officegallery on 9 Apr 2001 08:57:00 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] SFMoMA - credit problems |
This is from a friend of mine who experienced problems accessing the recent "010101" show at SFMoMA. I thought you would appreciate it. ------- Dear Friends: I am writing to express my concern regarding the obstacles I confronted on a recent visit to the SFMOMA. During this visit I was denied access to both Janet Cardiff's piece in the "010101" exhibition and the handheld educational device in "Points of Departure" because I did not have a credit card. With our ever increasing dependence on costly technology it is understandable that the museum is concerned for its equipment's safety. But the credit card deposit is more than protection for renting a video camera, it serves to reinforce the notion that art is for an elite group. This credit card restriction is both an age and a class issue. Certainly an educational tool is present to increase accessibility to the art work for the museum's audience. It seems antithetical to offer this tool only to a select group of museum goers. While I am not completely familiar with security systems, it seems likely that there could be a magnetic sensor on the camera to protect it from theft. ------ Good call. This is the kind of casual oversight we've all come to expect from the populist expanse of the institutionalization of art. I'm actually surprised this didn't come up before, and I'm anxious to hear your responses. ===== Sean Fletcher, resident of the office/gallery resident@officegallery.org check out our website at: www.officegallery.org fax/vmail: (801) 218-1913 direct: (415) 733-6574 The office/gallery is a by appointment only location for work by contemporary artists operated covertly in the San Francisco offices of a National Insurance and Securities firm. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold