Arab American National Museum (AANM) Curatorial Department's Blog

ACCESS and Artwork

2010-04-04T22:43:00.013-04:00

The ACCESS main building located in the South end of Dearborn, on Saulino Court, has recently been completely renovated. ACCESS called upon our Curatorial Department last winter to help with filling up some of the bare wall space with artwork, photographs and other artifacts.

After many hours spent selecting the works; figuring out which frames to use; ordering the frames and booking our favorite art handlers, ARTPACK SERVICES INC, to come out and help us hang the works, the process is finally underway. So far, our mission has been partially completed, there is more to be done and more works to select but below is a glimpse into what has been going on as far as artwork mounting. Do stay tuned to see more of what will be selected in the near future, and for updates on how things are looking at the main building. Or, you could always stop by and take a tour of the building!

Our friend from ARTPACK .

The Sari Khoury mural returns home!

Seventy five SURA photographs lined up in the hallways!

From Mocha to Latte - Review of the first weekend

2010-02-01T11:20:00.005-05:00

From the beginning of planning process for this exhibit we wanted to be able to give people coffee. We don't have a museum cafe, nor regular volunteers to man the coffee machine, so this was a major logistics problem.

What we did have was a Green Room connected to the Auditorium stage and the Lower Level Gallery that was usually off-limits to the public. Almost five years ago it was kitted out with a nice couch, small dining table, refrigerator, sink and cabinets. We decided this is what we could work with to build our mini-cafe for this exhibit. We would rearrange some furniture, clean out the fridge, add coffee related wall decor, and SOMEHOW dispense coffee. That "somehow" vexed us for a long time.

We didn't want to leave a pot of filter coffee on a burner all day (yucky burnt old coffee? no thank you!) We couldn't really afford a coffee vending machine (would have needed to rearrange some plumbing! Yikes!) And like I said, we don't get regular volunteers or docents to staff the room. It had to be something that visitors could do on their own, with as little mess as possible.

Finally, we discovered the Pod Brewer! Pod Brewing coffee machines come in a variety of styles, price points and functionality. We got a supplier (Paramount Coffee Co) for both the machine and the pods. We wanted to be as "green" as possible and went with the filter pods (which will be composted) instead of the plastic cup pods which are quite wasteful (and expensive!).

The exhibit opened on Thursday, January 28, 2010. It was very well received by all but due to the Global Thursdays event happening the same night, the cafe was closed for the first two opening days. Saturday would be its public debut! When less staff was around to watch over it! What would it look like on Monday morning?!

Countering my biggest fear, the Green Room-come-Qawah Cafe was not torn to bits! There was apparently an explosive packet of hot cocoa mix, but that was minor and cleaned up this morning.

We love to get feedback and find that sometimes simple works wonders. So on the table we added index cards, pencils and prompted with "How do you take your coffee?" Guests could fill out a card and stick it to the fridge with magnets provided. I was thrilled to see we already have some fun responses!

I am really proud of our team and how this exhibit has come together. I think it is one of the most fun things we've done here. It's not a super serious or political topic, it's not art on a wall, it's not too look-but-don't-touch (well, the artifacts are encased in plexi). I hope we can continue to emphasize the "fun" element in other things we do. I think it will really resonate with visitors and keep them coming back.

Have you been to From Mocha to Latte? What did you think? How do you take your coffee?

ahlayn wa sahlayn wa marhabtayn

2010-01-13T11:37:00.005-05:00

Yesterday morning at 10 am, the Curatorial team selected the artwork to be displayed in the "Living in America" exhibit. The call for artists was posted and distributed last September. Our goal was to fill up an empty case the Ahlan wa Sahlan case, which in Arabic means Welcome! There are several variations to the term which basically all mean the same: ahlan wa marhaban, ahlan, marhaban, marhabtayn, ya ahlayn..... It is most likely that if you visit an Arab home, you would hear all or most of the variations in one sitting!

So, we are pleased to announce that we have some wonderful new additions to enhance that section of our gallery. Art work that will be displayed includes works by the following artists: Helen Zughaib, Sami Tabet, Amal, Alya Husseini, Fayeq Oweis, Hayat Gul, Sam Hassan, Jarie Saad Ruddy and Dr. Michell Shamat. We are ever so grateful to our wonderful artists for their support of the AANM and for their kind donations. At this time, our artists are getting ready to deliver the artwork but below are some examples of what is to come, so, make sure you stop by the AANM very soon and if I see you there, I am sure to greet you with Ahlan wa Sahlan! :)

From Mocha to Latte

2010-01-08T13:29:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year Blogosphere!

