The Brooklyn Museum Lets the Crowd Curate a Show
Erick Schonfeld
10 comments »
These days everyone is a curator. If you talk to any social media entrepreneurs, chances are they will go on and on about how their Website is all about letting people “curate” the Web, whether that’s photos, videos, or news stories. It is usually code for:”Most people are too lazy to actually produce anything, but we let them organize and remix what other people have produced.” Who doesn’t love to remix?
Well, now you can actually do some real curating over the Web. The Brooklyn Museum is putting together a photography exhibit called Click, based on how people evaluate the submissions online. There was an open call for photographs of Brooklyn through March, and now through May 23 anyone can register and vote on the entries. The photos that get the most votes will be shown in an actual exhibit this summer—when the actual curators are at the beach.
That is awesome! The art of photography fascinates me. I wish I knew a little more about it. I wonder though, will the people voting really know about the art or will they simply vote what they like? Sometimes that is not best.
I love clever campaigns like this…
now this is cool social networking, would also be greater if i could meet who voted similarly, meet the photographer, have a discussion around the merits of each photo…. like we were all in a room together, talking about what was in front of us
I think that is pretty cool — attach our stupid web stuff to real world stuff.
The idea of crowdsourcing amateur photography isn’t a new one. yaperture.com seems to be onto this, but with a broader range of photography and more of a focus on engaging the photographers and community in discussions about the work.
BTW, who is the “curator” of TechCrunch and how do you decide what you’re going to write about?
I am always thrilled to hear updates about Brooklyn Museum. I think they always try to break out of the box and be innovative in their approach. Several years back when I worked with staff of Berkeley Art Museum I had heard many great things about Brooklyn Museum. They always try to involve their audience, which is great, because by doing so they deepen the user experiences and ideally encourages more return visits.
It’s very interesting in the art world how the traditional “I curate you look” approach has changed in the past few years. Museums are now trying to be more “personable” and “approachable.”
Cheers,
Cindy