Museum Planning
The “Museum Planning” blog is a resource for board members, museum staff and museum consultants working in the field of interactive museums. Blog topics include; museum planning of new museums and centers, planning and the development of interactive exhibitions and the project management of exhibitions.
Artists, Science and Museums on LinkedIn
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 03:26am on Museum PlanningI have started a group on LinkedIn called “Artists, Science and Museums”.
LinkedIn Link:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2869188
A networking group for artists, designers and museum professionals working in the field of Science Centers and Children’s Museums to share ideas about incorporating sculpture into science exhibitions.
Exhibition Review - At the Hayden Planetarium, Catch a Booming, Blazing Star - NYTimes.com
Saturday, March 06, 2010 04:21pm on Museum PlanningJeff Koons - The Artist and the Art of Others - NYTimes.com
Sunday, February 28, 2010 04:47pm on Museum PlanningMuseum Planning Software
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:28am on Museum PlanningBelow is a list of the software I use. I use a MacBook Pro, travel often so like having the laptop. In the studio have two Mac design workstations and an office computer.
Design:
Sketchup - 3D sketches
Tux Paint - Great for doing a quick sketches
VectorWorks - Drafting
Project Management
Gantt Project - Wonderful for creating quick schedules
Microsoft Project - Use to create more detailed schedules
Presentations
Open Office - Free and Open Source office suite, use when can’t open a document in Microsoft Word or Excel
Pages - Better for writing documents than Microsoft Word
Keynote - The best for making presentations
iMovie - Creating movies
Inspiration - Use to create bubble diagrams
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word and Excel
iphoto - Organizing photos
Office
Firefox - Web Browser
Daylite - Customer Relationship Management, I have tried others keep coming back
Palm Desktop - Contact Database
itunes - Listening to music while I work
Skype - International calling and chat
XStreamRipper - Use to record my favorite Internet radio programs
Apple Mail - Email
Quickbooks - Use for accounting
Parallels - Use so I can run Microsoft Project on a Mac
Plaxo - Use to remember birthdays
Whatsize - Gives you an idea of how your hard drive is being used
Super Dupper! - Great program makes a copy of your hard drive as a back up
Backblaze - Online back up of all files
Disk Inventory - A visual of your hard drive use
MicroFUNDs call | PlayDecide
Thursday, February 18, 2010 05:36am on Museum PlanningPosted using ShareThis
A Room for Two in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - Press - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Sunday, February 14, 2010 08:05am on Museum PlanningTactile Graphics for Museums
Monday, February 08, 2010 04:09am on Museum Planning

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
Texas School for the Blind, Tactile Graphics Page
Producers:
Exhition Review: Museum Pambata
Sunday, February 07, 2010 05:00am on Museum Planning


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







Volunteer Teaching Ubud, Bali
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 06:01am on Museum PlanningI 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.
My Heros
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 09:15pm on Museum Planning
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
Saturday, January 09, 2010 11:23pm on Museum PlanningMuseums hit by ‘perfect financial storm’ - Home News, UK - The Independent
Sunday, January 03, 2010 06:15am on Museum PlanningOpening of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
Friday, January 01, 2010 09:43pm on Museum PlanningOpening of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 2, 2010
Happy 2010!
Friday, January 01, 2010 12:31am on Museum Planning
Wishing you all of the best in 2010!
-Mark
Sunset at the beach at Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia
2009 in Review: Museum Exhibitions - ARTINFO.com
Thursday, December 31, 2009 09:57pm on Museum PlanningReview of 2009 Art Exhibitions
Institute of Museum and Library Services Invites 21st Century Museum Professionals Grant Applications
Thursday, December 31, 2009 06:48pm on Museum PlanningILMS Call for Grant Proposals $15,000-$500,000.
Calif. Science Center Sued For Nixing Intelligent Design Film - Law Blog - WSJ
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 06:15pm on Museum PlanningMichael Jackson Museum to Get Rides, Golf Course | NBC Chicago
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 05:47pm on Museum PlanningNights at the museum - LA Daily News
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 06:29am on Museum PlanningThe amazing fall of the San Fernando Valley’s children’s museum.
Nights at the museum - LA Daily News
Posted using ShareThis
Cherwell - C2 - Review: Turner Prize 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009 09:45pm on Museum PlanningCherwell - C2 - Review: Turner Prize 2009
Posted using ShareThis
A threatened closing, an arrest, a striking year - The Boston Globe
Sunday, December 27, 2009 06:24pm on Museum PlanningA threatened closing, an arrest, a striking year - The Boston Globe
Posted using ShareThis
Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 07:00am on Museum Planning
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]”
Gantt Project
Sunday, December 13, 2009 05:26am on Museum Planning
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.
Exhibition Review; Museum of Jurassic Technology
Friday, December 11, 2009 06:52pm on Museum PlanningI 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!
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.
Embed this widget






