Palazzo Madama Turin - Blog | Palazzo Madama Lab: the blog of the staff of the Senate

The internship experience of Anisa

da Staff Posted on May 8, 2013 by Staff

On 18 December 2012 I started the internship the Master Degree in History of Art at the Museum of Ancient Art - Palazzo Madama - on the occasion of the exhibition Treasures of Albanian heritage. The exhibition traveled to Turin after being opened in Rome in the month of the celebration of the centenary of the Independence of Albania. My involvement in this work has been possible thanks to the collaboration between the institution museum and the University of Turin.

This opportunity allowed me to have direct practical experience and theoretical concepts learned during the research done for my bachelor thesis. My thesis work was concerned, in fact, the history of museums in Albania after the Second World War and in the early chapters describing the discovery and preservation of the collections sent in this exhibition.

My participation in the preparation of this event starts in the early stages of organization and presentation of the collections housed in the Senate Hall of the Palazzo Madama, where I worked mainly handling, cataloging the lists of works from museum bodies in different tiling with various professional , including that of the Registrar.

Stages of the preparation of an exhibition are important to identify the space that works occupy, making the most efficient way possible the exhibition. This exercise led me to know the dynamics behind the preparation of a show that, far from the gaze of the public, contributing to the success or otherwise of the same. For this reason, one last attention was also given to the advertising and the communication of the event: Website, invitations to the various agencies, invitations to cultural associations, advertising posters, promoting the event in all its forms.

In a second step I followed the activities related to the study of visitors. In this way I famigliarizzato with an important aspect of the museum, which I had studied in university education, but that it is critical to understand what is the image, the presence and the service that the public receives and how these may change in favor of a closer dialogue with those who visit the museum.

In other museums I have ever participated as an audience: in most cases as a visitor receptive (who learned the information from a work exposed without being able to act on it) and in other cases as a visitor participatory (which reinterprets the message of some works on display in the museum, to intervene with his artistic work showcasing the meanings drawn from this experience through an original creation).

The novelty of this formative experience was to teach me a new way to experience the museum. Seeing with the eyes of those who offer a service to the public and try to deal with the latter in order to rethink and update the role that the museum stands in relation to its visitors and the social context in which it is inserted, to offer a best place for dialogue and cultural exchanges.

From this report, the museum tries to get out of it renewed becoming a place of interaction and active learning, where everyone can participate thanks to its contribution.

This type of activity involves different ways of studying the public: the observation of the different behaviors of people visiting or assessing their opinions collected through the questionnaires. Addressing a direct relationship with the public, it means to know not only their opinions but also discover the interests, needs and attractions that visitors have when they are interested in an event / exhibition and the museum in general.

The relationship established with the public has been useful because it has matured me in skills in initiating a dialogue aimed at bringing to the surface criticisms, opinions and thoughts that are unlikely to be expressed without an appropriate stimulus by the interviewer that must be sufficient to arouse enough interest in the topic of the survey.

I therefore conclude, this internship experience vital to my training because it allowed me to have a direct and concrete about what it means to work and live in the museum. The experience gained and concepts learned, with the help of the staff of the Senate, I will serve as a useful luggage for the construction of my future career path.

Anisa Beba

The internship experience by Monica

da Staff Posted on April 9, 2013 by Staff

I have done my internship in the Senate from 1 July 2012 to 31 January 2013, for 750 hours in total, as required by the Postgraduate School of Historical Artistic Heritage of the University of Genoa, to which they are currently enrolled. My activity was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Cristina Maritano conservative for the decorative arts, and regarded the iconographic survey of the bottom of the porcelain museum with a first revision of catalog cards.

After an initial phase of preparation and study, which allowed me to know the manufactures in the collections, I was involved in the search for photographic material relating to individual pieces, analyzing parallel boards to highlight any gaps. Later I split the collected material for manufacturing and inventory number, recording the essential information in a database for each piece and the kind of iconographic material owned by the museum, in order to have a complete overview of the situation.

With Dr. Cristina Maritano then we started working on individual pieces, particularly those placed in storage, where direct observation has allowed me to recognize the difference between the decorations, brands and different types of pasta. Each item has been tested and photographed, noting the state of conservation, along with considerations of style and attribution. On this occasion I was able to participate actively in both staging of two showcases for the exhibition "Art and Industry in Turin. Twelve works by Mario Sturani for Lenci "either in the choice of a few pieces from stores that have been inserted in the windows of the second floor of the museum.

Finally, I updated with the new information, the cards all 'inside of cataloging program of the Senate.

The opportunity given to me by Dr. Cristina Maritano by the Director Dr. Enrica Report Card and the Fondazione Torino Musei, has allowed me to learn about many aspects of the life of the Senate from the material care of the works, to work and study which are the basis of every event, exhibition and publication, thus giving me the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired during their college years and at the same time enrich my preparation.

