Exploring the Andy Warhol Museum's Tech Treasures
Andy Warhol famously loved anything "new" in the mode of gadgets. "If I had a expert computer I could catch up with my thoughts over the weekend if I ever got behind myself," he wrote in his 1975 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol.
Obsessed with sound, Warhol used a Norelco Carry-Corder to record conversations and ambient soundscapes for his films and a Bolex 16mm for his famous "Screen Tests" in the 60s and a Polavision "instant" movie camera in the 70s. All three locations for his gathering place and workshop, The Factory, were wired for audio-visual-powered "happenings," and Warhol himself appeared in ads for Sony Betamax, TDK, and Pioneer "hi-fi" (loftier fidelity) sound systems.
But while Warhol might be synonymous with New York City, he's a Pittsburgh native, which is home to The Andy Warhol Museum. Opened in 1994, it's a collaborative project between the Carnegie Institute, Dia Art Foundation, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and gives visitors a comprehensive examination of his life and work.
Housed in an 88,000-square-foot quondam industrial warehouse, information technology contains 17 galleries; The Manufacturing plant education studio; a conservation lab; an annal of more than than 350 of his preserved (8mm, 16mm) films; 4,000 videotapes; and 610 of his Fourth dimension Capsules—ephemera he boxed upwardly for posterity, some of which are on display.
Dezi Gonzalez, the museum'southward Manager of Digital Engagement, did her masters at MIT and worked at MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art before moving to Pittsburgh in 2022.
"In my graduate work at MIT, I examined the possibilities, afforded by new and emerging technologies, which give people an immersive experience and a new way to connect with art," said Gonzalez. "Then here, at the museum, we use technology and then visitors—either on-site at the museum, or around the earth via the web—can experience Warhol in a way that'due south mediated through curation, or unmediated and cocky-directed, for a richer experience."
Warhol Museum: The Geek Tour
In partnership with Carnegie Mellon, the museum installed Bluetooth depression-energy beacons throughout the galleries. Download the Out Loud audio guide app, and the location-aware beacons know exactly where you are in the gallery space to tell you nigh the artwork there.
Geeks should showtime with the Amiga gallery, which houses Warhol'southward Amiga Commodore k. It originally toll $1,295, though Warhol'south was gifted to the artist by the manufacturer, and came with just 256KB RAM and a pre-Windows mode graphical user interface.
You can't touch Warhol's machine, of grade, but the museum has an Amiga 1000 interactive exhibit, which emulates the Amiga's interface and processing speed so visitors can interact with Warhol's digital art in the style people would have viewed it back in 1984.
Also under plexiglass are the original floppy disks used to install the Pro Paint plan (just 4,096 colors; today's 24-flake LCD displays have sixteen.7 meg) as well equally Warhol'due south "digital experiments," which were lost until recently. As they were trapped in an obsolete digital format, it took three years for the museum to inquiry, unlock, and restore them for public viewing.
In a squeamish bear on, at the hands-on demo, the museum has fifty-fifty slowed downwardly the digital rendering to circa 1986 processing speeds so you can get grateful about today's superfast CPUs.
In a bid to open up up Warhol's work to those with low, or no, sight, the museum partnered with J. David Whitewolf of Tactile Reproductions LLC, to offer art you can impact. That includes over a dozen reproductions of archetype Warhol Pop Art pieces, so spend a few moments tracing your fingers over the Coca-Cola bottle to see how he reimagined and transformed the object into art. Created using a CNC (reckoner numerical controlled) mill, each piece took up to 80 hours of motorcar fourth dimension to deliver a faithful rendition of the art.
Are Yous Set up for Your Close-up?
The Screen Test gallery is a clever mash-upwards of celluloid history with digital brand-believe. Inside a darkened anteroom, conceptually designed as part of The Factory, you tin can sit down on a chair, be starkly lit by a single lamp, and face up the camera. On the outside, the camera is a archetype Bolex, only it'due south been gutted and re-fashioned inside, and now contains a digital photographic camera.
It's a popular stop for museum visitors; 11 percent make a screen test, Gonzalez said.
