One of my major projects this summer is to take a good hard look at our current website, figure out what’s working, what isn’t, and how the information needs to be organized.  As still a relatively young institution (7 years this fall!), we have changed a lot since launching the current version of our site about a year and a half ago.

With new programs, new staff members, and an even stronger commitment to our online activities, we’re quickly outgrowing the current structure and need to re-think how we organize our information.  So I need feedback on what you like, what you don’t, what works, what’s confusing.  Leave a comment, send me an email, and let me know what you think!  And in the meantime, I’ll keep you posted on how it all progresses.

In conjunction with The Light Project and it’s representation online, we’ve just started a Flickr group called “What does light mean to you?“  Here’s the description:

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What does light mean to you? For some, light signifies safety, security, or openness, while for others, light may be associated with scrutiny, harshness, or environmental intrusion. In conjunction with The Light Project, a series of outdoor light installations opening in Grand Center on September 4th, the Pulitzer wants you to share your images and thoughts about light and its impact on your life.

Perhaps it’s a photograph of a beautiful sunset that reminds you of a relaxing vacation taken too long ago, or perhaps it’s a photograph of the street lamp on the corner that reminds you of where your neighborhood has been and where your neighborhood is going. Whatever the photograph and whatever the description, we can’t wait to learn what light means to all of you.

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If you have a Flickr account (or if you don’t, but you’re wanting to start one!) join the group and add to the discussion.

This blog post is going to be a pretty random list, but sometimes, that’s just what comes out of the keyboard.  So here we go:

First off, I know we’re a little late to the game with this one (considering my teenage sister has had one for, I don’t know, her whole life) but the Pulitzer now has a MySpace page, and a Facebook page.  We’re still tweaking, still adjusting, and still adding, but in the meantime- add us!  Be our friend.  And our fan.  And tell all your friends and your fans.  Whew.

Secondly, a Must-See: there’s an interesting post on Edward Lifson’s blog about the new Ando building in the Berkshires.  He says some nice things about the Pulitzer building too, and includes great photos of other Ando projects I’d never seen before.  It’s a must-read and the Clark looks like a must-visit.

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Google Maps and how St. Louis didn’t have the Street View feature yet.  Well a few weeks ago that changed!  And it’s really addicting.  Take a look at the Pulitzer.  Now enjoy spending hours scooting the map around St. Louis looking for your house, your car, your work, your favorite restaurants….

As I mentioned last week, we officially started collecting lamps at our film event last Thursday. Here’s a little more background info on that project:

For the next few weeks, we’re asking members of the St. Louis community to donate their old lamps, lampshades, lanterns, etc. to be a part of an outdoor light installation opening in September. The artists Sebastian Hungerer and Rainer Kehres will be taking these lamps and re-creating the roof of the Spring Ave. church in Grand Center - which burned in 2001. Here’s a Photoshopped document they created of what the installed work will look like:

We’re trying to collect around 500, so Trina and Jenny, our Community Engagement interns for the summer, have been working hard all week - going to different neighborhood associations, farmers markets, antique stores, etc. in search for lamp donations. Well yesterday, we hit the jackpot: an antique store donated over 100 lamps! Here’s Trina talking about the windfall:

UPDATE:  I almost forgot: We have a section online where we’ll be documenting the collection process, the stories behind donated lamps and their owners, upcoming lamp collection events, and overall updates on the project.  It’s at lamp-collection.pulitzerarts.org

Earlier in the week, my cousin-in-law emailed me some questions he had about the Flavin exhibition. He hit on great points that we’ve heard from a lot of visitors as well, so I asked him if I could turn his questions into a Q&A blog post.  Because he’s very kind, and also a fan of blogging himself, he agreed. So here we go:

1) It seems like his work would depend a lot on the dimensions of the space. Had he planned a show at the Pulitzer before his death? 

He did not have plans for a show at the Pulitzer - in fact, the Pulitzer building was still being conceptualized when he passed away in 1996. But it is true that his work depends on and strongly interacts with the dimensions of the space in which it is installed. Each of the works on view in our galleries existed previously, but in different incarnations. The exhibition’s guest curator, Tiffany Bell, phrased it like this: “Flavin made site-specific works, but I wouldn’t categorize any of his work at the Pulitzer as such. Some of the works can be installed in a variety of spaces so long as the installation follows a few guidelines established by Flavin: they have a kind of object-like integrity. I would call the others, made up of repeated modules, “site-situational”: the dimensions of the installation are a function of the given space.” The diagonal in the Main Gallery is a great example of this. It was installed according to Flavin’s specifications for the artwork, however, due to the size of the wall it’s the longest this work has ever been.