Monica Ferrero

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From Dresden to Turin: the long journey of a legacy of porcelain

da Cristina Maritano Posted on March 18, 2013 by Cristina Maritano

Here is the third part of the text ( part 1 - part 2 ) dedicated to the service d'Azeglio for the purchase of which the Senate has launched a crowdfunding campaign online . To contribute to the purchase and you also become owners of a work of art www.palazzomadamatorino.it / crowdfunding

3. A Dresden: Roberto Taparelli Peter, Count of Lagnasco

Emanuele managed between 1857 and 1858 in the difficult task of tracing a biographical profile of the ancestor, reassembling the voices of contemporary and browsing the archive of the family. Since then, apart from a few quotes, little new has emerged, and remain unpublished most of the documents kept in the archives of Dresden, including the correspondence of the count with the ruler Augustus the Strong and the other ministers, and detailed lists of works of art purchased at The Hague.

The second son of Benedict and Cristina San Martino di Parella, Peter Robert (1669-1732) tried very fortunate young military out of the Duchy of Savoy. Documents traced by Emanuele proved that went with "une bien mince fortunes, son père him Légué ayant une pension de 1200 livres par an 3000 livres et une fois Payees, à charge de devoir par là renoncer réclamation ultérieure et de toute à à la retomber well légitime. " It seems that before serving in Saxony, had been on the side of Prince Eugene. In Dresden's career was rapid. Soon became a favorite of Augustus the Strong, that of Prince Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland by the name of Augustus II (1670-1733). Documented in court as early as 1703, since 1707 was the commander of the Guard at the king's horse, cavalry general since 1714, since 1719 Knight of the Order of the White Eagle with the title of a cabinet minister. In common with the sovereign to that of his contemporaries had a passion for the table, entertainment, and the fairer sex. He was sent to The Hague in 1707 with a mandate to increase the fleet Saxon. Here in 1710 he married the daughter of the Comte de Noyelle general, we do not know the name. In 1713 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary for Saxony and Poland to the Peace of Utrecht. Linked to Statthalter Fürstenberg, at his death was gradually removed from the court by Count Heinrich Jacob Flemming, the powerful foreign minister, who feared the influence on the king. So he received money and positions of embassies: in 1716 the Hague, then Rome several times, finally Vienna, where "réussit, en 1731, à aplanir heureusement a différend here s'était ELEVE Impériale entre la Cour et la Cour Royale." In 1721 he married after the death of his first wife with a rich widow, Countess Maria Josepha Thun, born Waldstein. Belonging to one of the most important families of the Bohemian nobility, was the daughter of the great chamberlain of Emperor Joseph. On Peter Roberto, the first evidence is from the letters and memoirs of Baron Charles-Louis de Pöllnitz:

"Monsieur le Comte de Lagnasco est d'une taille avantageuse. Ses manières polies et sont honnêtes. Je crois que vous savez qu'il est d'une Maison en Piémont Distinguée, et qu'il est Ministre d'Etat, Lieutenant Général des Armées, Capitaine des Chevaliers Gardes et Chevalier de l'Ordre de l'Aigle Blanc. Je ne vous dire saurois comment, ni en tems that, il est entré au service du Roi de Pologne: mais je sais que ce to Ministre d'abord on s'insinuer dans la faveur de son maitre, par beaucoup d'assiduité, par an esprit agréable, et par will enter the great complaisance à dans ses plaisirs. The fort is s'affermit dans cette faveur que le Comte de Flemming regardoit the comme le seul à craindre rival qu'il eut. Cela faisoit qu'il n'avait pas toute la sympathie du monde pour lui. Le Comte de Lagnasco a été dans diverses employé Ambassades, the ne fait que de finir cells de Rome, on dit qu'il goes remplir cells de Vienne et que le jeune Comte deWackerbart doit aller à Rome. Je dois encore vous dire que le Comte de Lagnasco est heureux en tout, même en mariage [...] "

Not known to Emanuele, because at that time still unpublished, was the portrait of Count who made the son of Christian Augustus von Haxthausen, who is also minister of Augustus the Strong:

Lagnasco n'étoit genie corn pas grand homme de bon sens, grand, bienfait et très revenant de visage, bon vivant. The étoit franc pour a Savoyard, amusant et des avoit saillies naive qu'il proferoit avec esprit et avec des expressions propres, the étoit non chalant, et sans souci Depensier fort, the étoit très Debauche aimoit pour le sexe et la bonne chère, assez sincère, bon ami, corn useless, parce qu'il n'aimoit if pas à donner de la peine. The aimoit Le roi et une espece the étoit de favors, étant agréable et fait pour les parties de table et des petites débauches de vin [...]. The avoit été au prince Eugene comme capitaine; étant revenu au roi, the avoit the bientôt élevé [...]. Sa femme Premiere étoit Comtesse de Noyelles, très riche: the vecut très bien avec elle et lui avoit depense tout son bien, quand elle sans mourut enfans. The fut de cabinet ministers titulaire second plenipotentiaire de Saxe et à la paix of Utrecht. [...] The relevoit the ambassade uniquement par la table, are train et sa belle manière de vivre en homme de grand monde.

The Countess of Lagnasco:

"Étoit petite et Bossue, mais une femme d'un mérite eminent, infiniment de l'esprit, le meilleur coeur du monde, et plein de jugement end, douce, amusante, agréable et en aimée généralement companies. Lagnasco devenant QUITTA vieux de femmes et ses débauches vecut bien avec elle. Fleming, n'en craignant plus rien, the Laissa jusqu'à ce qu'il en repos mourut. The fut presque disgracié avant sa mort ou tout au moins negligee par le roi, parce que Madame Lagnasco s'étoit trop attaché à la princesse électorale [Josephine, wife of the future Augustus III].

