Why the Hammer Museum's new free digital archives are a game changer
The Los Angeles Times on the Hammer's new digital archive initiative
“Instead of just putting all of her works online, we’re telling stories,” says Cynthia Burlingham, deputy director of curatorial affairs.
"Museum archives are historically places that draw only the most dedicated researchers to poke through boxes of files, trays of objects and piles of ephemera generated by exhibitions. But the Hammer Museum is aiming to change the way museum archives are accessed and organized.
The Hammer, with the aid of a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is in the process of producing a series of digital archives that will allow researchers and the general public to access information related to some of its exhibitions for free online. The first of these, tied to the museum’s 2011 show, “Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980,” part of the Pacific Standard Time series of exhibitions, debuted online this summer.
The project goes beyond just creating a bells-and-whistles exhibition website. The archive features important essays generated by the show, links to outside coverage, as well as documentation, photography and other research material."— Carolina A. Miranda, September 7, 2016
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times website.