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Posts Tagged ‘Museum’

Whitney Museum cancels ‘Collective Actions’ exhibit after backlash

26 Aug

The Whitney Museum in New York is cancelling its planned ‘Collective Actions’ exhibit, which was scheduled to begin September 17th, after an online backlash. Farris Wahbeh, the curator, sent out a letter of apology and confirmed that the museum will not show works it acquired at discount prices at a recent ‘See in Black’ charity auction.

‘My sincere hope in collecting them was to build on a historical record of how artists directly engage the important issues of their time. Going forward, we will study and consider further how we can better collect and exhibit artworks and related material that are made and distributed through these channels,’ Wahbeh explains.

The museum attracted criticism for purchasing prints from a recent See in Black auction. 100% of the proceeds from sales went directly to various social justice organizations. The museum paid $ 100 for each print – a deep discount compared to what the artists typically charge, with the intention of placing them in the upcoming ‘Collective Actions’ exhibit. Wahbeh did not initially ask the photographers involved for permission to display their work. Instead, the following message was sent out as revealed by Women Photograph:

‘Greetings from the Whitney and I hope this message finds you in good health and spirits.

I’m writing to let you know that I have acquired your work…from the project See in Black for the Whitney’s special collections. Your work is incredibly important and speaks to our time, and I’m so honored that the Whitney was able to acquire this work.

Alongside the acquisition, I’m also working on an exhibition comprised largely of works from our Special Collections holdings titled Collective Actions: Artist Interventions in a Time of Change that will feature work by artists involved with collective projects that were organized in response to COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter.

The exhibition will open in September in our 3rd floor exhibition space in the Museum and am excited to share that I plan to include your work as part of this project, work that I believe aptly demonstrates what you have done both individually and as part of a collective.

We are planning to reopen on September 3 following new safety and health protocols and city guidelines. In the meantime, we will install the exhibition so that it will open on September 17.

In recognition and appreciation of your inclusion in the Whitney’s program, I’m happy to note that you will receive an Artist Lifetime Pass which allows you and a guest free entry to the museum as well as other benefits. If you can please provide me with your full contact information (address, email, and phone) to send that Pass to you, I would be most appreciative.‘

One of the artists involved in See in Black’s print sale took to Twitter to express his outrage:

As of June 2016, the Whitney Museum’s endowment has grown to an estimated $ 308 million. This is why See in Black, and the artists involved, were put off by an Artist Lifetime Pass as compensation. Clearly, the museum has the means to compensate each artist monetarily. See in Black released the following public statement today:

‘We started See in Black as a way to invest in black imagery and permanence through the sale of black–made photography. It has always been our objective to promote ownership, autonomy, and respect for black creatives in an effort to shift the current paradigm upheld by white supremacy.

With that said, the Whitney’s use of the works acquired through the See in Black print sale at significantly discounted prices – the proceeds of which were 100% donated to charity – constitutes unauthorized use of the works to which the artists do not consent and for which the artists were not compensated. Furthermore, See in Black is not affiliated with the Whitney’s exhibition.‘

The Whitney Museum’s Director recently posted a statement on racial equality to their website. It includes a pledge to ‘re-examine our exhibitions and programs to ensure they continue to address the art and experiences of people of color, especially Black communities.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Oakland Museum of California showcases the work of Dorothea Lange in a free online exhibition

12 Aug

The Oakland Museum of California has put together a digital archive of photographs captured by Dorothea Lange, showcasing some of the best works from the 20th-century documentary photographer and photojournalist.

The extensive archive is split into four categories: The Depression, World War II at Home, Post-War Projects and Early Work/Personal Work. Each of the categories provide a synopsis of Lange’s work during the specified timeframes and further divides her images into themed galleries, which show not only the images Lange captured, but also supplementary material, such as notes to Lange from the United States Department of Agriculture, contact sheets of Lange’s images, maps of her travel routes and more.

