THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART INTRODUCES MOMA INFORM, A NEW SERIES OF AUDIO GUIDES, TO ENHANCE VISITOR EXPERIENCE OF WORLD-RENOWNED COLLECTION
First Audio Guide Highlights
Painting and Sculpture Collection
The Museum of Modern Art is
introducing MoMA INFORM, a series of audio guides, to enrich the
Museum visitor's experience and understanding of its internationally
renowned collection of twentieth-century art. The first guide in the
series, available November 20, 1996, highlights masterworks in the Museum's
painting and sculpture galleries. Unlike traditional sequential audio
tours, MoMA INFORM enables visitors to set their own routes through
the Museum and retrieve information at will. MoMA is the first U.S. museum
to use the state-of-the-art INFORM digital system, developed by
Acoustiguide Corporation, for a comprehensive interpretation of its
permanent collection.
Museum visitors can access up to three hours of
commentary that includes original recordings and dramatic readings of
archival materials relating to such figures as Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, and
Kandinsky. The narrative covers more than sixty works of art, from Vincent
van Gogh's The Starry Night (1889) to Jasper Johns's Flag
(1954–55). Two recent acquisitions, James Rosenquist's F–111
(1964–65) and Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans (1962), are also
included. (A complete list of works included on the tour is available.)
Over time, the Museum will expand this audio program to encompass
highlights of the entire collection and will add a children's tour of the
painting and sculpture collection.
"The Museum of Modern Art has the
foremost collection of modern art in the world, and we want to provide the
visitor with the tools to appreciate it to the fullest," said Director
Glenn D. Lowry. "This is, in effect, an audio handbook of the collection,
providing information and insight directly from the curators and the
artists. The technology is self-contained and extremely easy to use, and
does not interfere with the visitor's direct experience of the
art."
Written and produced by the Museum's Department of Painting and
Sculpture and Department of Education, working in conjunction with
Acoustiguide, MoMA INFORM is narrated by Kirk Varnedoe, Chief
Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, with an introductory
overview and commentaries by Mr. Lowry. Other Museum curators, including
John Elderfield, Chief Curator at Large; Carolyn Lanchner, Curator; and
Robert Storr, Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture; Deborah Wye,
Chief Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books; and Magdalena
Dabrowski, Senior Curator, Department of Drawings, provide further
commentary on the works.
"Through the audio guide we are able to
provide many levels of information on artists, the times in which they
lived, their influences, and the reactions of their peers and critics,"
said Mr. Varnedoe. "Giving this additional framework to the collection
helps visitors to approach the art in a more informed way, and to
formulate their own opinions."
"INFORM is transforming the way
MoMA visitors look at art‹it brings an entirely new experience to
audio programming at the Museum," said Michael Plummer, Senior Vice
President at Acoustiguide, the New York-based audio tour company. "Visitors
who dislike following a prescribed audio tour route and schedule love
INFORM . Now the visitor can have freedom of movement and the
valuable insight from the audio program."
Visitors using the MoMA
INFORM system can set their own pace and course through the Museum's
galleries, calling up as much or as little information as they choose
according to their own interests. Visitors simply select a work of art on
the tour, enter the identifying number on the keypad, and hold the receiver
to their ear. The unit, a handheld piece that resembles an elongated
cellular telephone, provides freedom of movement and eliminates the
isolating experience of traditional headset tours.
MoMA INFORM
is available when purchasing admission or at the entrance to the
painting and sculpture collection galleries for a rental fee of $4.00 for
adults and $3.50 for members.
For further information and photographic
materials, or to preview MoMA INFORM, please call Alexandra Partow,
Department of Communications, 212/708–9756.
