Sharing the Museum: Social Media and Curatorial Practice
1. ■ Antonelli, Paola. Talk to Me: Design and the Communication
between People and Objects. New York: Museum of Modern Art,
2011.
■ Greenfield, Susan. “Screen culture may be changing our
brains”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation The 7:30 Report,
March 19, 2009.
■ Hsiang-Yi Liu, Alison . “Using online communities to attract
museum visitors.” International Journal of Education through
Art 4, no. 3 (2008): 259-274, doi: 10.1386/eta.4.3.259/1.
■ MacDonald, George F., and Stephen Alsford. “The Museum as
Information Utility.” Museum Management and Curatorship 10,
no. 3 (1991): 305-311, doi: 10.1080/09647779109515282.
■ Rawsthorn, Alice. “MoMA Exhibit Shows How Technology Is
Getting the Point Across.” The New York Times, July 17, 2011,
Section C, 25. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/arts/
moma-exhibit-shows-how-technology-is-getting-the-point-across.
html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22MoMA%20Exhibit%20Shows%20
How%20Technology%20Is%20Getting%20the%20Point%20
Across%22&st=cse
■ Rosenberg, Karen. “Art That Interacts if You Interface.” The
New York Times, July 28, 2011, Section C, 22. http://www.
nytimes.com/2011/07/29/arts/design/momas-talk-to-me-
focuses-on-interface-review.html?_r=1&_r%E2%80%A6%204/4.
■ Russo, Angelina, Jerry Watkins, Linda Kelly, and Sebastian
Chan. “How will social media affect museum communication?”
in [Proceedings] Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums
(NODEM), Oslo, Norway, 07-09 December 2006. Oslo:
Department of Media and Communication - University of Oslo,
2006. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6067/1/6067_1.pdf.
■ Russo, Angelina, and Darren Peacock, “Great expectations:
sustaining participation in social media spaces”, in Museums
and the Web 2009, the international conference for culture and
heritage on-line: proceedings of an international conference,
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 15-18 April 2009, edited
by Jennifer Trant, and David Bearman, Toronto: Archives &
Museum Informatics, 2009. http://www.archimuse.com/
mw2009/papers/russo/russo.html.
■ Russo, Angelina, Jerry Watkins, and Susan Groundwater-
Smith. “The impact of social media on informal learning in
museums.” Educational Media International 46, no. 2 (2009):
153-166, doi: 10.1080/09523980902933532.
■ Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Power of Display: A History
of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art.
Cambridge MASS: MIT Press, 1998.
CASE STUDY_ Talk to Me: Design and Communication between
People and Objects
MUSEUM_ The Museum of Modern Art
PLACE_ New York City
DURATION_ July 24 - November 7, 2011
ORGANIZED BY_ Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, and Kate
Carmody, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and
Design at The Museum of Modern Art
DESIGNED BY_ The Department of Advertising and Graphic
Design at The Museum of Modern Art
The paper explores how the social media sphere
has been challenging the way museum exhibitions
are conceived.
Before, during and after Talk to Me, people were
invited to add content to a real exhibition in an
open and reciprocal collaboration with
museum professionals.
Museums are no longer talking to a general
audience according to a traditional one-way
communication scheme; nowadays, they are part
of a dialogue, which includes museumgoers as
individuals.
The introduction of social media in the exhibition
design broadened interaction to a new level,
where visitors interact with the exhibit and, through
it, they interact among themselves as well.
But the scenario brought up by social media is
quite revolutionary especially because it questions
not only the way of conveying content but also
the very way of producing it. The goal of the users
is no longer entertainment but the creation of
knowledge which is accessible and meaningful
to them and their peers.
What was a uniquely passive cultural consumption
has really been turning into a cultural
production. According to this scenario, the
Internet is no longer only a preview of reality, but
also and above all an amplification of it.
SOCIAL MEDIA / EXHIBITION
DESIGN
CASE STUDY
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Website.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Label.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sharing the Museum: Social Media and Curatorial Practice
Autore: M. Sarzotti (Tutor: Professor M. Ruffilli; Co-tutor: Professor F. Montanari)
Dottorato di Ricerca in Design e Innovazione
Seconda Università di Napoli, Dip. IDEAS - Industrial Design Ambiente Storia, Abazia di San Lorenzo ad Septimum, Aversa (IT) | mail: michelasarzotti@gmail.com, tel +39 055 2638207
Instead of engagement, the new “open sesame” to
visitors’ satisfaction is participation. A user -
centered approach is needed in order to properly
design a two-way communication which supports
actions taken by communities.
Apparently, influencing the expectations of
museum visitors, social media have also started
the modification of the curatorial practice.
Social networking widened the horizon of
curatorial expertise from curating objects to
curating information.
DESCRIPTION_ The exhibition displayed nearly 200 projects
centered on interaction and aiming to emphasize how the need
to engage in communication with users is overtaking form
and function in contemporary design. Talk to Me showed how
different innovations are transforming the way we live: objects
communicate with us and in turn can help us communicate with
others. The ‘file rouge’ of this dialogue was unraveled through
the six sections of the exhibition’s organization: objects, bodies,
life, city, worlds, double entendre.
