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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

#21

Post by mesofile »

bane wrote: post #16

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 Mu…

For any art aficionados visiting Baltimore, I'd also recommend the American Visionary Art Museum, a fantastic experience. https://www.avam.org/

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

#22

Post by donohoe »

jedimastert wrote: post #20

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…

Maybe a few?

"The group reflects a broad range of backgrounds and interests with officers who are also artists, chefs, musicians, scholars, and writers."

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

#23

Post by moron4hire »

mesofile wrote: post #21
bane wrote: post #16

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 Mu…

For any art aficionados visiting Baltimore, I'd also recommend the American Visionary Art Museum, a fantastic experience. https://www.avam.org/

Came here to say the same thing. It's a brilliantly wonderful place.

Also in DC, don't forget the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. It's one of my favorite modern art museums in the world, and I live 20 minutes from it. I don't go anywhere near often enough.

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

#24

Post by loonster »

b0rsuk wrote: post #12

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 a…

I would assume a place like that would have security 24/7. 24×7/40=4.2 Security Guards.

It's not much more than 1 watching cameras and 3 rovers.

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

#25

Post by mendeza »

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.

I am living in Baltimore and work out of DC as an ML engineer. The commute sucks, but with because of covid, I have been WFH. DC has a lot of tech companies, but lots of connections to defense.

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

#26

Post by mabub24 »

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.

Interestingly, I see the value in what you are proposing, but also the value in the different points of view and challenging artworks that the curators present. A gallery and museum can conform to local tastes, and also challenge them for the better. Maintaining a balance between those two ambitions is how you end up with museums and galleries that are woven into a local area and art scene, honouring local history and culture while fostering the vital energy required for dynamic and creative art.

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

#27

Post by pradn »

b0rsuk wrote: post #12

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 a…

I think their selection makes sense. The day-to-day experience of a guard at a museum is to tell people to stand a bit farther away and not take photos (in some galleries). What would be more interesting is if they channeled their long presence among artworks, and their ability to observe crowds and their transience.

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

#28

Post by alexjplant »

brianlweiner wrote: post #18
willis936 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If you (OP of the parent's parent) do interview in the area be sure to dig in to find what the company's lines of business are. CloudTamer, for instance, is ostensibly a commercial product-based company but does business with federal agencies and contractors (per their web site) and was at the AWS Public Sector Summit a few years ago. A different company that I interviewed at in an adjacent space (security vs CloudTamer's compliance) was in a similar position... they were selling their product to the Air Force but swore up and down that they'd never contract with them outside of being a vendor. I was skeptical and my suspicions were proven correct six months later when they put out a press release announcing the award of an Air Force contract.

Maryland/Northern Virginia are _not_ the places to be if you want career options outside of government [contracting] work. It's not un-doable but you'll be much better served looking for work in a place where 80% of the value of the economy doesn't revolve around Washington-type work.

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

#30

Post by lindseymysse »

My vacations in the before times were to go to Europe to copy paintings. I sometimes spend a week at an institution just copying paintings, so I get to know the guards. So many of them are spectacular artists in their own right.

In my utopian vision of the world, museum guards are given rolling pedestals and pencils and told to roam the galleries copying. They can pay attention to what's going on around them and draw.

The result is that we have people there to answer questions and make sure nothing bad happens, but also is someone who's just getting better and better at drawing and painting. Then that person can become a great artist in their own right.

Our society's reward is an enormous amount of people who can paint really well. Murals everywhere. Good paintings everywhere.

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