We know that she cultivated a passion for music and who was the patron of Johachim Johann Quantz (1697-1773) German composer and flutist, for which he got from the king's permission to go to Rome in the wake of the Earl of Lagnasco in 1724.

An English commentator wrote in 1731 that the Earl of Lagnasco: "never meddled much in the Direction of the State Affairs, but endeavored to enjoy quietly the fat places, and pensions Which Count Flemming His friend had procured for him. Yet some are of opinion That the command of Chevaier Guards will be taken from him, and Given to the Count Maurice of Saxony. "

Peter Roberto died May 2, 1732 in the upper Silesia, while traveling from Vienna to Warsaw. He had at his side his grandson Charles Francis, who also emigrated in search of fortune in Saxony. Gianni Battista Balbi Simeon, Count of Riviera, ambassador of Charles Emmanuel III in Rome, collected 23 February 1769 the testimony of Charles Francis on the death of his uncle:

, 1769, 23 février. Attestation par laquelle D. Carlo Tapparelli, Comte de Lagnasco, résidant à Rome, deposed fait foi et même que se trouvant en sous serment 1732 Auprès du Comte Robert de Tapparelli Lagnasco, son oncle, vivant et alors lieut. Gen. Com les chev. Gardes et ministre de cabinet d'Auguste IIME, Roi de Pologne, rappelé à Varsovie de sa mission during which the de Vienne if trouvait, When the fut arrivé à Sckiniskoff, en Silésie, lands éloignée d'environ trois heures de la ville d'Opole The survint him une maladie grave à la fin d'avril, ou au commencement de mai de ladite année 1732 et des Sacrements muni de l'Eglise, the rendit son âme à Dieu et son cadavre transporté fut à l'Eglise des Peres Franciscains Mineurs Observants, qui est sur une petite située éminence à la distance d'environ deux heures de Sckiniskoff, sans que ledit Comte de ait laissé succession, Sckiniskoff de la terre, composée de plusieurs villages, appartenant à la Comtesse de Lagnasco, née Comtesse de Valdstein en Bohème, here he survécu [...].

The Franciscan monastery on the hill is to Góra Swietej Anny (Sankt Annaberg in German), and is located 25 km southwest of Opole. The sarcophagi of Peter Roberto and his wife are still kept in the crypt. Three portraits of him are preserved. One reproduced in an engraving Dutch in 1708, a second pendant having as a portrait of his first wife, now in the Museo Civico di Torino, dated between 1719, the year of attainment of the Order of the White Eagle, and 1721, and finally, the one painted by the court painter Louis de Silvestre, performed in Dresden in 1724, now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

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From Dresden to Turin: the long journey of a legacy of porcelain

da Cristina Maritano Posted on February 26, 2013 by Cristina Maritano

We publish the second part of the text ( part 1 here ) dedicated to the service d'Azeglio for the purchase of which the Senate has launched a crowdfunding campaign online . To contribute to the purchase and you also become owners of a work of art www.palazzomadamatorino.it / crowdfunding

2. Genealogical research

There are objects that are passed down in families from generation, as important things, but of which only vaguely know how to say where they come from and who they belonged. In the house several times Emanuele d'Azeglio had heard of a distant ancestor migrated in Saxony, one count of Lagnasco who made his fortune in the service of Augustus II, King of Poland. Died childless, had left the family of origin four large portraits of the Saxon royal family, his own portrait and that of his first wife, a Dutch countess, a service hunting Bohemian crystal, and two bathrooms in Meissen porcelain: a larger, tea, coffee and chocolate, with Taparelli coat of arms, and a smaller, tea, Taparelli with the coat of arms and that of his second wife, Maria Josepha Waldstein.

He spent more than a year, and in the winter of 1844 he went to Dresden Emanuele, struggling with the early research. I get some news about Maria Josepha and little else. It was only years later that he found a way to pick up the thread to unravel those events. It was now Minister Plenipotentiary in London, and returned frequently in Piedmont. During the summer of 1856, after a stay in Lagnasco and Turin, he began to examine the documents with his father from the family archive. There they found a letter from the Duchess Jolanda de Gasparo a Taparellis, and they had to discuss this with the family tree of the family. Upon his return to London, Emanuele came to send a "tableau" (a portrait of the Earl of Lagnasco? Picture of the flowers?) Service and the smallest, the one with the weapons Taparelli-Waldstein, who submitted it to his colleague and friend the Duke of Persigny, Jean-Victor Gilbert Fialin, the French ambassador, former prime minister:

Tableau tasses petites et sont arrives intacts [...]. Tout est fort lies Admire et en Persigny avale the saliva. Nous avons passé ce matin en revue ses livres nombreaux heraldiques et que les avons constaté armoiries cells sont sur la porcelaine de la seconde femme née Waldstein et pas de la première née de Noyelles [...].

