The Case for Museums | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios 

I like the idea of decontextualizing and recontextualizing the pieces in a museum. That was a really interesting point. Thanks for the video.

This channel and the brainscoop inspired me to pursue a career in museum collections! Thanks for all you do!

This channel inspired me to go to a museum in the first place and the reason for me to go again and again a third time with friends without they changing the expositions it's because it made me see works from artistis from Brazil and more importantly from the region where i live. And made in America content being so much of i watch ,see and listen see works of people that are literally closer to my experience in life makes especial.

I loved museums. My dad had made that an important part of growing up. By 6th grade I had been to over 80 different museums. So hooray for museum.

Museums are the mainstay of any visit I make to any city in the world. I became nostalgic for the museums you featured where I had been before, and I was filled with longing for the museums featured that I had not yet seen. Hopefully I will get to all of them!

So good. I kept pausing it to drink in the images and read the locations. Excellent as always.

How timely to drop this episode the day the Met's new admissions policy starts. Good job.

The best art channel on youtube. Thank you for continuing to make videos!

You have warmed the heart of this student of museum studies.

I am a Conservator of Antiquities from Greece and that was a great video! I enjoyed it very much! Well done! :D

Thanks for this thoughtful video. My husband and I visited the Art Institute of Chicago for the first time yesterday. We toured the American and Impressionist sections and were bowled over by many of the works. I was surprised to find that I was more drawn to Renoir than Monet. I felt that "transcendence" you mentioned when I saw the Chagall window. I had thought, from seeing photos, that it might glow and was delighted to see that, even on a cloudy day, it did glow. I am so thankful for museums. My family are members of the IMA (Newfields) and visit it often. Taking a walk on the grounds is a favorite weekend activity for my husband and I. Here is my thumbs up for this video since my like button is not appearing today.

The Musée de l’Orangerie, in Paris, tops my list. So impactful. Everything is great there, but it’s top floor is wonderful, just with how they not only present Monet’s paintings in oval shaped rooms, but in how they make sure you can’t see the art until you are in the room itself. A proper emotional experience. One which brought my wife to tears. Highly recommended.

Hey Sarah! I just wanted to point out that while some museums may have returned colonial loot to its rightful owners the majority hasn't. It's a part of the 'collection craze' of the 19th and early 20th century where the colonising powers would try to accumulate as many 'exotic curiosities' as possible. Often through stealing or manipulating their rightful owners to surrender them. Take the case of the Benin bronzes. The British burned the city of Benin down after the King of Benin had refused to trade with them. They took everything, including the bronzes which to the people of Benin are a way, in fact THE way of documenting their history and culture. Often these bronzes were highly personal because whenever someone died they'd put their likeness on a bronze plate to remember and celebrate them. The British took these and sold them to all the colonial loot crazy museums and individuals in Europe and overseas where they remain today. The Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg (which has a very rich colonial history) still has a lot of them. Western museums then classify their stolen goods as "primitive art" for white people to marvel at and, as I pointed earlier, in most cases refuse to return them. Most of the Benin bronzes are still locked away in Western museums. And sometimes these things aren't even on display but vanished somewhere in the archives and STILL museums refuse to let them go. And as to the question of "safe-keeping" that's also a deeply racist thing, assuming that the countries of origin are less capable of keeping these objects safe and in good shape than Western museums. This mindset is especially ironic since a lot of colonial loot fell victim to the wars that ravaged Europe and/or for instance in the case of the Hamburg collection, a bad case of asbestos in the archives.. So while I do agree that museums are good and should continue existing, I think that they should also be critical of their collections and return any and all stolen items to their countries of origin.

"Art without context is trash the way food becomes trash when you put it in the sink." -Bennett Foddy It is the job of the museum curator to preserve as much context as possible in the space available. For me, the most enjoyable part of a museum is talking about the objects with other patrons.

This video just made my day! I'd been waiting for your new video!

i love this i work as an intern at the folk art museum in manhattan and it’s really given me a deeper understanding of not just art and artists but the staff and people that have to work as one and make sure the museum experience is as perfect as possible

Great video. I've been thinking a lot about this myself and how the story of how the artifacts came to a certain location is a part of the artifact's story. Consequently, you can learn a lot about the history of the world and interactions between geographic areas just by looking at those horses in St. Mark's square you showed.

I adore this series!

This is so good! I recently visited the Guggenheim museum in Venice when I was there on holiday, and it was incredible. I have always found out a lot about myself when going to museums. It's like digging into history books but that history book is you.

This was beautiful. I feel so privileged to have visited so many of the museums featured in this, and I can't wait to visit so many more.

This video got me really emotional about art and its relation with our human history, this was a reminder of why I hope one day I can get to work taking care of it and learn from it every day. I love all the content you share, is always inspiring.

