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Shared Spaces and Virtual Places: The MoMA project and the Transformation of the Art Museum Experience
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Shared Spaces and Virtual Places: The MoMA project and the Transformation of the Art Museum Experience

Lisa Chandler
International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, Vol.3(2), pp.49-58
2010
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-2014/CGP/v03i02/44317
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Abstract

art museums and social media art museum websites virtual museum MoMA museum audience collaborative viewing
Phenomena such as theMoMAproject pose interesting challenges to art institutions such as New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as they seek to open the space of the museum to diverse audiences. TheMoMAProject (TMP) is a collaborative virtual museum which is neither part of, nor officially sanctioned by MoMA, yet it is dedicated to displaying works from this seminal art institution. Given that MoMA already presents its collection online, this paper critically examines how TMP differentiates itself, and considers its relevance for museums. This alternative site is an inclusive social space which focuses on viewers' interactions with and impressions of works in MoMA's permanent collection. Museum works are presented from an audience-centred perspective and this facilitates different ways of seeing and understanding art by focusing on meanings at the level of spectatorship. The shared display of images and associated discussion forums enable the construction of both shared and personal meanings about theviewing experience. Although the site's creators make claims for an educative function and forms of intellectual critique that are not entirely fulfilled, TMP creates an inclusive, accessible space for engaging with MoMA's collection, and plays a role in democratising practices of looking and understanding both in and beyond the museum's physical spaces.

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