The website of the Getty Leadership Institute provides summaries of the presentations at American Association of Museums Annual Meeting (May 13-17 Chicago), including a thought-provoking account of two opposing views that reveal the ‘clash of generations’ within American museums:

13ers Presentation by MiJin Hong
“13ers,” according to Strauss and Howe, are those born between 1961-1981. We are not shed in good light (probably because they are Boomers): “dumb, greedy, and soulless,” pragmatic and quick, scrutinizing and determined, informal and anti-institutional. They conclude by stating, we will “have a miserable old age”—not quite dinner party material… Full text

Boomers Presentation by Wendy Luke
Why don’t you understand me? I’m a boomer. Depending on the expert you consult, boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 or 1943-1963. Or, maybe I’m a Traditionalist/Boomer Cusper (born between 1940 and 1945)… Full text

Go to website American Association of Museums (AAM)

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The Art Newspaper has discovered Second Life as a platform for cultural production and has devoted a full length article on the phenomenon and even had an embedded journalist who spent six months as an avatar in this online world. He noticed that museums, universities and non-profit ­organisations are ­getting involved as well and show art at a fraction of the cost of organising a cultural event in the real world. There are museums and art centres you can visit with rotating displays, performances and events. There is even a copy of the Louvre online, where artists can display their own works right next to the museum’s masterpieces, like a virtual palace revolution.

But the correspondent also noticed that there is a downside for institutions and artists wishing to establish their names online: the millionaire elite who spend big bucks on well established art has little interest in selfproclaimed artists in Second Life who represent an environment which is intrinsically democratic and anti-elitist. They rather stick to the rules of institutional authority that still shape the physical world.

Click here for video tours of exhibitions and performances on Second Life
Go to website Second Life