Persigny strove later in various ways, personally conducting research in France to verify the supposed origins of the Breton Taparelli. Among the papers of Emmanuel, in a little book bound in red morocco records this and other news on the family collected mainly between 1857 and 1869, and then given to the press, with later additions in 1884. It 'a fact rarely mentioned, but if one of the most famous books of Italian literature was written, My memories of Massimo d'Azeglio, it must also Emanuele, and the talks between the two after the death of Robert. It was a massive undertaking for Maximus, who had always rejected the nostalgia for the past, but now it was comforting, even fun, to tell the experience of a lifetime. This did not prevent him to look with affectionate irony in certain passions of his nephew, and make you smile his last letters, where again peeps that this count of Lagnasco ...:

I feel by Emanuel de 'little presents: I would like to give him a kindness. I remembered that, in Loveno, an incision is ugly, but for him who cultivates the family tree, would have the great merit of representing a colonel of Lagnasco, who served Augustus III of Saxony-Poland. Do me a favor, if you do not see objection, to put her in a box, direct to Turin N. 2, Via Accademia Albertina. A thousand and a thousand thanks, for the final farewell that you have granted to the Earl of Lagnasco, in order to retire in the bosom of his family. I am sure that if Emanuel to send him a lot of gold would not so much pleasure. You taste like any other.

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From Dresden to Turin: the long journey of a legacy of porcelain

da Cristina Maritano Posted on February 13, 2013 by Cristina Maritano

Publish, as of today, the article dedicated to the service d'Azeglio for the purchase of which the Senate has launched a crowdfunding campaign online . To contribute to the purchase and you also become owners of a work of art www.palazzomadamatorino.it / crowdfunding

1. "A picture of flowers"

In the spring of 1843, Massimo d'Azeglio (1798-1866) lived for a little over a month in Turin, in the house of his brother Robert, "to see again relatives and friends, and gather information for my work." He was in fact thinking of "paint a great picture of the Lombard League," not an easy topic, on which stood a little material ("But that blessed the twelfth century, who the hell knows?"). One day, the sister Constance asked if he could please her in her own desire to have a picture of flowers, a tribute to the popular Flemish and Dutch still lifes. Maximus did not need to be told twice:

I worked my usual at this time and I did four paintings and two squares. Constance want your face a picture of flowers, and I found a nice jar of zinc from Rococo Romagnano put that as an episode. The picture of flowers that I do for Constance I composed it in the sort that makes Scrosati with a glass vase, another of gold, a porcelain cup, a former Oriole, and is the first that I do in this genre, and run it from there it goes longer than I thought, but is rather good, and I will then do a few more for variety.

In less than a week the work was finished, to everyone's satisfaction:

The framework for the Scrosati Constance came very pretty well, and I see that it is a kind that they can take once in a while.

The subject actually was not repeated and this was an isolated incident in the production of Maximus. Constance wrote to his young son Emanuele: "The m'a a tableau peint de fleurs here n'est pas mal: une de tes tulipes y figures." Emanuele (1816-1890), who had not yet turned twenty-seven, was at that time secretary of legation at The Hague, and among the many gifts sent to parents in the previous months - especially Chinese and Japanese porcelain - had also sent some bulb Tulipa, which had blossomed the mottled fine specimen that stood out among camellias and hyacinths in the garden district of Angennes.

On the cup with Taparelli coat of arms painted in the foreground nobody home d'Azeglio lingered in the letters of those days. On his return to Turin, rejoice Emmanuel had some idea to put it in context, not just a tribute to the memory of the family but also a thought turned to him, his son and grandson away, already avid collector of antique porcelain.

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Crowdfunding and museums: some examples

da Carlotta Margarone Posted on January 28, 2013 by Carlotta Margarone

Image from http://lagrandequest.blogspot.it

Terms such as crowdsourcing (crowd, crowd + outsourcing, outsourcing of activities) and crowdfunding (crowd + funding, funding) are now quite widespread in the vocabulary of museums, a lot of talk about it even on twitter : a sign that something is obviously muovedo . As with other aspects of the life of a museum, the economic crisis affects and urges us to look for new solutions, beyond the classic operations of public funding and sponsorship. Raise funds through community involvement, asking for help individual citizens is not new in the field of culture: a recent article in Le Monde, signed by Aureliano Tonet, gives an overview of the world of music and film.

And the museums, to what extent are they? I try here to do a brief overview of the initiatives that, in recent years, have been carried out successfully. I invite you, in fact, let me know of other initiatives of your knowledge, to begin to talk about this issue that the Senate is going to become extremely topical.

BRITISH LIBRARY - ADOPT A BOOK

The fundraising program for the restoration of library collections of one of the most important libraries in the world has been running for 25 years. You can contribute from 30 pounds and participants choose the single book that dedicate their donation. This particular aspect I find particularly interesting, because I think it can encourage the "emotional drive" of the gift: to restore a beloved book, or who accompanied us in our lives, or to dedicate this gesture to a loved one: an added value to the gesture of solidarity.

NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. TITIAN CAMPAIGN 2008

The National Gallery in London, along with the National Galleries of Scotland, launched the campaign in 2008 for the acquisition of an important painting by Titian, Diana and Actaeon, large painting commissioned by Philip II of Spain and part of a series. With the Internet Archive , you can review the pages of the website of the museum dedicated to raising funds (unfortunately no video of Nicolas Penny, who is on youtube ). The campaign was successful, the press release gives the final account of the donations collected, £ 50 million. It 's the first instance, to my memory, the country of purchase of a work of art based on public participation of individual donors and it was the video director Penny to arouse our interest. The strong message, in common with other campaigns later, was to save the masterpiece for the nation, for the public, for all citizens.

LOUVRE - LES TROIS GRACES DE Lucas Cranach - 2010

In late 2010, the Louvre also launching a crowdfunding campaign to acquire a masterpiece, the Three Graces by Lucas Cranach, for 1 million Euros. Unfortunately, the site dedicated to this campaign is no longer reachable, here is the final press release, which does not mention, however, the data of donations.

The positive experience has probably pushed the Louvre to create the new recent version of the website a channel dedicated to patrons and, in 2012, to launch a new campaign:

LOUVRE - TOUS MECENES 2012

A dedicated website, interviews on youtube, a leaflet distributed on an international scale (we also received in our offices!), Golden book of donors online, and figure nearly reached.

Ashmolean Museum - SAVE FOR THE PUBLIC MANET 2012

With eight months of campaigning online and contribution, among others, of 'Heritage Lottery Fund (the element that is in common with the acquisition of Titian in the National Gallery), in 2012 the Ashmolean has acquired the portrait of Mademoiselle Claus Edouard Manet to the tune of 7.8 million Euros. In the words of museum director Christopher Brown , "The public's response to the campaign for the Manet Has Been overwhelming ..."

It would be interesting to know the share of investment made in the communication of these campaigns, to assess, in the words of Aurelian Tonet, because the projects "bien marquetés" attract more easily funds, and how this affects the choices of the participants, but that is not innovative projects, as the most popular and communications of appeal to gain success, and how much, however, is right the American economist Jeremy Rifkin, according to which the crowdfunding accompany the Homo economicus - rational-utilitarian and to the 'Homo empathicus - selfless and "connected" - by speeding up "our transformation into complete human beings."

Updates:

Donating is not Necessarily about giving money by Jasper Visser

some links from @ plastipuzen :

Smithsonian: crowdfunding in 1922

Article on the Tesla Science Center (open thanks to public support)

Crowdfunding for the collective Praxis in coll. with James Franco

Can Crowd Funding work for Museum Projects? article

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Cultural habits "other" and the free time in the Senate and the Medieval Town

da Giulia Vetromile Posted on December 7, 2012 by Giulia Vitromile

Cultural habits "other" and leisure

The constant attention of the staff of the Senate to the needs of the public has produced a new survey on visitors time to analyze their cultural consumption. In addition, we wanted to compare the results with those of the museum of the medieval village, looking in common and analyzing the differences.

The starting point of this analysis was the study of a research conducted in the UK and New Zealand, which aimed to study the habits of the users of culture, dividing them into eight main categories, each with its own specificity, relative to their interests, at their expense and cultural marketing ideas addressed in each category.

In the research conducted so far has been trying to figure out if there were any significant differences between the public and the Senate of the medieval village, museum two realities different from each other but have in common the presence rooted in the Turin area and the location in two different areas but both very popular with citizens: Piazza Castello and Valentino Park.

The research objective was to draw the visitor profiles to better understand their needs and be able to better respond to their requests, understanding what they like to do in their free time, and with whom, it is possible to devise innovative proposals that could entice the public to participate in these activities.

The questionnaires

The period of investigation is from the first two weeks of October 2012 (02-5/10 Medieval Village, 09-12/10 Palazzo Madama) and it was decided to administer 25 questionnaires for the museum, because being rich applications and information analysis of the results would have been too expensive.

The method of administration is done via paper questionnaire did fill in autonomy by the visitor because it was considered more useful and statistically not "influence" in any way the person. The questions were a total of 22 for the Medieval Village and 23 for the Senate, as it was decided to add the application for the qualification after analyzing the questionnaires in the first phase of the Village. They foresaw all predefined answers and in addition you could write freely in the response "Other", where there was space for more answers.

Analysis and comparison of data

Analyzing the data of the questionnaires revealed a significant difference between the public and those who frequent the Borgo Palazzo Madama. The similarities are very few, while the differences are many and significant.

The first important fact is the age difference: the Medieval Town the majority has more than 50 years, while in the Senate has between 18-30, followed by more than 50. In the last museum the average age group (31-50) is virtually absent while the Village is 23%.

Social Network and Internet

In both museums the public has a daily use of the internet, even though the Senate is possible to note a greater propensity in the use of social platforms. This is an important finding because it allows the museum to understand what are the channels of communication used by the public and can find new strategies to answer. Just take for example the case with the Instagram profile of the Senate and the great results they're getting, in terms of participation and innovation. The results of the questionnaires show, however, a matter of contrasts: in both museums most visitors do not follow on social any museum or cultural institution, especially those that do use Facebook, and, in the case of the Senate, even Instagram and Twitter. It would be helpful to understand the reason for these results to be structured in such a way that adequate responses.

