Computers in the museum-surrounding are basically nothing new.
Use of data-machines in information storage, for archival activities or
when editing texts have become common place. In the last decade
multimedia communication technologies have been used to provide
attractive information retrieval for museum visitors, not only during
the actual visit, but also to serve the large group of museum-
customers off site, the general public. Somehow euphemistically, the
producers engaged in the marketing business, call these computer
programmes and tools "interactive", disregarding how little attention
has in fact been given to provide generally interesting themes or how
limited the choices for the users actually are. Museum professionals
lacking practical experience or an informed and critical view of the
issues involved easily end up with "gimmick"-installations. With such
unclear parameters museum communicators may hesitate and find
good reason to refrain from the new technologies altogether. The
question remains however, whether the many diverse forms of
digitized "access" cannot hold in store revolutionizing opportunities,
worthwhile the effort which is needed when breaking new grounds.
Are museum communicators sceptically refraining from contacts with
the new mulitmedia technologies ? Are they afraid of 'incalculable
unknowns', of loosing job-positions or responsibilities ? Should
working inside the museum's confines remain their only aim, with the
actual visit and meeting the original as the main concerns ? Are new
communication-structures not seen as motivating and exciting new
challenges, reflecting changes in viewing habits and increasing
awareness of the original and unique ? Should not museum
communicators be predestined to cooperate with designers and
information technology-specialists to develop qualitative multimedia
applications for museums and to find out more about the
"communication highways" in connection with the specific
requirements and options within the museum institutions ? Is meeting
the original, even if under uncomfortable conditions, maybe disturbed
by great numbers of people or for terribly short glimpses only, still
preferable ? Could not virtual museum-spaces and the innumerable
possibilities of the "imaginary museum" provide more perfect settings
for the learning and enjoyment usually thought of as having their
place in museums ?
The issues involved merit to be treated seriously by those museum
professionals who are responsible for the "interface" with the public,
i.e. the museum communicators, and will be the theme of this year's
CECA-Conference (1).
"museum@online" - actively looking at Gustav Klimt
"museum@online" - a cooperation of Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Austrian Gallery Belvedere), the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Austrian Cultural Service (2) - invited groups of young students to develop new ways of working with, experiencing and discussing the museum's collections of "Art of the turn of the century" in the Upper Belvedere palace in Vienna. The schools taking part, - all of them Austrian schools in this phase of the project -, for the first time experimented with the internet, CD- Rom or Photo-CD, and tested the possibilities and limitations of approaching art with these media.
The cornerstones of this project which confronted traditional art with new technologies, were reflection of processes, logistics and structures involved. Another important aspect was to challenge the creativity of youngsters in this unknown field. The project "museum@online" tackled questions such as, "What demands does museum education place upon computers and multimedia technology? What consequences do the new media have for communication in museums? How far can the new media contribute to "opening up" the object to the viewer?" Questions which will also be posed during the 1996 CECA Conference in Vienna. The pilot-project "museum@online" was scheduled for one school year. In December 1995 the museum-school-network was launched in which project ideas from schools were asked for. They should be taking the theme of turn-of-the-century art which the museum holds in trust, and make it their own affairs through use of multimedia technology. Treasures from the collections, the works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and others were made available in a Photo-CD produced by the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Ten schools took part in the first workshop in January 1996 and over the last six months have developed their own projects. The Austrian Gallery Belvedere allowed instant access to the collections and provided further materials and documentation. All participants could use these sources for their projects. With the help and advice of artists and technical support by experts, students developed the main points of their topics and learned how to use the new technologies. Asked for a feedback, they found that this was an inspiring way of looking at turn-of-the-century art. They stated that adding one's own ideas to digitalised masterpieces and altering them in computer technology, thus creating new effects by contorting and using clichés with familiar paintings, was rewarding. This technical approach was essentially used by most students as a new way of looking at the collections. But not only that, some projects were also designed to exchange information with other schools. Multimedia technology is, of course, predestined for international contacts and provides the ideal opportunity for cultural exchange across the borders. One school group for example developed a set of questions directed at partner schools abroad as a quiz about Austrian art. The idea is that these schools not only answer the questions but design a question sheet about "Fin de Siècle" art in their own country.
In the second workshop in May, the participants of "museum@online"
came together once more to complete their projects and to document
the whole process in a homepage which linked the students’
contributions. HTML, the programme language needed to create
homepages was also learnt by the students as part of their projects.
At the end of June a jury, with representatives from the fields of
schools, art, new technologies, technical publications, the museum
and federal ministries assessed the nine school projects. The
members of the jury were extremely impressed with the high
standard, creativity and technical competence demonstrated by the
entries. Awards were given in two categories to six of the projects
which were found to be particularly outstanding. Representatives of
the winning teams are given free tickets to the CECA conference this
September in Vienna, and all the school projects will be presented
there .