It’s a fascinating, insightful and sometimes heartbreaking journey through the life and work of one of the most iconic 20th century American photographers. The online exhibition is entirely free to view, so set aside a few hours and head on over to the Oakland Museum of California website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview Virtual Camera Museum Exhibit 1: Digital Camera Hall of Shame

13 May

Oh hi, didn’t see you there! Welcome to the DPReview Virtual Camera Museum.

Feel free to look around, we have an impressive collection. Down this hall you’ll find Unique Cameras from the Dawn of Digital Photography. And beyond that is the Samsung NX1 Memorial Garden – it’s really lovely this time of year. But you’re probably here to see our special exhibit: the Digital Camera Hall of Shame.

Please note that the museum is not responsible for any emotional damage caused by this exhibit, and the curators would like to stress that it is meant in good humor. At least the manufacturers featured here were trying to do something different with their cameras – not just the usual black-or-silver-rectangle with a lens on the front. They just missed the mark, in our opinion.

As you navigate the exhibit you’ll notice a progression from what we consider minor infractions – mere lapses of judgement – at the beginning, to the most egregious transgressions in camera design history towards the end.

Take your time, and please fill out the survey at the end and let us know if you’d rank them differently!

Exhibit A: Compacts gone wrong

Here you’ll find a range of design missteps from manufacturers trying to break free of the mold. Don’t worry, they’re harmless.

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Exhibit B: Homely, but great personalities!

These cameras dared to do something different and look different. They aren’t all-out abominations, they’re just a little… unusual.

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Exhibit C: Just… no

As Werner Herzog once said of WrestleMania, “A poet must not avert his eyes.”

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Thanks for visiting! Do take a moment to answer the survey below, and fill out a comment card to let us know what exhibits you’d like to see us host in the future. Our curators are always listening!

Have your say

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Digital Camera Hall of Shame: Pick your top 3 most unfortunate-looking cameras of all time
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Hasselblad Lunar

Pentax K-01

Leica M-P Rolf Sachs Special Edition

Brikk 24k gold Nikon Df

Sony a330

Sigma dp2 Quattro

Lytro Light Field Camera

Olympus E-300

Canon PowerShot TX1

Fujifilm Q1

Sony DSC-F505V

Canon PowerShot D10

Fujifilm 3D W1

Nikon Coolpix 300

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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British Museum launches revamped online collections database early with 1.9M images

30 Apr

On Tuesday, April 28, the British Museum announced that it is the latest institution to make digitized images of its various collections available for free online. The ‘revamped’ online collections database now contains 1.9 million images that are offered to the public under the restrictive Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, which allows for non-commercial use with attribution.

According to the announcement tweet from British Museum, its team expedited the release of this new online database so that the public can browse the museum’s collections while in quarantine at home. The launch follows similar big digitized collections launches from institutions like Paris Musées and The Smithsonian.

This revamp simplifies things for public users who are no longer required to register in order to use the images. Going forward, anyone can browse the online collections database and download any of the 1.9 million images for non-commercial use with attribution. Each image is scanned at a high-resolution; the online viewer enables users to zoom in on objects to view fine details.

According to the British Museum, this collection features two million years’ worth of history that spans six continents. The museum digitized nearly 4.5 million objects, making it the largest online collection of its kind. British Museum explains that its revamped interface not only provides access to these images for free but also makes it easier for the public to find the specific items they’re looking for.

The online collections are vast, including everything from ancient Egyptian sculptures to Assyrian artifacts, Greek objects, Iranian jewelry, artwork from the Roman Empire and much more. Viewers can sort through the content based on collection galleries, as well as searches using museum numbers, persons, places and keywords.

This launch is a welcomed addition to the growing body of digitized artifacts and other works made available to the general public online. However, the release isn’t without criticism. Unlike The Smithsonian and Paris Musées, both of which released their online collections with Creative Common 0 licenses, the British Museum’s collection is made available under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Author and activist Coro Doctorow highlighted some of the concerns related to this in a recent tweet thread, pointing out, among other things, that UK law states that copyrights can only subsist in cases where the work is ‘original in the sense that it is the author’s own ‘intellectual creation.” Among other things, the nation’s copyright law [PDF, page 3] notes that it’s ‘unlikely that what is merely a retouched, digitised image of an older work can be considered as ‘original.”