Free time

Comparisons on leisure and on the frequency and types of activities performed shows that the audience of the Senate is much more active and diverse. In fact, we can see how these visitors participate in all the activities examined, even if in small percentages. Outstanding choice for picnics and excursions, followed by a walk in the woods or in the city and in the countryside.

In particular, the comparison between the sub-categories of activities carried out in their free time that provides the most interesting visitors to the Senate, as well as being present in all the activities, prefer, compared to those of the village, the various performances of theater, concerts, television programs, sports, reading, adrenaline-pumping activities. They are so active on all fronts and, in addition to visiting museums and galleries, occupy their free time with various activities, mainly in the company of friends and partners, although a good part of the place alone. Al Borgo instead a part of participating in the activities in the company of friends, but also the family, instead very low percentage in the Senate.

Cross-analysis data

Taking a cue from the study on English Culture Segments, there were cross analysis of data trying to identify the trends of cultural consumption, using the key factors, such as age, level of education or leisure activities.

In the case of the medieval village have crossed age, favorite museum and leisure, and it was found that the museum frequented by all age groups is that of ancient art. In the archaeological is absent while the largest age group is well represented in the contemporary ones. The age group between 18 and 30 is active in all fields, from city walks to the adrenaline-pumping activities, while those over 50 are less active. An important result has emerged dalli cross-sectional study of educational qualifications, favorite museum and entertainment, using the results of the Senate.

As shown in the graph, we can also note that those who have a low education is almost entirely absent from the museums, with exception for those of ancient art. This is an important finding because the museum could become popular means of bringing this type of audience to the other institutions on the basis of this result we may think of activities or lessons that focus on themes "sensitive" and little known. This figure is not surprising that contemporary museums are mostly frequented by college graduates or another, perhaps because of the difficulty of understanding the place except with the prior knowledge. Other analyzes have been useful to better understand with whom you participate in leisure time or the activities of the museum, useful information to design and structure the labs or proposals for educational activities.

This analysis is helpful because it is a first step towards a new vision of the public of the museum, the cultural wonder every day on how to meet their needs. The study presented here is a starting point and as in all experimental phases has been difficult and has some improvements, but no doubt can pave the way to new thoughts on these topics so important and delicate.

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A trip to Limoges for the project MEMIP

da Carlotta Margarone Posted on November 28, 2012 by Carlotta Margarone

The project MEMIP ("Medieval enamels, metalwork and ivories in Piedmont") includes the its goals - as far as Palazzo Madama - the realization of a systematic catalog of the museum's medieval enamels, an introductory essay on the diffusion depth between thirteenth and fourteenth centuries of jewelery produced in Limoges in the territories formerly included in the Duchy of Savoy (Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta, Savoy and Vaud). In recent months, after the necessary literature searches, we identified a number of precious liturgical objects come out of the workshops of Limoges (pissidi, crosses, boxes reliquary), now preserved in various churches in France, Switzerland and Italy north-western works we have achieved, photographed, and that we presented at the study day dedicated to MEMIP expected in the Senate on 26/11/2012. The trip to Limoges, the Musée des Beaux-Arts Palais de l'Évêché , Was organized in order to see the precious archives Gauthier kept at the Documentation Centre of the museum (a fund of about 10,000 photos of jewelery alms donated to the city by Marie-Madeleine Gauthier, maximum scholar of the glazes produced in goldsmith workshops in Limoges in the Middle Ages). The photos, gathered in elegant black boxes are ordered by conservation sites, in alphabetical order from Albi / Aachen in Valencia. The archive not only allowed useful comparisons typological, stylistic and iconographic for parts of the Senate, but it has also revealed the presence of enamel limosini - of which we did not know existed - in centers such as Besançon, Lausanne, Nice (all museums devoid of catalogs), thus enriching our Corpus territorial construction. Not to mention the important messages contained in special boxes, relative to those in enamels limosini past auction or presented at art galleries in Turin (and thence passed into private collections) during the twentieth century: information that will help address another issue catalog in the future, that of the luck of the Limoges enamels in Piedmont between the nineteenth and twentieth century. In addition, all the photos go on to notes by hand of Gauthier: chronological proposals with question marks, powers, quick comparisons and indications: all valuable indications to date and also contextualize our items.

Alongside the archive, I could also work in the library inside the museum, rich in specific publications on exceptional pieces of the collection of the museum and the treasures of the local churches, assisted by a friendly conservative . To crown two very intense and fruitful work, in addition to visiting the city, there was the visit of the museum. A museum created in the late nineteenth century (such as the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica di Torino), with collections ordered along three main lines (according to the new layout opened in 2010): the materials that tell the story of the city from Roman times to the eighteenth century (with a lot of medieval sculpture, staged in a museum complex very close to that of our Lapidary ...); painting by the early nineteenth century, and enamels, with salt-specific medieval enamels , The enamel paintings of the Renaissance and Mannerism, until you get to the glazes of the '900 and the recent creations of contemporary artists. Only negative point of the trip: the length of the trip. Twelve hours by train from Turin to Limoges, from Paris, since they lack direct lines between Lyon and the south-central France.