![■ Antonelli, Paola. Talk to Me: Design and the Communication
between People and Objects. New York: Museum of Modern Art,
2011.
■ Greenfield, Susan. “Screen culture may be changing our
brains”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation The 7:30 Report,
March 19, 2009.
■ Hsiang-Yi Liu, Alison . “Using online communities to attract
museum visitors.” International Journal of Education through
Art 4, no. 3 (2008): 259-274, doi: 10.1386/eta.4.3.259/1.
■ MacDonald, George F., and Stephen Alsford. “The Museum as
Information Utility.” Museum Management and Curatorship 10,
no. 3 (1991): 305-311, doi: 10.1080/09647779109515282.
■ Rawsthorn, Alice. “MoMA Exhibit Shows How Technology Is
Getting the Point Across.” The New York Times, July 17, 2011,
Section C, 25. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/arts/
moma-exhibit-shows-how-technology-is-getting-the-point-across.
html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22MoMA%20Exhibit%20Shows%20
How%20Technology%20Is%20Getting%20the%20Point%20
Across%22&st=cse
■ Rosenberg, Karen. “Art That Interacts if You Interface.” The
New York Times, July 28, 2011, Section C, 22. http://www.
nytimes.com/2011/07/29/arts/design/momas-talk-to-me-
focuses-on-interface-review.html?_r=1&_r%E2%80%A6%204/4.
■ Russo, Angelina, Jerry Watkins, Linda Kelly, and Sebastian
Chan. “How will social media affect museum communication?”
in [Proceedings] Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums
(NODEM), Oslo, Norway, 07-09 December 2006. Oslo:
Department of Media and Communication - University of Oslo,
2006. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6067/1/6067_1.pdf.
■ Russo, Angelina, and Darren Peacock, “Great expectations:
sustaining participation in social media spaces”, in Museums
and the Web 2009, the international conference for culture and
heritage on-line: proceedings of an international conference,
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 15-18 April 2009, edited
by Jennifer Trant, and David Bearman, Toronto: Archives &
Museum Informatics, 2009. http://www.archimuse.com/
mw2009/papers/russo/russo.html.
■ Russo, Angelina, Jerry Watkins, and Susan Groundwater-
Smith. “The impact of social media on informal learning in
museums.” Educational Media International 46, no. 2 (2009):
153-166, doi: 10.1080/09523980902933532.
■ Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Power of Display: A History
of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art.
Cambridge MASS: MIT Press, 1998.
CASE STUDY_ Talk to Me: Design and Communication between
People and Objects
MUSEUM_ The Museum of Modern Art
PLACE_ New York City
DURATION_ July 24 - November 7, 2011
ORGANIZED BY_ Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, and Kate
Carmody, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and
Design at The Museum of Modern Art
DESIGNED BY_ The Department of Advertising and Graphic
Design at The Museum of Modern Art
The paper explores how the social media sphere
has been challenging the way museum exhibitions
are conceived.
Before, during and after Talk to Me, people were
invited to add content to a real exhibition in an
open and reciprocal collaboration with
museum professionals.
Museums are no longer talking to a general
audience according to a traditional one-way
communication scheme; nowadays, they are part
of a dialogue, which includes museumgoers as
individuals.
The introduction of social media in the exhibition
design broadened interaction to a new level,
where visitors interact with the exhibit and, through
it, they interact among themselves as well.
But the scenario brought up by social media is
quite revolutionary especially because it questions
not only the way of conveying content but also
the very way of producing it. The goal of the users
is no longer entertainment but the creation of
knowledge which is accessible and meaningful
to them and their peers.
What was a uniquely passive cultural consumption
has really been turning into a cultural
production. According to this scenario, the
Internet is no longer only a preview of reality, but
also and above all an amplification of it.
SOCIAL MEDIA / EXHIBITION
DESIGN
CASE STUDY
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Website.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Exhibition Installation.
Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.
Label.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sharing the Museum: Social Media and Curatorial Practice
Autore: M. Sarzotti (Tutor: Professor M. Ruffilli; Co-tutor: Professor F. Montanari)
Dottorato di Ricerca in Design e Innovazione
Seconda Università di Napoli, Dip. IDEAS - Industrial Design Ambiente Storia, Abazia di San Lorenzo ad Septimum, Aversa (IT) | mail: michelasarzotti@gmail.com, tel +39 055 2638207
Instead of engagement, the new “open sesame” to
visitors’ satisfaction is participation. A user -
centered approach is needed in order to properly
design a two-way communication which supports
actions taken by communities.
Apparently, influencing the expectations of
museum visitors, social media have also started
the modification of the curatorial practice.
Social networking widened the horizon of
curatorial expertise from curating objects to
curating information.
DESCRIPTION_ The exhibition displayed nearly 200 projects
centered on interaction and aiming to emphasize how the need
to engage in communication with users is overtaking form
and function in contemporary design. Talk to Me showed how
different innovations are transforming the way we live: objects
communicate with us and in turn can help us communicate with
others. The ‘file rouge’ of this dialogue was unraveled through
the six sections of the exhibition’s organization: objects, bodies,
life, city, worlds, double entendre.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/gsa2012v1-130514141513-phpapp02/85/sharing-the-museum-social-media-and-curatorial-practice-1-320.jpg)