Critics have also pointed out that Wikimedia Commons only allows images that aren’t ‘subject to copyright restrictions which would prevent them being used by anyone, anytime, for any purpose,’ meaning the British Museum’s digitized collections can’t be included in the Commons catalog.

Despite these concerns, the revamped database is a step in the right direction. The British Museum has been commended for the effort it put into this launch — not just for the high-resolution images and scans of the content, but also the number of tools and information the museum provides for each listing.

The database includes the name(s) of the original excavator who discovered the items, where the object was found, the materials it is made from, the technique used to craft it, its size and weight, its present condition, where it was acquired, its registration number and more. The collection is available here.

Via: ianVisits

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Epson reveals SureColor P7570, P9570 wide-format printers that offer ‘museum quality’ prints

03 Oct

Epson has expanded its SureCore P-Series line of printers with the new wide-format SureColor P7570 and SureColor P9570 models offering 24in and 44in print sizes, UltraChrome PRO12 pigment ink, and PrecisionCore MicroTFP printhead tech. Epson’s Reed Hecht calls the P7570 and P9570 its ‘most advanced printers to date.’

Both printer models feature dedicated nozzles for Matte and Photo Black ink, which eliminates ink switching and improves overall printing speeds. According to Epson, the new 6.6cm (2.6in) PrecisionCore MicroTFP printhead combined with the new 12-color UltraChrome PRO12 pigment ink enables these models to print up to 2.4 times faster than the previous models.

Other features include a new print mode called Black Enhanced Overcoat offering improved DMAX for what Epson says is better sharpness and wider contrast ratio on glossy prints, as well as a 4.3in customizable color touchscreen, support for the optional Epson SpectroProofer, a built-in LED light for viewing prints as they’re printing, and a sealed roll media door designed to better protect against dust.

Talking about what users can expect from these two models is Wilhelm Imaging Research director of research Henry Wilhelm, who said:

Preliminary data for the Epson 12-color UltraChrome PRO12 pigment inks in the new SureColor P7570 and P9570 create stunning museum-quality prints with WIR Display Permanence Ratings that will equal or exceed the ratings achieved by the current UltraChrome HDX inks of up to 200 years for color prints and up to 400 years for B&W. Prints framed with UV-absorbing acrylic – and those displayed under LED illumination – will achieve significantly higher ratings.

Epson plans to showcase its new printers from October 3 to 5 at PRINT19 in Chicago. Both models will launch in December at around $ 4,695 USD (P7570) and $ 6,595 (P9570).

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Mathieu Stern of Weird Lens Museum visits The Camera Rescue Project

28 Sep

Mathieu Stern of the Weird Lens Museum recently traveled to Tampere, Finland, where he was invited to tour The Camera Rescue Project, a large collection of vintage cameras being rescued from disrepair and potential loss. Stern introduces his viewers to Juho Leppänen, the man running the project, as well as the small team’s huge collection of around 6,000 vintage camera items at the Camera Rescue Center.

The Camera Rescue Project’s team has tasked themselves with finding, inspecting, and repairing 100,000 vintage film cameras, a process that has thus far resulted in more than 57,000 camera ‘rescues.’ Stern is introduced to the sales side of the Camera Rescue Center, as well as the processes used to inspect the cameras. Malfunctioning cameras and lenses are sorted into the ‘repair queue,’ which is currently home to more than 2,000 units in need of work.

Stern is known for, among other things, his videos showcasing unusual lenses and projects, including a lens created from ice and, more recently, a rare projector lens given a new life. In his most recent video, Leppänen tells Stern that he will be given some unusual lenses to test around the city, something Stern plans to show to his viewers in a future video. The Camera Rescue Project was likewise detailed in a video from Cameraville earlier this year.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Auschwitz Museum urges visitors to not be disrespectful by taking selfies on the train tracks

24 Mar

Train track, in operation May–October 1944, leading through the gate to the gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau

The Auschwitz Museum has asked visitors to be more respectful after an upsurge of pictures posted on social media showing people posing on the train tracks that lead to the main gate. The Museum is concerned that the tracks, which brought over a million people to their death in the camp during WWII, are being used as a photo opportunity with some visitors losing sight of what they represent.

