Flickr and the expanded museum

I’ve always tended to think of a museum as a place, a building or specific space, somewhere one goes to to view (and perhaps experience) collections. While museums have evolved from the draughty, old, quiet places of static displays that I remember from my youth to more vibrant and involving experiences, often with web presences and access to information, images etc online, I still think of a collection, managed by experts, in a place.

An interesting item over on if:book recently, flickr as virtual museum challenged that concept and opened up more possibilities in my mind:

The Brooklyn Museum has been availing itself of various services at Flickr in conjunction with its new “Grafitti” exhibit, assembling photo sets and creating a group photo pool. In addition, the museum welcomes anyone to contribute photographs of grafitti from around Brooklyn to be incorporated into the main photo stream, along with images of a growing public grafitti mural on-site at the museum where visitors can pick up a colored pencil and start scribbling away.

What a great way to connect a very public form of art with the public that creates it and sees it, and form a far more creative, dynamic and involving exploration of the culture as well as the artefacts; an exploration that builds a collection even as it shows it.