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Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

artbma.org

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Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#11

Post by willis936 »

throwaway290232 wrote: post #3

Looks like it's getting hugged to death: https://web.archive.org/web/20210716193902/https://artbma.or... I love the BMA. It's a free museum with a great restaurant, cool exhibits, a nice park across the street. Nearby is The Book Thing, a free book store. Also another (non-free) book & record store, Normal's. And another, Urban Reads. And another bookstore/coffee shop, Bird in Hand. And a farmer's market. And a vegan…

Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH.

What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which I dislike.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#12

Post by b0rsuk »

This is peculiar because it treats security guards as humans and challenges unspoken hierarchy. It also implies the museum doesn't save on security (17 guards is a lot) and there isn't a big turnover (unless there's a special type of security guard that mostly works in museums). It's borderline unthinkable in the 5th roundest country in the world where I live. They would hire students.

I was hoping it would be more about burglaries, stealing famous works of arts, selling stolen works etc. The law enforcement / security perspective. Instead it appears to be a pretty standard exhibition except with an unusual method of selecting curators.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#13

Post by beardyw »

wpietri wrote: post #4
rocketpastsix wrote: post #2

This is really fun IMO. The article makes a point that the security guards probably know the art pieces better than most people since they are constantly patrolling and looking around. Plus it gives them a chance to have some fun curating the collection.

What interests me is it's not just the pieces they know well: it's the audiences. I am a huge fan of analytics and user testing because it helps me understand the experiences of the people I'm building for. I would love to hear how the guards think about art in terms of the zillion people they've seen react to it.

I would imagine they must be building that in, or it just becomes a random collection of art.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#16

Post by bane »

If anybody ever visits Washington D.C., it's very easy to get overwhelmed with the world class Smithsonian and National Gallery museums (amongst the dozens of others). But I highly recommend taking the time to go to Baltimore and visiting this museum as well as the nearby Walters Art Museum, both also very very good museums.

Other great places for awesome museums within a day-drive of D.C.:

Richmond, VA - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Dulles, VA - Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum

Various National Battlefields sprinkled all over the area

A bit further out, but possible in a day and easily world class, the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#17

Post by etempleton »

willis936 wrote: post #11
throwaway290232 wrote: post #3

Looks like it's getting hugged to death: https://web.archive.org/web/20210716193902/https://artbma.or... I love the BMA. It's a free museum with a great restaurant, cool exhibits, a nice park across the street. Nearby is The Book Thing, a free book store. Also another (non-free) book & record store, Normal's. And another, Urban Reads. And another bookstore/coffee shop, Bird in Hand. And a farmer's market. And a vegan…

Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH. What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which I dislike.

There are quite a large number of well regarded universities and hospitals. In addition, Under Armour and a few other Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Baltimore.

Baltimore is a cool town. People have a perception of it based on national media, and don’t get me wrong, it has it’s share of issues, but every city does. It is one of the quirkiest, weirdest cities in the US. It is not quite a northern city and not quite southern either.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#18

Post by brianlweiner »

willis936 wrote: post #11
throwaway290232 wrote: post #3

Looks like it's getting hugged to death: https://web.archive.org/web/20210716193902/https://artbma.or... I love the BMA. It's a free museum with a great restaurant, cool exhibits, a nice park across the street. Nearby is The Book Thing, a free book store. Also another (non-free) book & record store, Normal's. And another, Urban Reads. And another bookstore/coffee shop, Bird in Hand. And a farmer's market. And a vegan…

Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH. What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which I dislike.

There's still lots of non Military / Fed stuff! And it's getting better.

https://www.sparkpost.com/ https://www.cloudtamer.io/ https://www.contrastsecurity.com/

A few off the top of my head. I'm currently working (remotely) for a BigCo that acquired my startup employer last year.

Technical.ly can be a good resource for local postings. I've worked as a SWE in Baltimore for 10 years and have never had employment issues. I don't quite make SV money, but I make solid 6 figures and can afford a very nice home on just my salary and send my kids to private school, etc.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#19

Post by blunte »

dogorman wrote: post #14

This is an excellent idea. The guards are doubtlessly more in touch with the culture of the common people of Baltimore than the professional curators could hope to be.

At the very least, they will have perspectives and sensibilities which are possibly representative of a different group of people that can be enlightening and can broaden the interests of regular museum goers.

Re: Baltimore Museum of Art will host an exhibition curated by the museum's guards

#20

Post by jedimastert »

I think guards are in a really interesting position. Art curators are going to have inherit biases that are pretty hard to get past: It takes a certain kind of person to become one in the first place, and they're inherently affected by the state of the modern art world by being plugged in and a part of it as part of their job.

A guard, on the other hand, will probably not have any of these biases, while being exposed to far more art than the general public on an incidental basis. I wonder how many picked he job because of an existing love of art, vs just being a job?

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