The Museum used its Twitter page to urge those posting on social media to respect the memory of those who died there, stating that ‘There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths.’ The posting is accompanied by a collection of images showing people walking along the tracks apparently oblivious to where they are.

Speaking to the Business Insider website the museum’s press officer, Pawel Sawicki, said that posting pictures of people disrespecting the site wasn’t intended to shame them ‘but to raise awareness. People have to be aware of the nature of the place they visit.’

Searching under the hashtag #Auschwitz on most social media sites, such as Instagram above, demonstrates the prevalence of the behaviour the museum objects to, with those posing for pictures seeming to have forgotten what occurred at the camps during the Holocaust.

For more information see the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum website.

Photo credit: Nelson Pérez, used under CC BY-SA 3.0

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon Museum exhibition showcases 60 rare prototype interchangeable lenses

12 Dec
A Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 prototype is mounted on the Nikon Z 7 via the Mount Adapter FTZ

Nikon Museum is showcasing prototype interchangeable lenses from the 1950s to the 1980s in a special exhibition called “Prototype Lenses — Fascinating Images Captured by the Nikon Z 7 Mirrorless Camera.” The exhibition opened on October 2 and includes around 60 prototype lenses created for SLR cameras, as well as images captured with 10 of the lenses and the Nikon Z7 camera.

These prototype lenses were created to test and verify new lens designs, according to Nikon, and many were destroyed once testing was completed. For that reason, “there have been few opportunities to exhibit them to the general public,” Nikon explains on its website, calling this a “very rare exhibition.”

According to Japanese website DC Watch, showcased lenses include the unreleased Nikkor-Q Auto 5cm F2.5, 1967 Fisheye-Nikkor Auto 6.3mm F2.8, 1961 Nikkor-S Auto 5cm F1.4 and 1958 Auto Nikkor Telephoto Zoom 85-250mm F4 lenses, among others. Some featured prototype lenses never entered mass production.

The exhibition will run through December 27th, 2018 at the Nikon Museum in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The Nikon Museum is also able to be toured via Google Street View, but this particular image is not the one shown in the particular image set Google uses.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Incredible Grain Silo Transformation: Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa

22 Sep

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

106 vertical concrete tubes making up a massive disused grain silo in Cape Town, South Africa are sliced and carved from the inside out to produce cathedral-like spaces in this incredible transformation. Architect Thomas Heatherwick and his firm contrasted the cold, aging industrial appearance of the complex with faceted glass and organic shapes for a futuristic looking result, a fittingly monumental setting for the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), the world’s largest museum dedicated to African contemporary art.

The silo once stood as a symbol of economic progress in 20th century Cape Town, but as the world around it changed, it was abandoned. Sitting empty since the 1990s, the silo had become a bit of an eyesore, especially as the waterfront around it modernized, but remained historically important. Heatherwick’s project creates 6,000 square meters ((64,583 square feet) of exhibition space in a total of 80 individual galleries along with a rooftop garden, book store, restaurant, bar and conservation laboratories.

“We were excited by this opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa,” says Heatherwick. “The technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries from the ten-story high tubular honeycomb without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.”

‘Tubular honeycomb’ is a good way to describe it. The interior photos reveal voids carefully carved out of the bases of the concrete tubes, revealing their geometries in whole new ways. Some of these tubes act as skylights, while others hold glass elevators or spiraling staircases. The museum stands as an awe-inspiring example of how adaptive reuse can reveal qualities you might never have expected in existing structures.