The New Year is great for new beginnings and the AANM is kicking off the year with a new exhibit, From Mocha to Latte: Coffee, the Arab World and the $4 Cup (opening at 5:30pm January 28th in the Lower Level Gallery).

The exhibit explores the Arab World origins of coffee, it's spread through Europe and it's lasting impacts on the entire world. Visit my Flickr Gallery for a sampling of what you might see and learn!

Flickr User Photo Credits:

Top, L-R = Bsivad and blhphotography

Bottom, L-R = Nadjib and jakeliefer

The Curator vs. the Komodo Dragon

2009-11-14T14:08:00.011-05:00

Is anybody listening? Does anybody care?

Every now and then, when I want to remind myself of what I am suppose to be doing at the museum, or perhaps when I simply want a good chuckle, I will take a listen to Bob and Ray.

They may not be in the same class as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Gibran, or Oprah, but these old sages do make me laugh. Their classic routine The Komodo Dragon touches on issues that preoccupy me in my daily work: the role of the expert, relevance of our message to our audience or our community, and the bi-lateral nature of effective communication. Are the curator and community both on the same page?

Curators are supposed to be experts, but especially in a community-based museum, our expertise derives in large part from a deep understanding of our audience as well as our subject. After listening to Bob and Ray again, I am thinking of a Komodo Dragon Test to help me gauge the value of new accessions and new exhibits. Is the subject relevant; is my message clear?

Is anybody listening? Does anybody care? In a community-based museum that can be the difference between filling dead air and making a difference.

Use these links link to hear Bob and Ray's The Komodo Dragon:
Windows Media http://www.bobandray.com/audio/br_nts.wma
Quicktime http://www.bobandray.com/audio/br_nts.mp3

Connecting Communities: Up and Running!

2009-10-19T11:01:00.008-04:00

If you haven't yet ventured out to see our latest exhibit, Connecting Communities, I suggest you do so!

The exhibit deals with immigration in metro Detroit, by looking at the lives of nine local immigrants. We pair their stories with government-compiled statistical data in an effort to breakdown some misconceptions and negative stereotypes associated with immigrants.

YOU can also have your say in the debate! Visit our Social Media "Dashboard" to find out how your voice can be heard!

If you're camera-shy and/or don't use Social Media you can always comment RIGHT HERE! Think about answering these questions:

1. Do you know who, in your family, immigrated to the United States? When did they come here? Or, are you Native American Indian?
2. Do you think new immigrants should completely shed their native culture and traditions when they come to America? Why or why not?
3. Respond to this statement: America is a nation founded by immigrants and populated by immigrants and their descendents.
4. Why do you think immigration is such a hot-button issue these days?
5. How would you feel if you had to emigrate? What would you miss the most about America? What would you want to take with you?

Your contribution helps shape the exhibit and may appear in the gallery! So visit us often to hear what people have to say and share your thoughts too!

We're Looking For A Curator!

2009-10-16T10:13:00.001-04:00

Do you have the skills to conduct informed research? Would you like to have a major role working with a talented curatorial staff? If so, we have an opening for you! The Arab American National Museum is seeking a person to fill its vacant Curator of Community History position.

The AANM is the first museum in the world devoted to Arab American history and culture. By bringing the voices and faces of Arab Americans to mainstream audiences, we continue our commitment to dispel misconceptions about Arab Americans and other minorities. The Museum brings to light the shared experiences of immigrants and ethnic groups, paying tribute to the diversity of our nation.

The AANM is still relatively new. We have an energetic and talented staff, and we working with urgency to build this institution into something big! In its first few years the museum has become an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and an active member within the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. We have big goals for the next few years, and we seek a committed person who would like to help us grow the institution on a national level.

For more information on the position, visit the job listing on our parent organization's website.

Blog Action Day: Climate Change

2009-10-15T09:12:00.007-04:00

Today in the blogosphere is Blog Action Day on Climate Change. We're not an officially registered Blog Action Day blog, but we'd like to talk about the "green" changes we're trying to implement in the Museum.