I've been frustrated by opinions of museums - particularly those of the natural history persuasion - and how unethical the collection of the...collection is more than once. So far, I've done only an okay job of defending them. But now I've got help: this video. Thanks, Art Assignment, for making the thing I forgot I needed!

Wow! I can't believe my tiny local museum (the maritime museum) made it here. I audibly gasped.

The Art Assignment is the very best

Thank you, Sarah! Every video you post speaks to my heart, educates me with awesome interesting things, opens my mind to knew ways of thinking. I'm so grateful for The Art Assignment! Now I'm off to research all the museums in my area, especially those that are toddler friendly (I have a two year old)! Thank you!

I am glad you included Te Papa Tongarewa.

I'm in school for archives and records management, and nearly all of these points are applicable for archives as well! Great video!

This day was good and now it's even better

Thank you so very much for these videos!

I really liked this video! It makes me want to go check out my local museums again and think about them a bit differently. It's a bit sad that I haven't been to most of these places... but maybe some day!

Wow, so many interesting and eye-opening arguments... This is a great way to invite all of us to these magical and content-rich places without making "cheap promotion". Thanks a lot for this video!

Well said. Thank you for speaking from this point of view.

Fascinating!

Excellent explanation to modern history and to its public display.

Another great video! As an Indigenous Studies and Public history double major, I just need videos like these to remind me what all the stress and hard work is for. Bravo!I

I really appreciate your work

OMG, love this episode! Did not know that museums needed defending, yet this was really illuminating!

"Lots... and lots... and lots... of neoclassical museums." ;) A nice exploration! I especially love the emphasis on how museums can allow us to reconsider our past to gain perspectives on what it means to be a human being... that's a really provocative thought. It is making me wonder how museums might better facilitate such reflections, as I'm guessing many do not have that in mind when they visit. I also like the notion that re-visiting a museum can lead us to see new art, even if there is no new art there -- seeing something newly is like seeing something new. We read/watch stories multiple times and get new things out of it each time, why should this type of art be any different? I've never heavily considered visiting museums multiple times, but now I will. :) Thank you for another great episode!

my local museum is at 2:42! i love to go there to get the full effect of glass stands and a huge room with a continuous view of art through time

What a fantastic episode. I'll always love museums and in this way the case will never be closed. Thanks, for bringing me closer to knowing why I love them. 😉👌

It good their museum for art and other items that is of ancient origin,. Makes for informative learning.

The case for museums is particularly interesting considering you're in Indianapolis, home of Newfields, where they're looking at the role of a museum in a broader way. Thanks for making this!

I LOVE Museums! I visit as many as I can wherever I travel to. ❤️ My favourite so far are the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the British Museum, the museum of modern art in Edinburgh and the portrait gallery there too. Also the Vatican museums, the national gallery and the Tate museums in London... and if it counted as a museum then the Venice biennale, specifically the giardini part. 😀

Proud of St. Petersburg's Hermitage on the preview and 0:42. Thanks for appreciation :)

Thank you. Now I can direct people to this video, instead of going on my usual rant.

Inspiring!

This was a great video. I think a similar episode for younger children should be created if you have time. These timestamps seem the most applicable: 0:00-2:00, 2:57-3:52, 4:03-4:55, 5:35-6:26

Loved seeing Diego Rivera’s mural at the DIA (my local art institute) included in this! I think they do a wonderful job in how they present their pieces, and they have so many varied collections that span from ancient history to modern day, many touching on social issues and inequality. For example, they have an entire section of their colonial art exhibit that features black painters of the time and their artwork, people who are subject to erasure most of the time.

OMG HERMITAGE MY 2ND FAVOURITE BUILDING MY CITY damn i just was there today!! thank you!

Sarah's RU-vid take on museum architecture is pricelss

I work at a living history museum and I would like to say this is head on.

Excellent video!! What is the background music you use here?

Awesome video as always!! I love how friendly your videos are! I've always been drawn to museums, and it is one of my dreams to work on a art museum someday... Do you have any recomendations?

This is seriously my favorite newly discovered channel. Any chance we can get a case for photography/x photographer?

“Babylonian King ,,, collected antiquities”. That got my attention .

MAravilloso la informacion de este museo

Who is the one museum hater? How can you not like them??

Detroit Industry by Diego Rivera! I’m going to see it in the flesh at the Detroit Institute of Art soon! and other stuff too of course! yay

My Master’s is about performance art and museology! Could you recommend some articles/books/videos/etc in the museum’s history and classifications in the description? Thank you!

2:57 "Hauuu we display things..." *Eduard Hau on the caption* I see what you did there.

Yesss I do really want to second your point at 7:43 - museums are definitely not impenetrable fortresses. Many of the gallery guides at our museum do not have art or museum backgrounds - yet many have been volunteering and shaping visitors experiences for decades. They have directly sat in meeting with curators and directors, become a part of museum boards, sat on endowment committees and influenced new collection purchases.

Speaking of museums, I’d love to see you do an episode with Emily Graslie! She’s an artist by training and just generally great!

