Condensed Abstract:

In a culture where images are no longer perceived as trustworthy documents, does the public regard images of our collections as faithful representations -- and do they care? To what degree are our collection images “accurate” and to what degree are they subjective interpretations, translations, reproductions, or something else altogether?   This diverse group of panelists will consider functional, cultural and technical issues of image accuracy from a variety of distinct perspectives: Studio Manager/Photographer, Educator, Publisher, and Scientist. They will explore present/future expectations of our institutional and public audiences as they examine how these various factors and priorities impact workflow, individual institutional imaging policies, and the broad reading of images of cultural heritage objects. Comments and questions from audience members of further diverse points of view will be encouraged.

Moderator:

Erik Landsberg, Head of Collections Imaging

Museum of Modern Art, NY
Sponsored by the Digital Media SIG

Panelists:

Dan Dennehy, Senior Photographer and Head of Visual Resources, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts

Susan Farnand, Research Scientist, Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

Lisa Mazzola, Asst. Director, School and Teacher Programs, Museum of Modern Art, NY

Karen Schmidt, Production Manager, Getty Publications, J. Paul Getty Museum

Stanley Smith, Head of Imaging Services,  J. Paul Getty Museum

Abstract:

Ask any number of museum curators what they want imagery of their collections to communicate to the public and their answers will likely include words like “accurate”, “objective”, and “reproduction”. But pose the same question to a group of museum imaging professionals and after those same first responses, their list will expand to also include words like “translate”, interpret”, “subjective”, or perhaps even ”feels like the original”. When photographing our collections, how does this range of possibilities influence our practice? What does an “accurate reproduction” mean? Is that possible, or even desirable? While museum imaging programs strive toward excellence, what level of fidelity does the online or book-reading “visitor” assume, expect, or require from those images?

In a culture where images are no longer trusted documents, does the public regard our images as faithful representations? Do our audiences care that the low resolution and uncalibrated color conditions under which they usually view our websites present them with images that may be far from what the photographer created in the presence of the original object? If Mark Rothko painted under tungsten illumination in his studio, but Imaging Services produces an image that is a “dead match” to the way the painting appears under modern technology lighting in the galleries (or under the D-50 lighting of a printer's proofing booth) is that image “accurate” or does it even “feel like the original”? Does it matter?

This panel discussion will consider these questions while encouraging comment from attendees. The speakers will offer their diverse points of view, considering past assumptions and present/future expectations of our institutional and public audiences. They will examine how these various factors impact workflow, individual institutional imaging policies, and the interpretation of images of cultural heritage objects.

Session Info:

• Type: Full Panel
• Keywords: Imaging, reproduction, public access, collections online, audience, quality assurance, education, publishing
• Relevance: museum imaging professionals, publications staff, educators, web producers, curators, audience researchers.

Speaker Bios:

Dan Dennehy

Dan Dennehy is Senior Photographer and Head of Visual Resources at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where he leads a department responsible for collection imaging, documentary photography, rights and reproduction. He is a member of the museum’s technology team working across departments to develop systems that facilitate collaboration, optimize data sharing and enhance efficiencies throughout the institution. Dan came to the MIA in 2002 following 10 years as photographer for the Walker Art Center. He transitioned the photo studio to a digital workflow and initiated efforts to adopt enterprise-level asset management. He holds a BFA in Photography from the University of Connecticut and has received grants from the Bush Foundation, the Polaroid Corporation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. He currently serves as adjunct faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Susan Farnand

Susan Farnand is a graduate of Cornell University and the Imaging Science Masters at Rochester Institute of Technology.  After working for Eastman Kodak Company for many years on assignments involving electrophotography and imaging science, she joined the Rochester Institute of Technology in the position of Research Scientist in the Center for Imaging Science.  Her research interests include image quality, human vision and perception, and color science. She is a member of IS&T and serves as co-chair of the IQSP conference at EI as well as Short Course chair for NIP25 and was recently guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Electronic Imaging on image quality.

Erik Landsberg

For the past 30 years Erik Landsberg has been involved in all aspects of photographic representation of works of art. Having run his own business for 15 years serving the art reproduction needs of galleries, artists, and museums, he joined the staff at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, in 1995, where he is currently Head of Collections Imaging.