While we could do so much more, our main focus at the moment is consuming less. We think this is a great way to ease the entire institution into more eco-friendly practices. This applies to everything from office supplies, to electricity, to water and anything else we can think of. While the entire staff is trying to use less paper over-all by going digital as much as possible, the Curatorial staff is going one step further and reusing paper that has only been printed on one side. One drawer in our printer is dedicated to holding this paper for use on non-confidential things that have to be printed but don't need to be printed on a virgin piece of paper. This small step will save us reams of paper a year! We hope to introduce it to the wider staff as time goes on.

Another area we are truly dedicated to consuming less, is with electricity. As a non-profit institution we need to closely watch all of our unnecessary spending. One thing we can easily do is use less electricity by turning off the lights in our offices when we're not in them. A step further is to turn off the lights in the exhibition spaces when no one is in them! This we'd like to achieve by using motion sensors to detect when a visitor is viewing the exhibits, turning on especially for them and then turn off when they leave. The trick is to not leave anyone in the dark! With some tweaking, we think we can achieve this and cut our energy usage in half!

Our final area of interest at the moment, is exhibit building materials. New sustainable building materials are available, such as Wheatboard in place of formaldehyde-laden MDF, canvas instead of vinyl banners, and zero VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paint. Some of these are more costly than their counterparts, but if it makes the Museum a healthier place to visit and work, then we are dedicated to delivering that.

We are excited to see the new eco-friendly products available to us, and we hope that in the future they are no longer considered speciality items, but instead, standard practice. Are you making earth-friendly choices at home or at work? Tell us about it! Give us more ideas where we can improve ourselves!

Dearborn Chamber of Commerce display

2009-09-29T12:23:00.002-04:00

The AANM was invited to create a display in the "Visitor and Welcome Center", which is part of the new offices of the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is now headquartered on the lower level of the Bryant Public Library, located on Michigan Avenue and Mason Street in downtown Dearborn . There, visitors to Dearborn will be able to get brochures and other information about the museums, shops, restaurants and other attractions in the City. The Chamber's Board Room has six cases, each of which will exhibit items from prominent cultural institutions of Dearborn. Our case is pictured at right. It features ceramics, books, and children's items from our Museum store. Also displayed (although you can't see it well) is an invitation to our upcoming 6th Annual Gala. The Chamber is holding an Open House to commemorate the Grand Opening of the its offices on Friday, October 2, 11:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

SURA 2009

2009-09-04T20:01:00.003-04:00

Youth. Photography. Winner of a 2008 Coming Up Taller award. The SURA Arts Academy 2009 Student Photography Exhibit: Come check it our beginning September 12, 2009.

One goes down, another goes up...

2009-08-24T12:33:00.005-04:00

Today we took down the exhibit, A Yemeni Community: Photographs from the 1970s by Milton Rogovin. While we contract installers to hang our shows, we usually opt to take them down ourselves.

I think one of my favourite things about my job is the grunt work. I love it when I get to be away from my desk for a little while and get my hands dirty. Possibly the greatest thing is getting to peel the vinyl letters off the walls.

If you didn't make it out to the show you can still see the photos in our online exhibit here, and pictures of the gallery on our flikr page here.

The SURA Arts Academy photographs open September 12th!

Mystery Artifact Revealed

2009-07-30T12:30:00.004-04:00

It is time to reveal what the mystery artifact of the month is, thank you to those who participated, this was a tough one to answer.

This is a Yemeni bread mold and is hand made of cloth, stuffing and basket. This particular piece originated from the South of Yemen and is of traditional design; most likely pieces like this are still in use today.

The dough is shaped into a ball in the hand and then pressed against the mold and flattened in a large circle, and then pushed against the wall of a cylindrical oven and baked.

There are several types of Yemeni bread and a variety of recipes exist but here is an interesting recipe that describes part of the process above, where after the dough is flattened, it is pushed on the wall of an oven:
http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Oven_Baked_Flat_Bread_-_Saluf

If you do end up trying to make some Yemeni bread, in Arabic we say sahtayn, which is to your health!