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[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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How to Photograph Your Museum Visits – Turn Limitations Into Creative Challenges

20 May

Do you feel frustrated that you are not allowed to make selfies in museums? Did a light reflection ruin the photo of your favorite artwork? Are the other visitors always in the way of your perfect shot? Then this article is for you, to help you photograph your next museum visit!

Museums are a great place to get inspiration, however, the great teams behind every exhibition have to be more concerned with the preservation of the artworks than about your photo. Therefore, photographing in a museum poses two big challenges.

First, the multiple rules that you have to follow, remember to always be respectful of them because they exist for a reason. Second, the fact that you can’t alter the conditions in which you have to shoot. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t make great photos, actually, you can turn it around and use these limitations to take your photography to the next level.

Every museum has different rules so I’ll cover some of the most common:

NO SELFIE-STICK

Many museums of the world like the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and many others have banned the selfie-stick. Not to worry, this shouldn’t stop you from making a memory of yourself with your favorite artwork.

Whether it’s in a frame or a display case, most objects in museums are protected by glass. So, you can use your reflection on the glass to make a selfie. You can also use mirrors and other reflective surfaces you can find.

How to Photograph Your Museum Visits - Turn Limitations Into Creative Challenges

Crystals, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands.

How to Photograph Your Museum Visits - Turn Limitations Into Creative Challenges

Albergo Diurno Venezia, during the exhibition Senso 80 by Flavio Favelli, Art Week Milan 2017, Milan, Italy.

In order to work with reflections, you need to understand how light works. Without going into a complicated physics lesson, what you need to know is that light travels in straight lines.

Light Diagram How to Photograph Your Museum Visits - Turn Limitations Into Creative Challenges

Which is also why you can get those annoying light flares that can ruin your photos. So you need to be very aware of all the other objects in the room to avoid unwanted reflections.

Reflection Mistakes - museum

Me As Mapplethorpe, 2009. Gillian Wearing RA, (based upon the Robert Mapplethorpe work: Self Portrait, 1988) exhibited at Gemeente Museum, The Hague, the Netherlands.

Now that you know how it works, you know how to move around the space in order to control your reflection. A few tips to consider though:

  • The darker the background, the better you will see the reflection. For example, if you are doing the selfie in front of a black and white photo, position yourself in a way that you will be reflected in the darkest part of the photo, so you will stand out more. If you are wearing white or a light color shirt that’s even better.
  • Try different positions so that you are not blocking an important part of the artwork. You can even try interacting with it.
  • If there is a metallic surface or a mirror in the piece, use it to your advantage, and acknowledge your presence (smile, wave, etc.) so that it doesn’t look like a mistake.
  • Locate the light source and then position yourself in a way that the bouncing trajectory doesn’t hit the lens of your camera, but it does hit any objects you want to reflect.

NO FLASH

This is one of the most universal rules in museums. This is because the hundreds of thousands of visitors that some artworks attract would sum to a great amount of light that some materials cannot take without damage. So you’ll have to make the best with the lighting of the museum that is designed to either preserve the delicate artworks, or to set a mood that complements a whole concept of the exhibition.

In other words, more often than not it will be very dark. This is where the settings of your camera (and even some smartphones) come in.

Since this article is not about exposure I won’t go into a lot of detail, but I will give you a quick guide to adjust it to better photograph in low light. The correct exposure depends on three things:

ISO

In photography this stands for International Standard Organization just like every other ISO that you’ve heard about. What it standardizes in this case is a scale for measuring sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number you choose, the higher sensitivity your device will have. A lot of people are afraid to go very high because there is the risk of getting noise in your image, which is like the grain that used to be in film photography.

Nowadays most cameras can keep the quality even at higher numbers, so try all the settings out to determine which one is the highest you can go with your own equipment. However, in my experience, you get less noise from a high ISO than going lower and then trying to correct the underexposure in Photoshop later. Here is an example:

ISO 320 museums

This image was taken at ISO 320.

Versus . . .

ISO 3200 museums low light

This image was taken with an ISO of 3200.

Aperture (f-number)

The simplest explanation I can offer is that the aperture is the hole in your lens that lets in light. Therefore the bigger the hole, the more light will enter.