I have been loving the videos lately! Though I have a question/criticism. I, being a photo major, would love to see more photography in the art assignment! People like Jacques henri lartigue or Keith carter or William eggleston! I'm a photo major and photo nerd so I am biased. But I would love some "case for" of photographers not well received. Just my 2 cents though. I'm a photo history nerd and would love other people to realize how exciting it can be!

Especially considering the interesting point made about the changes in contextualization museums give these objects, I'm curious how people think the City Museum in St. Louis fits into this. It's not a conventional museum, by any means, I'm not even sure if really counts as a museum, but the way it revitalizes what would otherwise be trash and waste into not only art but art the public can scramble in and hang upside-down on might be worth bringing up. At the very least, all my art teachers didn't have to try very hard to explain to administration why a field trip there was relevant to whatever art class they wanted to get out of the building (not as easy as taking everyone to the SLAM though, since that's free and right by the zoo).

Bilbao's Guggenheim is ship shaped in reference of the industrial past of Bilbao.

I think this video made me understand the point about deconstructivism

Thank all that was in this art time's..! God'!!!Love's all An I do too !!An I Love TheArt Assignment. This is what I Love. THANK.YOU SoSo. MUCH!..MS..PINOTTI

Yay for democratisation of culture !

I can't wait for The Art Institute of Chicago to reopen after covid passes

Hello Mam Sorry for irrelevant question here but can you help me with this error HOST = gethostbyname(gethostname()) is not define error in packet sniffer code python, i'm doing this code from your tutorials on packet sniffer thanks reply as soon as possible

First: Yay Emily! Second: I'm curious to as why you didn't share your experience as a curator?

Do 'The case for Basquiat" please!

I would love a video on aboriginal art!

Haha I love the Emily Graslie picture

Can we get a case for Basquiat?

Unfortunately we do not have enough Museums in The Philippines.

I like the picture of the people making an oath to the IPad. Or is it an IPod? At 7:16.

as long as the art being demanded was stolen and the country is going to be returned is safe and will be safe for the foreseeable future then I have no problem.

BRAINSCOOP !! 😁😁

Oh my God these videos are so fast they're unwatchable. I have to keep reminding to examine the pictures and captions. Slow down!

Are we not dying/ to bury ourselves in museums?

The Case for Peggy Guggenheim?

Museums in NYC Moma: at least it has some good art Guggenheim: 90% of the stuff is not considered art . The natural history Museum: got a movie based off of it that’s pretty cool . The Cooper Hewitt: more people talk about those go there it’s free . The Met: B I G and it has a good art .

I was unaware we needed to make a case for museums? I guess it was dumb of me to assume that everyone values the public dissemination of awesome stuff.

I wish more people understood that museums aren't just storage facilities that you can visit. Museums (most of us anyway) are very ACTIVE in our communities. We work with our local schools, libraries, and other organizations to create/host educational programs. We help people do research (whether it's genealogical research or research for a book or just curiosity). We're very involved, there's always an upcoming event to work on. This is true even for museums in small towns and rural areas (like the one I work at). I always encourage people to look up your local museum. Even if it's small and doesn't seem like much on the outside, there's surely a wealth of information in there. We have a sort of unofficial motto at the museum I work for. "Every place has a story. We aim to preserve it and share it."

Asteroid? What Asteroid?

Simply. I think you'd be generally shocked if you knew the number of fraudulent artefacts that came from the time of antiquity, especially in the form of bronze bust.

No top comments about Erik Killmonger?!

Once went to a modern art museum on a 2nd or 3rd date in Glasgow. I didnt think to check which special exhibitions were on on this day, I just assumed it’d be fine- how wrong I was. 20ft projections of about 5 or 6 women in all black leather gimp suits around a man..... Extremely awkward, which you can view and hear the audio from multiple sections of the museum. Needless to say, my date never wants to go back to a modern art museum!

Goid nite

i got an A on this

museums are also a part of a billion dollar industry funded by arms and oil money.... the important work that cultural workers do should not be conflated with the work that museums do for their wealthy patrons. the fact is that museums are part of an industry like any other. this is of course not to say don't go to museums, you can't contemplate 'purely' etc but to resist romanticizing and instead insist on complexity and contradictions of our current art industry, i promise you, it keeps you nimble.

Torilla tavataan :b

Can I just say, this video was interesting, but the pace was too fast, with too much being said, too few and unmarked breaks between sentences, and the shots being changed too quickly, so it was difficult to concentrate. I found myself zoning out and having to backtrack multiple times.

I don't know why but I found the "privileged" label really funny.

I really hate some museums that have cultural artefacts but don’t bother actually teaching anything from the culture.

Museums protect and preserve? How naive are some of you? Here's why museums exist... TO MAKE MONEY! I'll take a graduating university art student's senior exhibit over a pompous, arrogant, self-indulgent, self-centered museum exhibit any day!