The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam has just released its collection widget 3.0. Web Man Peter Gorgels alerted me of their new application, and we are more than happy to show you the fully functional Rijkswidget 3.0.

It is an interesting and clever feature that shows a daily piece of the vast collection of the Rijksmuseum. The widget can be embedded in blogs, Hyves, Facebook and MySpace. It is elegantly designed, and can be blown up; however it would have been nice if you could flip endlessly through the collections, instead of having to wait for tomorrow. Maybe an idea for 4.0?

Update:
This is actually the small version, to be placed in sidebars. This is what we will do for a month, to see how it works. Let us know what you think of this initiative of our friends at the Rijksmuseum.

In a public address Nicholas Penny, the new director of the National Gallery, said that the museum will no longer show blockbuster exhibitions and will focus on its duty to display art with which the public is unfamiliar rather than yet another parade of a famous artist’s greatest hits.

“The responsibility of a major gallery is to show people something they haven’t seen before,” he said. “A major national institution should be one that proves a constant attraction to the public. What is important is encouraging historical and visual curiosity in the general public.”

Read full article (The Times, February 27, 2008)

Scene from the trailer for ‘Script’ at the Centraal Museum in the Dutch city of Utrecht, which mixes history, fashion and interiors within a continuous filmic experience.    

Presenting masterpieces from the history of fashion and interiors within a continuous filmic experience, the permanent display ‘Script’ at the Centraal Museum in the Dutch city of Utrecht, mixes historical dresses and contemporary fashion by designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood with cabinets and sofas as well as modern furniture by Gerrit Rietveld. Costume dramas from the last twenty years are the inspiration for film-sets displays, resulting in a new interpretation of the museum’s unique period rooms.

In the films that are the starting point for ‘Script’, furniture and fashion represent important historical and cultural developments. Within ‘Script’ highlights from the museum’s Rietveld collection are placed within an extraordinary modernistic environment. ‘Script’ is designed by designers Concern and Darlaine Heitinga and not only situates highlights from the collection within film sets, it also invites the visitor to step inside various sets and be photographed. Visitors can assume a role in such cinematic classics as the silent movie ‘Man with a Movie Camera’, the costume drama ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and the science-fiction film ‘Blade Runner’.

 Scene from the the science-fiction film ‘Blade Runner’, which was used as one of the sources of inspiration for ‘Script’

Watch the trailer
Visit the Centraal Museum website

An exhibition designer with part of an installation by Christoph Büchel (Photo: New York Times)

When a museum behaves badly, it’s never pretty. But few examples top the depressing spectacle at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

I refer to Mass MoCA’s decision to exhibit “Training Ground for Democracy,” an immense but incomplete work of installation art, despite strenuous opposition from Christoph Büchel, the Swiss artist who conceived it and oversaw its construction until his relationship with the museum dissolved in acrimony early this year. By opening this show without his assent, the museum has broken faith with the artist, the public and art itself.

The legal principles at stake in this dispute will be argued on Friday when lawyers for the museum and Mr. Büchel face off in federal court in Springfield, Mass. Each side hopes for a summary judgment against the other.

Read full article (New York Times, September 17, 2007)

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Large close-up shot of the exhibition (photo by Milan Ilnyckyj)

The Canadian War Museum will “adjust” its controversial Bomber Command exhibition this fall so that greater “respect” is shown to Canadian war veterans involved in the Second World War bombing of Germany. Bomber Command veterans have long complained that the exhibition makes them out to be “war criminals” whose bombs needlessly killed thousands of German civilians.

But historian Randall Hansen is calling the museum’s decision craven and appalling and says that the exhibits’ adjustment signals that the museum is ceding to political pressure and is forsaking its credibility as an independent institution. Since last spring the Canadian newspaper The National Post has been reporting on the case and here you can read how the story unfolds:

Read article ‘The risks of rewriting the record’ (April 17, 2007)
Read article ‘Alter bombing display, war museum urged’ (June 13, 2007)
Read article ‘Museum to change bomber exhibit’ (August 28, 2007)
Read article ‘Historian decries change to war museum exhibit’ (August 29, 2007)

Read article ‘Depressing surrender at war museum’ (Toronto Star, 31 August, 2007)

Go to website Canadian War Museum

Harald Szeemann (Photo: undo.net)

Artforum brings the news of a complete catalogue of Szeemann’s exhibitions titled with by through because towards despite. The publication is supported by an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel, which ends September 2.

with by through because towards despite at Kunsthalle Basel
Harald Szeemann in Wikipedia