The press, asked for comments also via E-mail, sent their
congratulations (3). One journalist states , "... We think that using the
'new communications technologies' should strongly be fostered and
we therefore recommend offering this timely access opportunity for
youngsters. I have looked at the projects and think, each one in its
own right, has something positive". Another newspaper proudly
reports on the team of their local Secondary Vocational School, "their
success is even more remarkable for the fact that all other groups
were from 'Gymnasium' (secondary school for ages 10 to 14, leading
to university studies) or older" and that, "They presented the results
of their project work in an exhibition in school, which conveyed the
principles of the internet in an impressive way".
All school-groups taking part, students and teachers alike, as well as
the initiators and the staff of the artistic and technical support of
"museum@online", have been enthusiastically engaged in the project
for the last months. Unanimously they opted for a continuation of the
project.
The success of this pilot-project demonstrates how effectively art
museums can use communication technology in their education
programmes. A project like "museum@online" in the Austrian Gallery
Belvedere, for example, can render works of art far more appealing
for teenagers, a target group who are often rather difficult to reach.
Also it has to be kept in mind that multimedia technology is an ideal
way of reaching out to school groups prior to their actual museum
visits. Only starting, this is already clearly appreciated by Austrian
teachers when preparing for the traditional school-trip to Vienna,
undertaken by practically all schools from outside the capital finishing
with age fourteen or seventeen classes.
With the end of the school-year it was decided to provide for a
continuation of this project. The experiences and results of the first
run will be taken into account. Possibilities of evaluating content and
organisation of the project will be aimed at, as well as finding
interested school-partners abroad. Private sponsorship will also be
sought.
If the museum is to go beyond its role as a "protector of objects" and
to function effectively as an educational institution, it must remain up-
to-date and sensitive to developments in communication habits.
These have decisively changed today as a direct result of the new
media. Multimedia technology will no doubt play an important role in
art museums in the future. The quality of multimedia technology
should not be dictated purely by what the numerous commercial firms
have on offer. Generally speaking, the use of multimedia technology
has been developed in schools to a far greater extent than in
museums. Many of the work results found there, can be transferred
also to this place of "learning and experience", the museum.
New communication technology as all other interpretative techniques
can be employed appropriately or wildly and without any relevance to
the user. With multimedia-applications the user can more easily be
tricked into believing that he/she is taking on an "active role" and not
a merely passive consumer, than with more traditional methods. A
work of art can instantly be "fetched" onto the screen or seemingly be
"changed" at the press of a button. Concrete experiences and
practical acquaintance with the possibilities offered by mm-
technology, as done in the "museum@online" project, will ennable
the most competent and confident future uses.
Footnotes
1) the "museum@online" partners:
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Austrian Gallery Belvedere)
A-1030 Wien, Prinz-Eugen-Str. 27, e.mail:
oeg@blackboard.bbox.or.at
Tel: +43.1.79 55 7 -120; Fax: +43.1.79 55 7 -130
Bundesministerium für Unterricht und kulturelle Angelegenheiten
(Federal Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs), Abt. III/19,
A-1010 Wien, Wipplingerstraße 28/5
Österreichischer Kulturservice (Austrian Cultural Service)
A-1070 Wien, Stiftgasse 6
The author is grateful to the "museum@online" partners for the good work, cooperation and continuous support. Responsible for all translations, the author is also grateful to Rebecca Law for her help in this work.
2) Annual Conference of the Committee for Education and Cultural Action (CECA) of ICOM (International Council of Museums), Vienna, September 22-26, 1996, "On Site and Worldwide- new strategies for communication in museums".
3) "Wir sind der Meinung, dass die Nutzung der 'Neuen
Kommunikationstechnologien' stark gefördert werden sollten und
befürworten daher die Schaffung von zeitgemäßen
Zugangsmöglichkeiten für Jugendliche. Ich habe mir die Projekte im
Netz angesehen und finde jedes einzelne hat etwas für sich" (E-mail-
message, 'Vorarlberg online', Andrea Gasser, July 10th 1996)
"Ihre Arbeiten präsentierten sie in einer Ausstellung an der Schule.
Dabei wurde auch eine Rauminstallation, die die Welt des Internets
auf eindrucksvolle Weise nahebrachte, gezeigt." ... "Der Erfolg ist
umso größer, da alle anderen Mitbewerber aus Gymnasien oder
HTLs kamen" (aus: "St. Georgener Schüler waren 'online'
erfolgreich", Neue Zeit, 9. Juli 1996, Graz)
4) Information and contacts:
More information about the project and its future possibilities can be
obtained from the "museum@online" partners (1).