The Positive Impact of Immigrants

2009-07-22T20:17:00.005-04:00

Currently, we are in the process of developing an exhibition that seeks to dispel common stereotypes and misconceptions of immigrant populations. Our exhibit, Connecting Communities, will open at the Arab American National Museum on October 1, 2009. This project began with approximately 12 college students from metropolitan Detroit interviewing 12 immigrants representing four ethnic communities in three different geographical locations. The communities included eastern European, southeast Asian, Hispanic and Arab American immigrants residing in Dearborn, southwest Detroit and Hamtramck. Students were trained through a series of courses on contemporary immigration, oral history, artifact collection, and exhibition development. Once the coursework was completed, the students paired off to conduct their interviews. Afterward, the AANM staff began developing the exhibition content, which is still in progress.

Earlier today I became aware of an interesting new report published by the Immigration Policy Center. Titled New Americans in the Great Lake State, this article sheds light on the political and economic impact of the three immigrant communities that will be featured in our exhibit. According to the report:

Immigrants account for large and growing shares of the economy and the electorate in Michigan. Immigrants make up more than 6% of the state's population, and nearly 47% of them are naturalized U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. "New Americans"-immigrants and the children of immigrants-account 5.2% of all registered voters in the state. Latinos account for nearly 5% of all Michiganians and wield more than $8.8 billion in consumer purchasing power. At last count, the sales and receipts of businesses owned by Latinos and Asians totaled more than $8 billion. Michigan is also home to the largest proportion of Arab Americans, who generate an estimated $544 million in state tax revenue each year. Immigrant workers and entrepreneurs are integral to Michigan's economy and tax base-and they are an electoral force with which every politician must reckon.

I am pleased that this report was published so close to the opening of our exhibit. It serves as yet another resource to help illustrate the positive impact that immigrant communities are having on our society. It's important to have factual resources to help counter the irrational vilification of recent immigrants.

We have been compiling several similar resources to use as supplemental materials in our exhibit (point your browser here to read the economic impact study conducted by Wayne State University on the Hispanic community in southwest Detroit). In fact, we have purchased the reproduction rights to a New York Times interactive map from the Remade in America series, which will be featured as interactive in the exhibit. I presume we will have these resources available in the museum's library and resource center. Further, we will most likely host links to many resources on the exhibition web page.

While all these reports and statistics are important, they do little to humanize the experience of immigrants. Speaking to this, our interpretative approach to this exhibit was to utilize the personal narrative, or vignette. In short, we hope to elicit empathy and understanding through the stories and experiences of immigrants, as told by them.

Please do join us on October 1 at the exhibition opening.

Museum Receives Conservation Bookshelf

2009-06-25T11:34:00.003-04:00

The Museum has just received word that it has been awarded the Connecting to Collections Bookshelf resources. This is a core set of conservation books and online resources designed to help museums preserve the condition of their collections. The Bookshelf was awarded to the Museum by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), as part of the third and final round of a competitive application process. IMLS has thus far donated 1,800 Bookshelf sets to museums, libraries and archives throughout the nation.

The bookshelf is comprised of a core collection which includes such works as Marie Malaro's A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections and Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums, edited by G.E. Gorman and Sydney J. Shep. The Museum will also receive resources concerning the care of prints and drawings, the archival care and management of photography collections, the ethics of collecting, collections management and planning, and emergency preparedness, among other topics.

The IMLS Bookshelf is a component of Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, a conservation initiative IMLS launched in 2006. IMLS began this initiative in response to a 2005 study entitled A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America's Collections. That study highlighted the conservation needs of America's collections, especially those held by smaller institutions.

The Museum is looking forward to receiving these resources, and we are sure they will prove valuable for collections care and management in the future.

Guess what this is!

2009-06-23T12:05:00.004-04:00

Can you guess what this artifact is? It has been a part of the ACCESS main exhibit for many years but has been moved to our museum for temporary storage while the ACCESS building undergoes major renovations.

What do you think this is?

We shall reveal the answer in about a month, unless someone can find the right answer!!

Interns, please, shhhhhhh!!

Recycled Wall?

2009-06-19T11:12:00.008-04:00

Next week is the week we say goodbye to one of our own, our beloved moveable wall! This wall has seen much use since its initial construction. We have repainted and used it depending on the needs of current exhibits. Some times it was a barrier and other times a divider and our most popular use: an interactive.