Between 1964 and 1966, Warhol used a similar, stationary, 16mm Bolex motion picture camera, always on silent, to capture black-and-white "screen tests" of famous people (Susan Sontag, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, shell poet Allen Ginsberg) too equally Factory regulars (Edie Sedgwick and Nico). They were all archived on 100-human foot rolls of pic simply projected in boring motion to stretch from 2.75 minutes to four minutes or more. At that place are 500 screen tests in the archive (if you do a screen exam it won't end up there, though, just so you know).
However, while you expect for the digital output from your 15 minutes of fame, lounge in the main gallery and sentry the originals blown upward on a massive screen. You never know, the museum might accept a shine to yours and put it on the website.
"One of the responses I hear a lot, is a sigh of relief when it'southward over," said Gonzalez. "People tell me: 'Wow, that three minutes felt like a really long time!' Because that level of concentration and intimacy with a camera is really compelling."
Silver Clouds: a Bong Labs Collaboration
In a side gallery, you'll observe "Silverish Clouds," the 1966 collaboration Warhol did with Bell Labs engineer Billy Klüver. As we gazed at the partially helium-filled space race-style textile pillows float effectually the room, buoyed by fans, Gonzalez gave u.s. the backstory:
"Bell Labs was very interested in bringing technologists together with contemporary artists to create something new, with the latest materials. Billy showed him Scotchpak, from 3M, and ultimately they landed on these pillow-shaped clouds which—filled with less than a fourth helium, the rest air—bladder, using the heat gradient in the room and circular fans."
It's utterly hypnotic and beautifully staged, with the fans delivering a bouncing dreamy motion.
"Scotchpak went on to exist used, in a more than prosaic manner, equally the wrapping for boil-in-the-bag food," Gonzalez explained. "So at that place'due south something perfectly mundane, notwithstanding artistic, about this piece, which reminds usa of Warhol's obsession with Campbell's Soup and other everyday products in his art."
Photo-Me
Before you get out the museum, caput to the basement. At that place'southward a black-and-white photo booth, the sort that, if you're not too young to know this rite of passage, was where teenagers in railway stations and shopping malls documented their irresolute "looks." Aye, at that place was life before Instagram selfies.
Here's how information technology works: Sit within, close the curtain, adjust the swivel seat and so you lot're at eye-level to the camera backside the screen ahead. Insert three singles and wait for the flash. Each session has four separate shots, so you'll come across 4 flashes. Change your pose appropriately. Finished? You'll hear a massive creaking inside the machinery, which is your moving-picture show beingness candy (for real).
Wait outside (it takes four minutes) until you lot hear one final groan from the berth. Then lean over, and carefully remove your photo strip from the dispensing slot behind the small grille.
If you happen to
What's Side by side for Warhol (Digitally)?
What of the futurity? Is the museum ready for XR? Gonzalez, having studied at MIT, is realistic about what engineering can actually deliver, and doesn't go for hype.
"I always try to keep my heart on what'due south large, or what'due south happening right at present in terms of new technologies," she said, "With a view to whether it'due south a good fit for us."
Gonzalez sits on the lath of the Museum Computer Network (MCN) and was invited to be a keynote speaker at We Are Museums, a European symposium last year.
"I likewise nourish tech events regularly, like the Eyeo Festival, where artists are thinking critically about digital in a transformative manner, oftentimes using technologies and strategies like machine learning, virtual reality, physical computing, and creative coding," she explained.
How about A.I.? In partnership with the three other Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh here in the city, the Warhol museum just launched a chatbot, which allows museum members on- and off-site to accept a conversational-type feel with "staff." CarnegieBot guides visitors through the Summer Risk, a series of programming in which members visit the museums and attend special events to earn stamps and win a prize. The chatbot answers visitors' questions, delivers activities like trivia and polls, and allows members to cheque into the museums and collect stamps.
It's a pity Warhol pre-dated hologram capture (every bit we saw at USC Shoah) and natural language processing then we could accept a conversation (although he was notoriously monosyllabic). And there's probably not enough loftier-quality imagery to stitch him into a responsive 3D volumetric feel (as we saw at 8i in Hollywood). It would exist fab to sprawl on one of the reproduction sofas, pushed dorsum against The Factory-fashion silver bricks in the museum'due south lobby and hang with Warhol awhile.
Just there's plenty of Warhol geek moments to enjoy if you lot observe yourself in Pittsburgh equally the museum gears up to celebrate his 90th birthday this month.
Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/news/28824/exploring-the-andy-warhol-museums-tech-treasures
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