Catherine Bell

What is a Museum?

Project:
What #isamuseum?
Clients:
Multimedia artist Sam Durant, Getty Artists Program
Team:
Sam Durant, Getty Artists Program Staff
My role:
Strategy, Creative Direction, UX Design, Visual Design

Visiting Artist Sam Durant challenged us to examine the museum itself, and invited our visitors to the party.

“By expanding the conversation and encouraging different forms of response, participants can become active within the project and even change the debate around the initial issue.”

Sam's blog post about What #isamuseum?
Throughout the Getty Center site, square tiles with questions are integrated into the marble architecture, matching the 30" square block size.
Arrows point the way to a main conversation hub located in the Entrance Hall.
Questions are posed in unexpected places, often where visitors tend to rest or spend time.
The conversation hub featured motion graphics with visitors' answers from previous days.
Five questions, five colors. The first screen for the kiosk and mobile site
Answering a question. The answer form emphasizes an initial yes/no choice, which sets up how the answer is displayed.
Credits screen, with Sam Durant's Artist's Statement.
A young visitor typed her response at the conversation hub.
As visitors departed the Getty on the tram, questions were asked again with transparent lettering on windows.
The conversation continued online, and elicited answers from folks who had never visited the Getty.

More to Explore

Case Study

Visitors react emotionally and physically to art. How might we invite them to feel and move in the museum?

Case Study

Even iconic paintings need to be taken off view sometimes. How might we deliver a rich experience of art, even when it's not on the wall?

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