For Utopian Visions, an exhibit featuring four Arab women artists, the wall was used as a space for visitors to leave comments about what utopia meant to them. Now that the exhibit is over and the artwork has been packed and shipped back to places like the Schomburg Center and M.Y. Art Prospects in New York and as far as Cairo, Egypt, the gallery space is empty and awaits another exhibit. We had a little dilemma, our future exhibit will not utilize this wall and we really are short on storage. So, we offered the wall for recycling and reuse and The Public Art Committee in Canton, MI has honored us with accepting to take this wall for storage and use in some of their future projects.

Below are some images of the huge transformation that the wall underwent throughout the exhibit's duration.

Please check the Canton Public Art Committee's activities for upcoming information on events that will feature this wall:
http://leisure.canton-mi.org/newsroom/2009_gen_press.asp?id=5408
Also, for more information about Utopian Visions, go to the Arab American National Museum's website, under Past Exhibits, at http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/Past-Exhibits.id.25.htm

And please if you have similar stories, do share them with us, we would love to hear about recycling and other interactive ideas museums are using!

Our Hearts Go Out To You

2009-06-11T17:11:00.002-04:00

The Arab American National Museum (AANM) and it parent organization, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), are appalled to learn of the horrific act of violence that was committed at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. We stand in solidarity with the museum and condemn this act of hate. Our hearts go out to the museum's staff and the family of the courageous guard Stephen Johns who gave his life in service to the museum.

Both the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and the AANM strive to foster a better understanding of the communities we serve. Our institutions work to provide a safe and inclusive environment conducive to learning and reflection. This act of violence serves as a catalyst for us to strengthen our resolve. It is a reminder that, while we have made great strides forward as a society, there is much more work to be done to foster peace and better understanding.

Connecting Communities: an intro

2009-06-08T09:31:00.005-04:00

One of the exhibits the curatorial team is currently working on is called, Connecting Communities. It uses the voices of immigrants from four geographical regions (South Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Arab world), who came to three Detroit neighborhoods (Dearborn, Southwest Detroit, and Hamtramck). We used local university students to interview our 10 immigrants, and we've been collecting census data, artifacts and a myriad of other things to help illustrate the connections between immigrants and citizens born in the U.S.

Last Thursday (June 4th) the curatorial team was quite excited because it was field trip day! We are into the design stages of the exhibit and need photographs of our participants to put their faces with their stories. We visited a restaurant in Southwest Detroit, a social service office in Hamtramck, and a driving school/law office also in Hamtramck. We are hoping to create a welcoming environment for visitors to the exhibit so we also did some exploring around these areas to help us with this. We are very thankful to our participants for taking time to meet with us, and we are very much looking forward to meeting with the remaining participants.

With summer here it's a great time to go out and explore the treasures of your neighborhood and your surrounding communities. You never know what/who you may find (I ran into an uncle I don't see that often!).

Connecting Communities is set to open this October so watch this blog for further developments!

2009-06-02T16:07:00.003-04:00

This beautiful abaya is a recent gift to our collection from Chuck Alawan. It was made for him in 1930 as a baby gift by his father's relatives in Damascus. The abaya is made of hand embroidered silk. A floral border surrounds the edges. On the back of the abaya is the most wonderful design, combining elements from the old and new worlds: the American and Syrian flags, camels, cedar trees, and the recipient's name, "Khalil Alawan" embroidered in Arabic script.

Mr. Alawan remembers being photographed wearing the abaya as a young child, while sitting on a pony.

Detroit Unleaded

2009-05-14T12:42:00.005-04:00

Detroit-based, Arab American filmmaker Rola Nashef will be hosting a launch party for her film Detroit Unleaded this Friday at Exodus Night Club in Detroit. The club is located at 523 Monroe St., across from Greektown Casino, and the event will feature Dj Dijital and Dj Konspiracy of Underground Resistance. The party starts at 9pm and it will also serve as a fundraiser for the forthcoming feature film.

Listen to an interview with Nashef on WDET's Detroit Today.

Also, for a limited time only, Detroit Unleaded (the 20 minute short film) is available online at www.detroitunleaded.com.