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The museum is mobile: digital inspiration from the seminary Mobiles for Museums

da Irene Rubino Posted on November 13, 2012 by Irene Rubino

New technologies can help museums to pursue its cultural mission? In an era where tablets, smartphones, and social networks are becoming increasingly popular, in what way has to be rethought the contribution of the "public"? How can they be integrated into the new mobile communication devices within the digital strategy of a museum?

In an attempt to explore these questions, Monday, November 5, 2012 we participated in Mobiles for Museums , a seminar organized by the Department of Electronics and Information of Politecnico di Milano. Rapporteur of exception was Nancy Proctor, co-chair of Museums and the Web (the world's most important conference on museums and new technologies) and Head of Mobile Strategy and Initiatives at "the largest museum complex in the world", ie the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC Let's try to summarize below the main issues raised during the seminar, with a view to sharing and expanding the debate.

An ambitious goal: to build and disseminate the knowledge thanks to the contribution of all

The expansion and dissemination of knowledge fall into the mission of museums: if until now the achievement of these goals has been almost exclusively entrusted to the staff of each institution in the 21st century new media push towards a reconceptualization of the matter. Thanks to its digital strategy , the Smithsonian Institution seeks to achieve its mission "recruiting the whole world" through crowdsourcing initiatives, anyone with access to the web-ideally through a smartphone or a tablet-can make a contribution. While in some cases it is desirable the participation of people who have a thorough knowledge in a given field - as in the case of Guyana Expedition - in other value-added consists of the presentation of his own personal experience and from the multiplication of points of view. Three examples of this are the Access app American Stories, Stories from Main Streets and Stories of World Heritage.

Access American Stories: An app of the Smithsonian Institution that exploits the potential of crowdsourcing

The first is an app that allows you to describe 100 objects on display in the American Stories of the National Museum of American History as well as listen, comment and vote on the records left by other visitors. The app, as well as being a good initiative of crowdsourcing, it is also an example of how the development of interpretive tools designed for people with disabilities can amplify outright accessibility and participation: designed to facilitate the visitor experience of the people visually impaired, Access American Stories is actually a tool that adds value to a large number of visitors.

Stories from Main Street is a project that aims to collect stories about life in small town America, while Stories of World Heritage , in collaboration with UNESCO, allows you to understand the value of some of the World Heritage sites through the opinions and points of view of those who live in those places, they have visited or are attracted to.

Measuring participation: monitoring and benchmarking

The pyramid of participation

To understand the degree of public participation is necessary not only to establish the goals you want to achieve, but also determine which are the key indicators and methods to measure the success of digital initiatives. Since apps and mobile projects developed by the museums are still a relatively recent phenomenon at the time it is difficult to propose definitive methods and consolidated. What seems important, however, is that the monitoring activities take into account both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Considering the "pyramid of participation" often cited by experts in the field, a simple way to monitor the degree of active involvement is the calculation of the number of people who contribute to the production of content with respect to the number of persons benefiting from a given digital initiative. The regular collection of these data allows to evaluate the performance of the investment in a diachronic perspective, as well as providing a useful basis for benchmarking and positioning of the museum in a broader context.

Besides the audio guide: maximizing the potential of new technologies

Compared interpretation tools used up to now in museums (eg audio guide), smartphones and tablets have technical characteristics that allow visitor experiences more articulated. Three areas that fully exploit the potential of new technologies and which seem particularly promising are the geolocation, computer vision and augmented reality.

The ability to know your position not only in open areas but also within complex buildings which are sometimes museums allows you to orient in a more simple and immediate, to optimize time to visit and to reduce the random movement between the various environments: although the process of geolocation, to be effective, need wi-fi or 3G very stable and strong (conditions not always easy to get inside the museum), an initiative that deserves attention is Indoor Google Maps , the draft inland launched by Google in partnership with a growing number of museums.

Access the content through the computer vision: the partnership between Google Goggles and the J. Paul Getty Museum

The potential of computer vision are exploited instead of Google Goggles : thanks to the recognition of digital image processing, the visitor can in fact frame through their mobile device an exhibit in a museum and access information on the work of art produced by staff or on the web. This instrument seems particularly promising as it allows individual visitors to satisfy their own interests and curiosity, without losing the immediacy of direct contact with the work and using gestures (the picture / photo was taken) now fully gained by users of smartphones and tablets. Museums that have already experienced this system are for example the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Augmented reality finally allows you to add many levels of interpretation, experiential, and cognitive to their visit, and the possibilities offered by smartphones and tablets in terms of image display will undoubtedly form a resource on which to focus, as evidenced by the success of apps that make use of augmented reality developed for example by MoMA or the Museum of London .

As pointed out by Nancy Proctor, to ensure that the time horizon of the next 5-7 years these technologies are fully and effectively integrated into the communication system that revolves around the museum, it is necessary that they be widely tested now.

Despite the unfavorable economic situation of these years, it would seem, therefore, that the resources used by museums to experimentation in mobile field should not be regarded as a mere cost that aggravates the budget of the cultural institutions, but rather as an investment in terms of accessibility and renewal of the mode of use, production and sharing of cultural content, aimed at maximizing the social and cultural mission of museums.