But here is the tricky part, the aperture reference scale is inversely proportional. So, contrary to what you might think, a smaller number means a bigger hole and therefore more light. For example, a photograph taken with f/8 will be lighter than the photo taken with f/11.

This setting also controls the depth of field of your image (the area that will be in focus). So be careful moving this one because you might loose some sharpness in areas that are farther away from your point of focus if you use smaller f-numbers. Notice in the image below how the objects are loosing focus towards the back.

Depth of field museums

Crystals, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands.

Shutter Speed

This setting controls how much time you expose the sensor to light. Since the sensor (or film) is accumulative, the more time you expose it, the lighter your image will be. Shutter speed is very straightforward and it could be your best choice, except that anything moving will look like a blur if you go too slow.

Even if everything is still, if you are not using a tripod, YOU are the one moving. So don’t let it stay opened too long. In some museums you’re allowed to use a tripod if you pay an extra fee, so feel free to ask.

It is also useful to know that telephoto lenses need a faster shutter speed to avoid blur than the wide angle lenses. So you can also consider re-framing your image like the next example.

Shutter speed 1/8th, f/5.6, ISO 800, focal length 55mm.

Shutter speed 1/8th, f/5.6, ISO 800, focal length 22mm.

You can also use this setting in a creative way. For this photo I wanted the tram passing in between the two pieces of the sculpture to leave a blurry line to have a more dynamic result and also show more context on how the sculpture was meant to interact with the space.

Shutter speed 1/2 second, f/11, ISO 400; focal length 18mm.

Shutter speed 1.3 seconds, f/11, ISO 400; focal length 18mm.

Now that you know what each setting does, you can adjust them to your needs. Keep in mind that they are interrelated, so if you move one you need to correct the others accordingly. For example, if you close your aperture because you want more depth of field, remember to compensate it by leaving the shutter open for a longer time, or by making your ISO more sensitive (higher number). Always keep an eye on your exposure meter!

NO TOUCH

Given that you can’t change your surroundings or rearrange the artworks, you will have to be extra creative and flexible.

Take care of composition.

When photographing an artwork in a museum, don’t try to just reproduce it. To do that it’s always better to buy the postcard or the catalog. What you do want is to capture what it’s transmitting to you. Use the architecture of the gallery, make it interact with the other pieces of the exhibition, try to capture the ambiance. In other words, make it your own. Notice how in this example I didn’t photograph any specific artwork, just the space and the atmosphere.

Composition museums

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Change your position.

Retaking the topic from the No Selfie-stick, if you need to avoid reflections and you can’t move the artwork or the lighting, then reposition yourself. Do this also to play with perspective, to include or exclude objects from your frame, and just try as many angles as you can.

For this next image, I was playing with perspective and the position of the circular lamps in order to make them look like the aura of the statue.

Position museums

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Be aware of other visitors.

It will be very difficult for you to have the museum to yourself, so try to be respectful of others and don’t get in the way. Don’t be afraid to include people in your photo as well, just be sure to wait until the right moment so that they complement your image.

Mirrors museums

Het Dolhys, Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Silhouette museums

Museo de la luz, Mexico City, Mexico.

COPYRIGHT

Last but not least, there is one rule that you won’t see on the museum signs, but it exists and it’s very important – the issue of copyright.

While getting inspiration from other artists it’s great, remember that you are photographing the work of a fellow artist so it is covered by copyright. This can apply from the artwork being exhibited to the architecture of the museum so it can be a very complicated issue to understand.

I advise you inform yourself about it in more depth. A general rule of thumb that you can always follow is that you can’t use the image for commercial purposes without permission and/or retribution from the creator. And in any other context for educational purposes (e.g. this tutorial or giving a conference) you should always give the credits. Let’s be respectful of one another.

Next time you go to a museum you can both get inspired and creative. Enjoy and share your photos!

The post How to Photograph Your Museum Visits – Turn Limitations Into Creative Challenges by Ana Mireles appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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