31st January 2012

Farewell to Pepe Serra: assessment of a phase

When our director Pepe Serra said goodbye to the team at the Museu Picasso he told us: ‘We have done ten years’ work in five years.’ What follows is a brief summary of some of the projects carried out during his time as director.

· Research and development of exhibitions that contribute knowledge and added value.

“Feasting on Paris. Picasso 1900-1907” (2011). Self-Portrait with Palette, Picasso, Paris, 1906 |  “Picasso Looks at Degas” (2010). Read more »

30th December 2011

The Museu Picasso’s 2011 in images

The task of choosing the most representative images of this year that is coming to an end was far from easy. Between us, we have worked on a lot of projects! Exhibitions, activities, research and restoration, education, registrar, library, publications, communications, administration, visitor services… it’s a long list. Here, then, is just a taste of what the museum has done in 2011.

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20th July 2011

“Feasting on Paris. Picasso 1900-1907″. An exhibition readily accessible to all

Here at the Museu Picasso we have at last got round to tackling a very important pending aspect of accessibility: accessibility of communication. We have long been aware of the need to make accessible to everyone not just the physical space of the museum but also our content, and had marked it out as a priority, as we noted in a previous post.

Preparation of the exhibition “Feasting on Paris. Picasso 1900-1907” gave us the perfect opportunity to incorporate communication accessibility measures and implement these in the exhibition process. In this task we have benefitted from the invaluable input of Barcelona’s Institut de Cultura (ICUB), guiding us through the process and providing support at each step. For some time now the ICUB has been providing the city’s museums with the tools they need to improve in this facet of communication in general, and especially in the production of temporary exhibitions. Read more »

21st April 2011

The Museums are going Mobile / 2. Notes from #mw2011

Just as Social Media were the key theme of the 2010 conference, at Museums and the Web 2011 the main topic was Mobile. A lot of sessions, workshops and debates were devoted to it and it was present in many of the stands and conversations. We even had a Mobile Parade! Here we will focus on the Mobile Strategies in Museums workshop run by Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution, and some of the tips from the Crit Mobile Room.

Image from http://www.museumapp.nl

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5th April 2011

Art Museums and Social Networks Fill the MUSAC

The auditorium full, the adjacentbig-screen viewing room full as well, a total of 600 connections to the live streaming broadcast, and a really massive participation on Twitter demonstratedthe high level of interest in the topic and the willingness to learn and share among practising and trainee members ofthe museological professions.

The façade of the MUSAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in León, which hosted the one-day Workshop on Social Networks and Contemporary Art Centres and Museums, 1 April 2011. Photo: Conxa Rodà

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24th March 2011

Museums and Wikipedia: towards a necessary cooperation

“It is not logical for the museums and Wikipedia to look at each other with mistrust as if they were enemies, because in reality they do a very similar job and are aimed at the same people, it’s just that they work in different ways.  The best thing for both communities is to work together so as to construct a proactive relationship that generates mutual benefits without detracting from their principles”. These words of Liam Wyatt reflect very well the spirit of the first meeting between the Catalan museums and Wikipedia representatives. The overall balance of the day was very positive: more than 100 professionals from museums and documentation centres from all over Catalonia actively participated in the different talks and discussions that were held throughout the day.  There was a feeling of great interest to know how this popular digital encyclopedia works and to explore ways that could help to spread the task being carried out by museums and cultural institutions.

The conference hall of the Picasso Museum full to the brim with professionals of museums from all over Catalonia

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22nd March 2011

Some True Stories from the Museu Picasso

‘Can we see Picasso’s Mona Lisa?’ ‘Don’t you have any colour postcards of Guernica?’ Unlikely as they may seem, these are some of the odd questions and curious situations that confront the Museum staff from time to time. In its almost 50 years of existence the Museu Picasso has built up a rich stock of good stories — often funny, sometimes surprising and on occasion touching. Here are some of the anecdotes that have become abiding favourites among the Museum’s gallery staff.

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14th February 2011

The museums talk about their adolescent public

On the 21st January the Picasso hosted the second meeting of the Educational Research Group, a recently created group made up of the Educational departments of various museums of the country that work in diverse fields of contemporary creation: the Panera Art Centre of Lleida (promoter of the group); CDAN (Centre of Art and Nature) of Huesca; Es Baluard, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palma; and Artium, the Basque Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Creating lines of research, both theoretical and practical for sharing and incorporating new references that help to improve their educational practices, are the main aims of the group. Read more »

28th January 2011

Checking out the route of lost objects

Museums are used to being highly visited spaces (or at least it would be good that they were).  Through their galleries and corridors pass tens, hundreds or even thousands of people every day.  This continual traffic can lead to the fact of personal belongings being lost or left behind is very common in museums, and the Museu Picasso is no exception.  Would you like to know how the lost objects are dealt with in our museum?  What do the visitors leave behind? Read more »

1st December 2010

Museums face the challenge of the global audience

The conference Museums and the Web, which we have talked about on a number of occasions, is a privileged platform on which to discuss the use of the Internet and the new technologies in publicizing museums and their collections. The Museu Picasso took part in the conference for the first time in 2008, when we presented our new website, and since 2009 we have had a place on the International Program Committee. Thanks to this connection, we recently welcomed to the Museum two of the conference directors, David Bearman and Jennifer Trant, who came to give a talk on ‘Reaching a Global Audience. Engaging the Local Visitor’. This session, along with the talk and workshop given here by Nina Simon just a few days earlier, afforded museum professionals in Catalonia a wide-ranging first-hand vision of the most innovative developments worldwide in the field of participation and museums 2.0. Read more »