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Journey of the Heures de Turin-Milan to Rotterdam for the exhibition "The Road to Van Eyck"

da Simonetta Castronovo Posted on October 25, 2012 by Simonetta Castronovo

Exceptionally, the precious manuscript of the Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame de Jean de Berry (Heures de Turin-Milan) , one of the masterpieces of the Senate, was released by the museum to participate in a major international exhibition: " The Road to Van Eyck , "at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (13 October 2012-10 February 2013). The exhibition, curated by Friso Lammertse (Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) and Stephan Kemperdick (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), brings together paintings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts produced in Flanders 1390-1430. The intent is twofold: to explore the theme of International Gothic in the Netherlands, to investigate the origins, the roots of painting by Jan van Eyck, and submit the arch of the production of the great Flemish master, combining for the first time works of exceptional importance from museums around the world.
The Senate has agreed to lend the manuscript to the scientific value of the exhibition, and because the 'work is in excellent condition.

On 10 October, after completing the "condition report" - where you record minutely the conditions of the binding, the parchment and the thumbnail to be presented in the exhibition, the manuscript was placed in a special aluminum case lined with soft materials and containing a sheet of ART SORB, preconditioned to the same values of temperature and humidity values detected in the window of Tower Treasures in the Senate where the code is normally stored. For works so precious and small, there is a special type of transport: the work does not travel alone with the operators of the transport company that specializes in works of art (specifically empowered), but is accompanied personally by "courier" (usually a conservative lender or the registrar of the museum), which always keeps with him the briefcase while moving plane or truck, sometimes with armed escort.

After a journey full of tension, around 9 in the evening I finally arrived with the manuscript at the Museum Boijmans, where we waited for the curator of the "Old Masters" of the museum, Friso Lammertse, a restorer specializing in codes, drawings and printed materials, and technical team responsible for the preparation of the work. The manuscript, extracted from the case, was placed on a table in order to proceed to carry out checks of the conservation status after the trip and tests set-up on the lectern cardboard acid not already prepared, but to modulate and steer at the time. After about two hours the work was finally placed in the window.

The exhibition seems to be guided by the principles of functionalist and rationalist so ingrained in Rotterdam and the Netherlands since the thirties of the twentieth century. The exhibition space is organized along three concentric rings that enclose a circular room - heart of the exhibition - in which are presented the "early works" by Van Eyck, that his work as a miniaturist: in addition to Heures de Turin-Milan, also has two unpublished drawings of recent attribution. Walls and floors are painted dark gray, without any graphic or image, from the ceiling, closed by a panel opaline behind which lie the artificial lights, raindrops diffuse light very intense. Large intervals of space between one work and another (even four or five meters), help to create an overall effect of neatness and order. Given that the exhibition aims to tell the sources of the language of Van Eyck and artistic culture in the Netherlands and neighboring regions around 1370-1420, that is, focusing on the period of formation of the great painter, the setting ring has been thought to reconstruct the chronological stages of the training process.

In the ring outer gathered the most representative works of the International Gothic style in the Flemish area, not only in painting but also in the field of applied arts masterpiece here is the Casket with Scenes of the Passion embossed leather, painted and gilded in the cathedral of Lucca, bought in Bruges by a merchant from Lucca to 1390.

In the ring median is presented the production of figurative arts center Nordic beginning of the fifteenth century (1400-1415): one is Paris (with the works attributed to Jean Malouel) and Dijon (with the Certosa di Champmol) from 'On the other painting, sculpture and jewelery in the cities of Germany and the Netherlands. We must therefore take into account the complex political geography of northern Europe in the fifteenth century: the duchy of Burgundy, with its capital Dijon, she also embraced part of Flanders, other northern cities were part of the kingdom of France (Arras, I went back), or the Holy Roman Empire (Liège, Utrecht) and culturally gravitated around Cologne. For this reason, the exhibition attempts to collect the figurative evidence of all these centers together, possible places of study and apprenticeship for the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck.

So we arrive at the inner exposure, where are the "Van Eyck's Predecessors", around four or five works, including the famous Norfolk Triptyck with the Man of Sorrows and figures of saints (Liège and Maastricht, , 1415), works which present characters Significantly greater pre-eyckiani, as regards the representation of figures in space, games illusionistic narrative qualities in describing the domestic environment, natural landscapes and portraits. Besides, in the second part of the same ring, are presented in close succession autographs some masterpieces of Jan van Eyck, all sensational: the Three Marys at the Tomb , belonging to the collections of the same Boijmans and restored before the show, and the Crucifixion of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin , the Annunciation of the National Gallery in Washington , the Santa Barbara of Antwerp and the Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy in Berlin. In the central room, the Heures de Turin-Milan and the artist's graphic production, and finally, the output (again more outside the ring, but from the opposite side of the entrance to the exhibition), a number of copies of order fifteenth and early sixteenth century of lost works by van Eyck.
The beautiful "Medieval Laboratory", with tables showing the pigments used in the Middle Ages and the construction techniques of the Flemish altarpieces, and the museum restaurant, specially rearranged on the occasion of this exhibition, with high-rack full of fifteenth-century pottery from the deposits the Boijmans, pull over to stuffed animals borrowed from the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam, to evoke the game habitually consumed in the canteens of the fifteenth century Flemish.