2) Does someone lay these out in the “Flavin-Style”?

Yes. According to Tiffany’s curatorial choices for placing the works in the galleries, Stephen Morse - the Exhibition Coordinator and Conservator for the Flavin Studio - was here throughout the installation process. He made sure the works were installed according to the precedents that Flavin himself set for each work. From Tiffany, “A lot of it is fairly straightforward. There were set standards. The work goes on the floor, it has a set height… We have a lot of drawings and documentation. Of course, questions come up in the process of installation. Then we try to record what we do and why we do it. That’s one reason why this exhibition is really exciting: it is an opportunity to pose questions that have come up, test premises we have worked with, and to draw people into certain possibilities.”

3) These are “mass-produced light fixtures and fluorescent tubes,” so what makes it Flavin and not just me lighting my house? 

Good question! What makes it a Flavin is that each work in the Pulitzer was conceived by the artist, and is installed according to his specifications. To some extent, it’s also a matter of administration. Often Flavin provided with each work a certificate of authenticity, which designated the work as his.

Phase Two of Flavin just went live on our web catalogue, reflecting the new images of the new artworks and colors now on view in the galleries. It’s here. We’re also finalizing the print version, which will be inserted into our current visitors brochure. Tiffany Bell wrote a great introduction for this insert, giving some background to the lamp changes:

“Serial production is a fundamental characteristic of Dan Flavin’s art. Not only did he make groups of works presented in a series, he had favored formats such as his “near-square cornered installations” and grid structures that he used throughout his career. By changing the colors of the lamps in these structures, he made very different works. In Phase 2 of Dan Flavin: Constructed Light, the colors have been changed in some of the installations on view to highlight this aspect of Flavin’s art and provide an alternative proposal for the integration of Flavin’s lights with Tadao Ando’s architecture.”

Here is one of Robert Pettus’ photos of Phase Two:

I’ve been interested in getting a small video camera to take short, informal videos for our website, blog, etc. On the recommendation of our neighbors at the Contemporary, I decided to go for a Flip Video Ultra. It’s really easy to use, the quality is pretty good, and it’s ridiculously easy to upload it to anything online. We got it in the mail this morning, and I’ve been video-crazy ever since. Here’s our inaugural test video in the green hallway (which connects the back offices to the front gallery spaces):

Tonight, in the midst of being open late for the first Thursday of the month, we’re also hosting a light-inspired film night.  The projections will get going around 8:30pm - when it finally starts to get a little darker out!- but you can come by and see the exhibition anytime after 6pm.

Similar to last year’s “Water Works” event, we’ve invited St. Louis-area filmmakers to submit short, silent films, this time employing light as the key element.  The submitted pieces have been put on a loop and will be projected on multiple exterior walls of the Pulitzer building.

During this event last year, Webster University film students took some great videos throughout the evening and interviewed both guests and filmmakers.  To listen to what they had to say and to get an idea of what tonight’s event will be like, click here, here, here or here.

We’re also kicking off our lamp collection tonight.  There will be lots more coming on that, but stop by to pick up some information on this project - and feel free to bring by an old lamp, lampshade, or lantern if you have one.

I really enjoyed reading Tyler Green’s post this morning on the self-portraits people choose when representing themselves on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.  I think it’s a fascinating glimpse into the personality of someone - or at least, the part of their personality they want to emphasize online.  I think this extends even beyond their profile photo and into the rest of their Facebook page - what they link to, their style of writing, favorite music, etc.

This fits in with something we’re discussing here lately -  Facebook and MySpace for the Pulitzer.  Just like personal pages, an institutional “personality” can be represented in very specific ways online.   Do you want to come across as hip? Reserved? Young? Academic? Casual? And once you decide what personality best fits your institution - how do you decide to convey this on a web page?  My new intern (that’s right, I have a web intern! Who will be suckered into blogging LOTS), and I have been talking about how to approach this.  Stay tuned for more on that.  I’d be curious to hear your feedback - what do you like/don’t like about social networking sites?  And how do you choose to use them?