In addition to his responsibilities for developing MoMA Imaging Services workflow, color management, staff training, and long term archiving of image data, Erik manages the museum's image licensing/distribution and leads the MoMA DAM team. He works on various committees that determine institution-wide policy and practice regarding imaging, technology, rights, and other related matters.

Erik is a frequent panelist and speaker at professional conferences, most recently presenting at "The Preservation and Application of Museum Images in the New Digital Age” held at the Capital Museum, Beijing, in December, 2009, and presenting as a panelist at “Current Practices in Fine Art Reproduction”, RIT, June 2010. He currently serves on the Technical Program Committee for the upcoming IS&T Archiving Conference which will take place in May, 2011. Erik holds a BA in English from Montclair State University and an MFA in Photography from Ohio University. He is a photographic artist and an avid jazz listener.

Lisa Mazzola

 Lisa Mazzola is the Assistant Director of School and Teacher Programs within the Education Department of the Museum of Modern Art where she develops and administers programs and resources for K- 12 educators and schools that relate to collections, exhibitions and other aspects of the Museum's mission.  In addition to her role in School and Teacher Programs, she has taught in an adjunct capacity for NYU and Columbia Teacher’s College in their Arts Administration and Arts Education masters programs. 
Lisa's professional interests have expanded beyond the Museum's wall and into the realm of digital learning, specifically the ways in which we can re-think on site programming and re-shape legacy resources as we move towards the integration of digital based resources for teaching and learning.
Prior to her work at MoMA, Lisa coordinated gallery education and special projects at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.  In addition, Lisa spent three years as an art and design educator/consultant developing residency programs in NYC public schools.  Lisa continues to consult most recently in the United Arab Emirates for the Sharjah Museums Department. 
Lisa received a B.A. from the State University of New York, College at Oswego, where she majored in Art History and minored in Museum Studies.  Lisa is currently working toward her M.A. in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.  

Karen Schmidt

Karen Schmidt is Production Manager for Getty Publications at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles where she oversees the production of nearly fifty new print titles a year as well as reprints from an active backlist of about 450 books. Her thirty years in publishing covers a wide range of technological innovation in image reproduction—from European craftsmen painting traces of gold on film for the printing of fifteenth-century manuscripts to digital files and digital printing and now to the inclusion of enhanced color images in e-books. Getty Publications originates content and also partners with co-publishers on scholarly and more general books spanning various forms of art from antiquities through contemporary photography, art history, and conservation, including the conservation of photographs and digital prints. Karen’s evolving perspective on what constitutes a faithful or even a “good” reproduction is inextricably tied to and defined by each publication’s audience and goals and the technology employed to produce it.

Stanley Smith

With over twenty-five years of photography industry experience — twenty of which focused on electronic media — Stanley Smith brings entrepreneurial outlook, technical expertise and deep appreciation for the concerns of cultural heritage institutions to The Getty. The founder and president of Seattle-based custom photo lab Argentum, named “The Lab of the Future” in 1994 by Kodak for its leadership in digital imaging, Mr. Smith designed, implemented and managed the digital photo studio for Seattle’s renowned Experience Music Project (EMP). During his over eight-year tenure with EMP, he developed workflow strategies and collaborated with software developers to implement a custom digital asset

management system that integrated over 75,000 images into a large SQL database. In 2004, he accepted an opportunity to lead the J. Paul Getty Trust’s efforts to move its digital imaging initiatives into the forefront of the cultural heritage world.

At the Getty he oversaw the merger of the Getty Museum’s traditional photographic studios and digital labs, and established state-of-the-art direct capture digital workflows while implementing a Trust-wide asset management software solution, which will eventually make high-resolution digital images of the entirety of the Getty’s holdings available to the public, in accordance with the Trust’s larger mission.

Mr. Smith is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Center For the Image, where he brings unique perspective for the concerns of cultural heritage institutions that may lack the extraordinary resources given to the Getty Trust. At CFI he supports the mission of CFI to help non-profit cultural heritage institutions leverage their often-dormant collections into venues that will support both their missions and their revenue producing potential.

Mr. Smith lives in Topanga, California, and has enjoyed a long parallel career as a fine art photographer with many exhibitions and publications.