the afternoon and would I be interested in teaching in the Banjar? So two days a week I teach in the public school and two days a week I teach in the Banjar. In the public school I teach grades 4, 5 and 6, and at the Banjar I teach ages 6 to 12. The classes are an hour long and have between 30 and 40 students per class.

Antoine Predock skiing on the roof of one of his buildings.

I am sitting on the deck in Ubud, Bali, thinking “who are my heroes?”.  Below is a short list.  They all are:

• Free thinkers
• Live life as an adventure
• Keep trying, keep pushing
• Have managed to change the discipline of Art and design.

-Mark

Antoine Predock - He has combined Architecture, Art, Motorcycles, Scuba, Skiing and Dance, and his buildings are damn sexy!

Ingo Maurer - Has combined sculpture with lighting using a atelier structure for his business

Gaetano Pesce - An artist /designer, who creates “one off” functional Art.

Vito Acconci - Started as a Poet, then Sculptor, crossed over into architecture, industrial design and landscape architecture. Link to MIT Show Recent article about studio

James Ossi - I met James in 1990 and it changed my life.  An artist who makes machines that create square bubbles?!!  He was living in a farmhouse with a studio in the back and teaching.

Ron Arad - Industrial Designer, started by making Hi fidelity stereo equipment out of concrete, went on to have a furniture studio and now an architecture firm.

Disney Will Give Mickey Mouse a Makeover - NYTimes.com

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Museums hit by ‘perfect financial storm’ - Home News, UK - The Independent

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Opening of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 2, 2010

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art - Grand Opening

Wishing you all of the best in 2010!

-Mark

Sunset at the beach at Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

Review of 2009 Art Exhibitions

2009 in Review: Museum Exhibitions - ARTINFO.com

ILMS Call for Grant Proposals $15,000-$500,000.

PND - RFPs - Institute of Museum and Library Services Invites 21st Century Museum Professionals Grant Applications

Calif. Science Center Sued For Nixing Intelligent Design Film - Law Blog - WSJ

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Michael Jackson Museum to Get Rides, Golf Course | NBC Chicago

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The amazing fall of the San Fernando Valley’s children’s museum.

Nights at the museum - LA Daily News

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Cherwell - C2 - Review: Turner Prize 2009

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A threatened closing, an arrest, a striking year - The Boston Globe

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Peace on Earth

Wishing you all of the best in 2010.

Because museums are experiencing one of their toughest years in decades a donation has been made to the American Association of Museums.  - Mark in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

From Wikipedia

“The internationally recognized symbol for peace was originally designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement.^[1] It was designed and completed on 21 February 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist in Britain for the 4 April march planned by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in England.^[1][2] The symbol was later adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). It was adopted by first the 1960s anti-war movement, then the counterculture, and finally the popular culture of the time.

The symbol itself is a combination of the semaphoric signals for the letters “N” and “D,” standing for Nuclear Disarmament.^[1] In semaphore the letter “N” is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down “V,” and the letter “D” is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the peace symbol. In the first official CND version (which was preceded by a ceramic pin version that had straight lines, but was short lived) the spokes curved out to be wider at the edge of the circle, which was white on black.^[1][5][6]”

I am a visual person,until I have a Pert Chart or a Gantt Chart I don’t really understand a project.  I love Gantt Project a free and open source project management software.  It is similar to Microsoft Project with one big advantage (besides being free) that it is cross platform working on Windows, Linux and MacOS.  I have started creating project schedules in Gantt Project and sending clients the file and a link to the software download, seems to work well.

I visited the War museum in Singapore and its own way it reminded me of the Museum of Jurassic Technology.  I thought how could I have forgotten my favorite Museum!

Web Site Link

The Museum is located at:

9341 Venice Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232
Telephone: (310) 836-6131
email: info@mjt.org
http://www.mjt.org

One of my favorite museums anywhere!

Just what any museum should do, make you think!  Is this real?  Is this a joke?  Is this Art?  I believe the most important skills in life are:

1. Critical Thinking
2. Tolerance
3. Empathy

The museum calls on the visitor to use the their crtical thinking skills and examine the museum and their own acceptance of information as fact.  The museum is created by David Wilson a conceptual artist.

Wikipedia Link

Gever Tulley founder of the Tinkering School talk from TED on “5 dangerous things for kids”.

By Matthew Santoni
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

“At the foot of Troy Hill, a 108-year-old, ethnically Croatian Catholic church has sat abandoned for five years, its sagging stained-glass windows rattled by traffic rumbling past on Route 28 a few feet away.

But after St. Nicholas Church skirted demolition several times, a study released Friday showed it could see life again as a national immigration museum. It might attract 25,000 visitors a year after $10 million worth of renovations and expansion, said Mark Fatla, executive director of Northside Leadership Conference, which is managing the preservation effort.”

NYC Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex to Close

“NEW YORK (Reuters) - Just one year after opening, the New York City annex to Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will close its doors on January 3, according to one of the corporate partners in the venture.

S2BN Entertainment announced the closure in a statement.

“There is no doubt the economy factored into our leaving, but overall we had a good year,” said Caren Bell, spokeswoman for the 25,000 square foot annex in Manhattan’s Soho district.

The offshoot to the main museum in Ohio opened to fanfare in November 2008 with Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailing it as another cultural destination for the roughly 46 million visitors to New York City every year.”

By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune | Posted: Friday, December 4, 2009 2:00 am

“Planning continues on the idea of a children’s museum in Mandan.

The founding board for the North Dakota Children’s Museum met Thursday evening in Mandan. It was the board’s second meeting. A children’s museum has interactive exhibits for children.

“It’s not sterile, where you can’t touch anything,” said Sara Hills, one of the co-founders of the museum.

Hills is spearheading the children’s museum effort with Wendy Anderson-Berg. Hills is a kindergarten teacher in Mandan Public Schools and Anderson-Berg works for Bismarck Parks and Recreation.”

“Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race” amazing website from the at the Holocaust Museum

Exhibition Narrative from the Holocaust Museum website:

“From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany’s government led by Adolf Hitler promoted a nationalism that combined territorial expansion with claims of biological superiority—an “Aryan master race”—and virulent antisemitism. Driven by a racist ideology legitimized by German scientists, the Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe’s Jews, ultimately killing six million in the Holocaust. Many others also became victims of persecution and murder in the Nazis’ campaign to cleanse German society of individuals viewed as threats to the “health” of the nation.”

From New York Times article

by Ken Johnson

“Tim Burton’s career is the ultimate revenge of the art nerd. Mr. Burton, the self-professed alienated child of a dysfunctional family in Burbank, Calif., who funneled his loneliness, pain and grief into drawing cartoons, has found fame, fortune and a beautiful companion (Helena Bonham Carter) by telling cinematic tales of sensitive misfits triumphing over, or succumbing to, a world of repressive mediocrity.”

I love having the time to think about things like, “what is the best Art exhibition I have ever seen?” My answer would be:

High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture

At the time the New York Times wrote a scathing article about the exhibition and Robert Hughes wrote an article for Time Magazine.  Kirk Varnedoe understood that the power of being a curator is going beyond interperting the works of Art and using the using the works to make a statement, which in 1990 was a new idea.

This exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, went beyond exhibiting the works of Art, it created a new vocabulary for looking at Modern Art.

Excellent exhibition catalog, out of print High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture by Kirk Varnedoe