Supporting Role

Just after we launch our "Observatorium" exhibit, we may be playing a supporting role in the artist (artiste?) JR's Inside Out Project through a collaboration with the International Museum of Women. They have asked to look at  popping up with large-format images of mothers. We're figuring it out now- I'm sure it will beyond a billboard.

The IMOW, an excellently done virtual museum, currently has a show that ties into the I/O project- "MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe:"

This is interesting because we haven't waded into the social issues sea- it's not our area of expertise, but it is a fun and fairly low-risk experiment. We'll post info as it approaches.

#aam2011: Our presentation

I thought I would share our presentation from our session at #aam2011 today. I was honored to share the stage with Ashely Remer of the Girl Museum, Jon West-Bey of the American Poetry Museum and brilliant moderator Paul Orselli of the Paul Orselli Workshop.

What is it about? Our experiments, and why we think approaches such as these are good for the future of museums.

San Francisco Mobile Museum, Maria Mortati, #aam2011

View more presentations from Maria Mortati

It was a lot of fun to share the work. Thanks, all!

Free SHRINE: Gone But Not Forgotten: A Burro Story 1982-2010

By Marcia Stuermer

Clarissa was a town burro from Murphy’s, an historic Gold Country town who died earlier this year. She was 27. She was an affectionate and wildly loved animal- the result of a University of CA program that rounded up feral burros in Death Valley and adopted them out.

No one could visit the town without paying a visit, usually with a treat. After her death, her shed was turned into a giant memorial of flowers, notes and other gifts. Often townspeople paying their respects could not hold back tears. The town of Murphy's will hold a tribute in her honor on August 6th. It is rumored that they might even erect a statue in her name. It’s yet to be determined if the town will adopt another burro to hold court.

Let me tell you, I have never heard such a sound as the earth-shaking braying that would come from a delighted Clarissa when she was aware that someone had brought her food! I hope that sound will continue to echo on that corner of Murphy’s Main Street for many years to come.

Note: Marcia Stuermer also created this piece for our first exhibit, "Looking for Loci".

Movement Museum Offers a Mobile Model

Scott Moulton, an Exhibit Designer at Gyroscope and fan of the SFMM, sent a link to the "Movement Museum, A Creative Field Station for the Study of Movement".

Movement Museum is part of an ongoing series out of the Works Progress group in Minneapolis:

"Works Progress is a loosely affiliated group of creative collaborators who bring unique skills and experience to our collective work. A few of us make up the core Works Progress crew, while others contribute on a project-by-project basis."

They have multiple participatory projects, this one is of interest to us in particular. It offers not only the opportunity for the public to engage on the spot, but to capture and share the results:

"Movement Museum is located in and around a pop-up field station that can be assembled anywhere in about 30 minutes. It is an experiment with the concept of a mobile museum, one where research is performed, recorded and projected as part of a large-scale, public composition."

We look forward to learning more about their progress, and iterating our own platform for speed of set-up and sharing.

Image source: Movement Museum project blog

FREE Shrine: Bird Box

Peter Forrest Kline let his bird do the shrining for his piece in our show last year. So no poetic wall text to offer. As with many shrines, the object is what you make it.

What's the NEA got to do with us?

If you're a culture lover, liker, or follower, you may have heard that members of Congress are yet again, seeking to dismantle the NEA and the NEH via massive budget cuts.

Again? PBS/NPR/NEA/NEH to be cut, slashed, eliminated? Why does this keep coming up you may ask?

Waaaaaay back in 1998 Dr. Cynthia Koch, formerly of the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community, suggested that thinking behind it goes like this:

The philosophical differences between the two sides represent varying views about human nature and its relation to government. Endowments proponents generally hold modern liberal-moderate political views: minimal intrusion on the part of the state in private life combined with confidence in an activist government to guarantee individual rights and broad access to social goods such as economic, educational, and cultural opportunity. This view is opposed by many political opponents of the endowments, but by far the strongest opposition comes from Christian conservatives who advocate elimination of the NEA (and the NEH in the heat of the 1995 funding crisis) as part of their broader social agenda. For them individual rights and free expression, fundamental values in the liberal tradition, are radically at odds with a world view from an older ideology that sees human beings as basically flawed, their capacities for good nurtured only in the strict observance of Christian dogma. A government that fails to enforce these precepts is at odds with their deepest beliefs and must be changed. - Cynthia Koch, Associate Director, Penn National Commission 1998

Here are the San Francisco Mobile Museum, we have a fundamental belief that access to uncensored education and information are a basic right of being American, and that we are all fundamentally good.

If that jives with your world view, we'd like to encourage you to participate in our free society by letting Congress know what you think.

