Museum-killers: bugs of two kinds
It’s getting rough out there for museums and their staff. The coronavirus pandemic poses an existential threat to museums as well as for-profit businesses nationwide. And it’s all due to bugs.
The coronavirus is the immediate bug threat: American museums are struggling to survive without paying visitors, who are stuck in quarantine. A survey of 760 museum directors last month showed they’ve laid off or furloughed 44% of their staff. Without major financial aid, one-third of the museum heads worry they may be forced to shut down permanently in 16 months — if their operating budgets even last that long.
And then there’s the other kind of bug.
Gray silverfish are less of a problem at UK museums during normal times. Source: Wikimedia Commons
It’s more difficult for museums in Britain to keep gray silverfish and other pests from damaging the collections when all the staff are stuck at home. No museum visitors are scaring away the bugs from the public areas, either, and the insects are more active in warmer weather as well. So the bugs pretty much have the place to themselves.
Don’t you want to see art in real life again, instead of online? Remember to mask up, y’all. The sooner we flatten the infection curve, the sooner we get to enjoy our museums.
3 good reasons to stare at your phone
I hear constant scrolling through your social media feeds is bad for your mental health during quarantine — but that can’t be true, right? [snickering] I’m here to give you three exceptions to the rule. Feel free to use them when someone tries to pry the smartphone out of your hands.
Reason #1: When you need to force yourself to get fresh air and exercise
This is the view from my studio window, a la Vincent van Gogh. Art Transfer in the Google Arts & Culture app applies elements of famous artworks to the photo you upload. The result: now I have to go outside and take a walk, because I need to see how Vincent might’ve painted my neighborhood.
Reason #2: When you need help seeing the art in everyday life
Even though exercise really does help me feel better, there’s one thing I know: there will be days when it just isn’t going to happen. The Color Palette function uses colors in your photo to dig up artwork with a similar palette, sometimes with startling results. Come for the surprises, stay for the cheat-sheet (located in the upper left corner) you can use for redecorating or art-making.
Reason #3: When you’re doing a public service — providing a distraction
Some of you wouldn’t be caught dead taking a selfie, but look at it this way. Maybe your Art Selfie can help someone pull themselves out of an unhelpful mental spiral. This function’s been around for a few years, but back then it had a tendency to mis-gender women with short hair, especially women of color. Now Art Selfie seems to draw more data from many more museum collections, which would explain the improvement. Our Google overlords are not compensating me for this post (I’m sure I’m late to this party). But I’ll give them this: they seem to have hit on the timesuck we need right now.
We interrupt this quarantine for a brief message
Week five of quarantine: no shortage of ideas for new artworks, but I’m running low on concentration. So I’ve assigned myself some cut-and-paste art therapy.
Working in my friend’s art journal helps glue the scattered bits of my mind back together. But it’s a temporary break. For every article reminding me to cut myself some slack, there’s another to undermine that advice — often under the cover of Being Helpful.
What are you doing to reboot your brain, refresh your outlook, or just be kinder to yourself? Let me know on Facebook or Instagram.