Mix it up! Old collections inspiring new creativity and learning
1. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Merete Sanderhoff
Curator of digital museum practice
Statens Museum for Kunst
@MSanderhoff
Curatorial Challenges
University of Copenhagen
26-27 May 2016
Mix it up!
Old collections inspiring
new creativity and learning
2. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
About SMK
The National Gallery of Denmark
Western art from 1300 to the present
260,000 artworks
66 % in the public domain
27 % digitised
3. About me
Art Historian
Digital Research & Development
Advice on copyright and public domain
Standards and policies
at the national and European level
Facilitation of educational
and creative reuse
4. Overview
1. SMK – a catalyst for creativity and learning
2. Curatorial challenges of mixing it up
3. Re-interpreting Bildung as Building
5. Museums have always been
places for learning
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/j/japanese-cloisonne-in-19th-century-literary-sources/
8. Maker Culture
DIY learning
active creativity
learning-by-doing
constructivist approach
practical skills
informal networks
cross-over between subjects
9. Maker culture has attracted the
interest of educators concerned
about students’ disengagement from
STEM subjects (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics) in
formal educational settings.
Maker culture is seen as having
the potential to contribute to a
more participatory approach to
learning and create new pathways
into topics that will make them
more alive and relevant to learners.
Innovating Pedagogy, 2013
http://arcade.dewlines.org/tag/maker-culture/
15. Remix as a way to learn
“The action of actually working with an image,
clipping it out and paying attention to the very
small details, makes you remember it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/arts/design/museums-mull-public-use-of-online-art-images.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Taco Dibbits
Samlingschef, Rijksmuseum
17. Working bottom up
Johannes Simon Holzbecker, Hyacints, from Gottorfer Codex, 1649-59, KKSgb2947/26. Public Domain.
18. Think Big,
Start Small,
Move Fast
Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy, Smithsonian
Advisory meeting with the SMK management team, November 2011
24. Copyright is “a little coral reef
of private right jutting up from
the ocean of Public Domain.”
Paul Torremans, Copyright law: a handbook of contemporary research, 2007
Adam Olearius, "Oftt begehrte Beschreibung Der Newen Orienthalischen Reise [...]",
Schleswig 1647, KKSgb10873/28, SMK. Public Domain
25. Works that are in the Public Domain in
analogue form continue to be in the Public
Domain once they have been digitised.
http://pro.europeana.eu/files/Europeana_Professional/Publications/Public%20Domain%20Charter%20-%20EN.pdf
33. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
A celebration
of open collections
Remix exhibition
Culture Cam installation
VanGoYourself workshop
Wiki edit-a-thon
Animated GIF workshop
Performances
Film screenings
Artist talks
Art DJ’s
35. In collaboration with
Europeana Creative – basic funding and concept
Aalto University – project organiser
SMK Fridays – venue, framework, and manpower
= We have a project
44. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Jamie Seaboch, Collage
45. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
…to a pop-up version of a painting
with motorized moving light
46. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Kati Hyyppä, As light goes by
47. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Artists talks
- communicating remix culture
48. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Huge interest from the audience
49. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
A unique mix between old and new
50. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
More than 6,000 people
joined the party
51. Feedback from artists/designers
Feedback from artists in Mix it up!
CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
”It is a giant toolbox with a fantastic amount of materials to
work with.”
52. ”It is a giant toolbox with a fantastic amount of materials to
work with.”
“It was a very strong symbiotic experience to be in so close
dialogue with the original work. It added a fresh dimension to
the permanent collections.”
Feedback from artists in Mix it up!
CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
53. ”It is a giant toolbox with a fantastic amount of materials to
work with.”
“It was a very strong symbiotic experience to be in so close
dialogue with the original work. It added a fresh dimension to
the permanent collections.”
“I have been creating collages using international museum
collections for 20-25 years (...) But I have only been able to share
them with my friends and family, knowing that if I were to
present them publicly I would face legal retribution. Now I am,
for the first time, allowed to share my perspective.”
Feedback from artists in Mix it up!
CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
55. Many respondents did not know about the
museum’s open collections. Many still feel that
the museum is an old and traditional institution
whose role doesn’t rhyme with open source and
sharing culture.
Feedback from guests at SMK Friday
CC BY-SA 4.0 Olivia Skjerk Frankel
56. ”You know, sometimes art can feel a bit
inaccessible. And when it is just set free like this,
then people can do with it what they want. I think
that’s pretty nice.”
Feedback from guests at SMK Friday
CC BY-SA 4.0 Olivia Skjerk Frankel
57. ”If the artworks are to be used, it must be facilitated –
perhaps by the museum itself. The Internet is flooded
with images, it is therefore essential that SMK takes the
lead and show users how the digitised collections can
be re-used for something fun, and thought-provoking.”
Feedback from guests at SMK Friday
CC BY-SA 4.0 Olivia Skjerk Frankel
58. Feedback from curators
Interesting intervention on the concept level
Some well conceived and well crafted remixes in the
show
Positively surprised at the high investment of artists
and designers in the challenge
59. Feedback from curators
The decision making process was rushed and unclear
Quality of the resulting remixes was too diverse
Conditions for participating artists were below SMK
standard
The design challenge would have benefitted from
integration with the curatorial workflows of SMK
60. What did
we learn?
Curatorial friction
Move fast > < careful preparation
Limited resources > < professional standards
Beta mindset > < perfect products
63. With universal access to
cultural heritage as raw
materials for new
creativity and innovation,
Bildung becomes closely
connected to Building.
64. Creating an understanding of the
world and your own place in it
becomes a product of active
processing, adapting, rebuilding
and repurposing.
65. The word Bildung is particularly
apt in this context, since
etymologically it is derived from
the verb bilden (to form or
create) which again originates
from the noun Bild (image).
67. ”Our role is still more to facilitate public use of
cultural heritage for learning, creativity, and
innovation.
Today, learning happens in reciprocity.
We are all a part of the web.
We shape each other.”
Mikkel Bogh
Director, SMK
http://bit.ly/1dMX0BJ
70. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Merete Sanderhoff
Curator of digital museum practice
Statens Museum for Kunst
@MSanderhoff
Curatorial Challenges
University of Copenhagen
26-27 May 2016
Questions?