;)

Image: CC/flickr/deltaMike /Mike Renlund

Summer Evening at the Exploatorium

We've got a bit of a posting backlog here at the SFMM while I move.

Our soft opening of FREE Shrines at the Exploratorium last month was a lot of fun. It was our first evening event and a road test of one of our more participatory elements in the exhibit, the Ema Shrine. I'll talk about that later!

This time we used a more open-ended format for our "makers"- I gave folks a size and weight limit, but didn't provide a box for them to fill. The difference in form factors had pros and cons as I look back on this experiment. The pros were that the layout looked more like an exhibit the cons were that for folks encountering and usual idea in an unusual setting, I got the impression that it put a little more on them to grasp the overall idea.

Exhibit Opening: This Thursday night!

The FREE Shrines exhibit makes it's first appearance at the Exploratorium After Dark event this week. While the shrines are free the event isn't: $15 + cash bar (Thurs. Aug. 5, 6-10pm).

But who can put a price on a evening where chaos, culture, and the SF's own phenomena-driven-hands-on science-and-art-museum meet?

Image: the brilliant Mark Glusker, helping install lighting.

Shrinetasm: Myanmar's Kyaiktiyo Pagoda

As I'm doing research for our new exhibit FREE SHRINES, I find everything from the fantastic to the unassuming. At the same time, these objects, sites, reliquaries and shrines are nonetheless meaningful to their devotees.

This site is often called of course, The Golden Rock. It sits atop a small shrine, and it is said that you can pass a thread beneath the rock. Buddhist belief has it that it sits upon a single strand of Buddha's hair, and that seeing it will convert anyone to Buddhism.

Been there? I'm curious about how those who live with it so close by feel about it being the 3rd largest site of pilgrimage. Never heard of it? You can read at length about it here.

Top image courtesy of Wikipedia, bottom, Creative Commons license via Flickr/R_Stanek

FREE SHRINES exhibit challenge

FREE SHRINES is a new exhibit where we are exploring the history, meaning and spontaneous use of shrines with you. We'll look at public, religious and cultural examples, and invite you to add your wishes, locations, and remembrances.

Our exhibit challenge invites you to create a shrine of your own, to show at the exhibit. Something that can fit in the palm of your hand. Contact us at info [at] sfmobilemuseum [dot] org with questions.

HERE'S THE FREE SKINNY.

SFMM Opening at Exploratorium After Dark

Our new exhibit "Shrines" will be making it's first appearance this season as part of the next Exploratorium "After Dark" event. Their theme is "Nomadic Communities" and we'll be in good company with the likes of the Dr. Karen Kalumuck, the Succulent Circus from Wonderarium, Dust City Diner, Paul Nosa, Harley K. Dubois, and hopefully Forage SF.

- Thursday, August 5, 2010
- 6-10pm

We'll be introducing you to the subject of shrines with a little history, roadside shrines, space for your to show your shrines in the Bay Area, and contribute to our take on a traditional Ema Shrine:


Top image Flickr/Creative Commons/Matt Baume who says "Once a month, the Exploratorium turns into the best bar in the city." Bottom image Wikimedia Commons.

Roadside Shrine: Dead Man's Curve?

These photos are part of a theme we're exploring– Shrines. April Banks is an artist and designer who is currently on a cross-country bicycle trip called "We Ride 3000". She's photo-documenting a type of shrine we whiz by on the roadside.

"Chad and Brandi Moreno" (year not legible).

"Mark Allen Parker, 2002". For another take on these, click here.


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Roadside Shrine: Rte 33 Near Vernailis, CA

April said that this shrine looked like a real burial site. It looks well-tended too:




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Roadside Shrine: Route 41 near Riverdale, CA

From April Banks, as she bicycles across the US for WeRide3000, she is recording roadside shrines for our exhibits. Here is the obituary:

Richard J. Pilgrim

In loving memory of Richard J. Pilgrim, 62, of Riverdale born on Aug. 17, 1945 in Reedley and passed away on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 in Riverdale.
He is survived by five children and 12 grandchildren, Sonny and Carla Pilgrim and their three daughters, Cayla, Cara and Christa of Tulare, Randy and Dianne Pilgrim and their daughter, Raenni and two sons, RJ and Ryan of Visalia, Clyde Pilgrim of Laton and his son, Travis and daughter, Victoria both of Hanford, Richard and Michele Pilgrim and their son, Bronson and daughter, Carrington of Visalia, Sadie Pilgrim and Carlos Cantu and son, Christian and daughter Savannah of Laton; two sisters, Frances and Carol of Riverdale; three brothers, Frankie of Terra Bella, Jimmy of Caruthers and Billy of Fresno.
Services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, March 1 at the Laton Lions Hall.

- Published in The Hanford Sentinel on February 26, 2008

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