The short film follows the life of Sami, an Arab American working the graveyard shift at his family's gas station. Upon its premier in 2007, the film garnered international recognition as an official selection to 23 film festivals, winning three awards for "Best Short Film" and "Best Actor" for Lamar Babi, and received positive audiences and film critics alike. A comedy-drama set in Detroit's eastside, the film explores race, friendship, economics and love through the lives of those running the station and the people that come through, 24/7.

"I've never seen a culture before"

2009-05-07T10:06:00.005-04:00

Have you ever seen a culture?

Once in awhile - sometimes a very long while - we see signs of success. We find little bits of evidence that what we do as museum workers might really make a difference.

One such little bit of evidence recently turned up on a low-tech interactive component in our current exhibition A Yemeni Community: Photographs from the 1970s by Milton Rogovin. This is a warm and rich collection of black and white images that documents life in an immigrant community in Lackawanna, New York. Milton Rogovin strategically omits the use of titles for his photographs of "the forgotten ones" to prod the viewer to look more carefully and reflect on their content of the pictures. So, we have included a panel in our exhibit that invites our visitors to write their own titles or captions for some of the images.

Kids (and adults) continue to stick their notes on our interactive wall (we are saving all of them). Of course, some make no sense (to us), but many have brief personal reflections and comments that indicate our visitors are really connecting with the exhibit. One of these notes is shown here. It says "I've never seen a culture before." I believe this to be a marvelous bit of evidence that we may have had a profound impact on one our young visitors - perhaps for the first time he or she became aware of something we too often take for granted, our "culture" and all that potent little word stands for. If this is so, our visitor has made a giant leap toward understanding his or her world.

Of course, this is just a beginning, and we have much more work to do. But it made my day when I saw that little note!

Electric Kahraba

2009-05-04T09:03:00.004-04:00

Arab American artist and activist Joe Namy hosts an excellent, online radio show every Friday over at WNYU. Tune in to Electric Kahraba: Arabs on the Radio from noon to 2PM Eastern. Recent guests have included filmmaker Annemarie Jacir and hip hop artist Narcy (The Narcicyst). Listen to archived episodes of the show, or visit the OLIVETONES website to check out Namy's visual artwork and music.

Electric Kahraba:

Music and culture from and about the Middle East, playing a diverse mix of contemporary and traditional music of varying genres from different parts of the region.

2009-04-28T09:48:00.003-04:00

An exhibition of materials from the Arab American National Museum is on display at the Caroline Kennedy Public Library in Dearborn Heights through the end of May. The Library is located at 24590 George Street, west of Telegraph and north of Ford Road. It showcases changing exhibitions made up of materials of local interest. Our exhibit features books, CD's, ceramics and textiles that are available in the Museum's library and store. The Library is visited by 17,000 patrons per month. Its visitors include senior citizens and students from the nearby charter school, Star Academy. We are hopeful that the display will inspire many of the Library's patrons to visit the Museum.

Recent Collection Acquisitions

2009-04-24T14:59:00.011-04:00

The AANM's Collections Committee meeting is coming up May 11th! As usual members and staff are looking forward. Our proposals for next month are only a handful and we can share some more about those in an upcoming blog, but the highlight acquisition from our last meeting, held here at the museum in January, was this Karkey(left); a donation from Mr. Raff Ellis who resides in California and has recently published a book "Kisses From a Distance" . A Karkey is used to distill 'arak' a favorite alcoholic beverage of Lebanon. To learn more about arak and arak making, follow this link:

http://toula-lebanon.blogspot.com/2006/11/making-arak.html

Wikipedia Loves Art

2009-04-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

Back in February, the Brooklyn Museum collaborated with other leading museums on an inventive month-long initiative called Wikipedia Loves Art. This project sought to illustrate Wikipedia articles through a free, online photo contest. Each of the sixteen participating museums created a scavenger hunt list of subjects for visitors to photograph. Participants added their images to the popular photo sharing website Flickr.com.

This sounds like a great project! I would love to hear what participants thought about it. I imagine a similar project could fit in nicely with our current photography exhibition A Yemeni Community: Photographs from the 1970s by Milton Rogovin. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then please let us know!

Point your browser to the Wikipedia Loves Art Flickr group to see photographs from the project.

Read reflections on the project at the Brooklyn Museum's blog: Pre-competition, Competition, Almost Done, The Stats.