Living in the middle of Indiana has its perks: fireflies in the cornfields at night that make you feel like you’re driving through hyperspace, fresh air, no pesky urban hipsters to tell you how wonderful New York is and that you should really move there, and dirt cheap real estate. However, this also means that I am miles and miles away from major cultural centers. As a result my cultural scouting routines have had to change. Where I was once able to walk to Used Kids records to catch up on new music, I now have to turn to audio blogs, podcasts, and online music services. Where I used to be able to take the train to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and spend a couple of hours looking at art, I now have to subscribe to mailing lists to find out what is going on in the art world. I read about shows rather than attending them. I watch lectures from internet archives instead of attending them. I collect recipes instead of eating at nice restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, I occasionally get out of town and see art exhibits and attend concerts, but not nearly as much as I would like.

So, I have become a seasoned internet scout. I am on numerous mailing lists, my RSS feeds and podcast subscribtions are legion, and I have become a decent student of how institutions and individuals try to connect to the rest of the world. Specifically I try to pay attention to how museums and galleries promote their exhibitions and programming. There are a handful of institutions that I feel are doing nice things to shake up the traditional notion of how an art institution is supposed to act on the web.

• The Walker Art Center
  • I have long been a fan of the Walker’s attention to the needs of its audience. Their curatorial work, programming, and visiting lecturers have been a great boon to the Minneapolis area for years. Yet, they have always been distinctly aware of their influence outside of the frozen tundra of Minnesota. They now have regularly updated blogs discussing exhibitions, ideas, and events. In addition to their podcasts and archived lectures (most of these are poorly recorded, but informative), they also offer the option of calling up information on your cell phone where you can listen to Jasper Johns, Sarah Sze, or Kara Walker discuss their work. You may then pretend to have a conversation with them to impress your friends. “So, Kara, how are you? Yeah, I’m doing great. I’m here with some friends looking at your piece. Could you tell them a little bit about it? Great. You’re the best!” You then hand the phone to your friend.
• The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts / Contemporary Museum St. Louis
  • These two institutions share the same roof, some of the same ideologies, and a blog. I like their blog because the whole staff contributes (save the janitors, however, I think they should let the janitors blog). It helps to make transparent the inner-workings of a quality museum. If you do find yourself visiting the Pulitzer Foundation, be prepared for no wall text (I really like that), and creepy guards disguised as art students who silently follow you around (I don’t like that).
• Mixed Greens Gallery
  • I think that Mixed Greens is one of the few NYC galleries that tries to step out of the footprint of how NYC galleries typically act. They publish their own online magazine, blog, and allow you to create your own online collection of art.
• The Drama
  • According to their site “The Drama magazine is published four times a year and strives to provide an honest and considerate perspective on the ever-evolving world of contemporary art.” So technically they aren’t a museum or gallery, but I like what they’re doing. They are a DIY art publisher, putting out their friends’ work. I think my favorite (from what I’ve seen which is not much) is the Branch Gallery Coloring Book. Brilliant.

There are a number of others that I hope to highlight a little later. But right now, I’ve got to get my house in sellable condition. We’re moving to Colorado! Yee-haw!