Since early July 1996 the "museum@online" project has been
installed (Internet/World Wide Web) with the help of the educational
server of the IST-Center in Linz, Upper Austria and can be viewed at
the following address: http://www.asn-linz.ac.at/museum/titel.
In an extra space:
"museum@online" project-ideas included :
A sereies of short role play-sequences relating to the portraits in the
Austrian Gallery were developed by a class of twelve-year-olds.
These led to a series of short video clips engaging creative
possibilities for interpretative stories, which could be used in peer
group guiding (Gymnasium Singrienergasse, Vienna).
Women at the turn of the century - their social backgrounds, life- situation and their representation in art. Two somewhat similar projects, one by a group of twenty thirteen-year old girls, the other by a group of sixteen-year olds, looked at portraits by Gustav Klimt, at changes in contemporary fashion and possibilities of using turn of the century ornaments for picture-postcards of themselves (Gymnasium Krottenbachstraße, Vienna), for designing T-shirts and their own visual messages, as well as comparing and finding lyrical interpretations of "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt with "Death and Girl" by Egon Schiele (Gymnasium Klosterneuburg).
A project-group formed by students of two schools from outside Vienna developed an information-pool relating to "Art at the turn of the century" available on the internet. This is intended to form the core for an easy and interdisciplinary approach to the museum- collections for future research and uses by students and teachers. Information structures and information retrieval possibilities were of central interest in this project. Topics treated include, "Love in the lyrics and paintings", "Trees as motives", "Life and death" or "Morals and manners". (Higher Vocational School Marienberg and Gymnasium Gallusstraße, Bregenz)
Two Art Quizzes are meant to stimulate interest and cross-cultural contacts among youngsters. These are games asking for involvement of partners from all over the world by offering quiz- questions relating to turn-of the-century art via internet. One of these quizzes, developed by six girls, ages sixteen to eighteen, employs the communication possibilities of new information networking to full extent (Priv. Gymnasium der Englischen Fräulein, St. Pölten). The other, the Art Box, is used by the pupils (ages 13-14) mainly to present an art video, themselves and their school in the net. (Secondary School, St. Georgen/Stiefing)
Kurzfassung Deutsch
Das Projekt "museum@online":
Mit dem Projekt "museum@online", einer Kooperation von
Österreichischer Galerie Belvedere, Bundesministerium für Unterricht
und kulturelle Angelegenheiten und Österreichischem Kulturservice,
wurde erstmals in Österreich eine Zusammenarbeit von Museum und
Schule im Internet entwickelt. Sowohl technisch-innovative, als auch
kunsthistorisch oder museologisch orientierte Fragen, sowie der
kreativ-spielerische Umgang mit Museumskunst wurden gefördert.
Durch die "Neuen Medien" wurde für die Jugendlichen eine neuartige
und zeitgemäße Begegnungsmöglichkeit mit dem Museum
geschaffen.
"museum@online" stellte für die SchülerInnen eine Herausforderung
dar, im Internet nach Informationen und möglichen Projektpartnern
Ausschau zu halten. Auch für SchülerInnengruppen in den
Bundesländern kann diese Art der Begegnung ein Anreiz sein, sich
mit Werken der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere zu beschäftigen,
bevor sie, z.B. im Rahmen einer Wienwoche, die Bilder im Original
entdecken können. Zehn Schulen nahmen mit ihren Projektideen teil.
Spannende Themenstellungen und Fragen wurden entwickelt, wie
z.B. ein "Internationales >Kunst der Jahrhundertwende<-Quiz", ein
Vergleich der Räumlichkeit in den flächig-ornamentalen Bildern von
Gustav Klimt mit dem "virtuellen Raum" oder eine Zeitreise über die
Rolle der Architektur gestellt und behandelt. Zur Unterstützung der
Projektentwicklung wurden zwei Workshops durchgeführt. Dabei
werden Hilfestellungen durch künstlerische und technisch-mediale
Beratung durch Experten geleistet.
Im Juni 1996 wurden die "museum@online"-Projekte von einer Jury
bestehend aus KünstlerInnen und VertreterInnen öffentlicher
Institutionen und der Medien begutachtet und prämiert. Die
ausgewählten Projekte werden zur CECA-Konferenz (Commitee for
Education and Cultural Action), die im September 1996 unter dem
Motto "Neue Strategien der Kommunikation im Museum" in Wien
stattfindet, eingeladen, alle Projektergebnisse werden vorgestellt.
Für interessierte Schulen besteht die Möglichkeit bei bereits
bestehenden Projekten mitzuarbeiten.