Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Jewish Museum

I visited 2 museums today up on New York's Museum Mile (5th Ave). Not all museums are open on a Monday so it's worth planning beforehand. I visited the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Jewish Museum.

The Guggenheim is a stunning piece of architecture, but unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it's exterior much as the building is undergoing some renovations. Still there was plenty of art to enjoy, with some very famous paintings on display. The interpretive technology in the galleries is very minimal - a digital signage system in the foyer is about all I could find. There are some very striking audio-visual installations though, with all the technology carefully hidden. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to visit the Sackler Center, which is described as a 'learning laboratory'.

The Jewish Museum is currently holding an exhibition on new photography and video art. In one part there was an interesting use of large LCD displays on stands arranged into a circle, where you could sit in the middle and watch multiple streams of videos at the same time. Each system seemed to be running from separate machines, though still in sync! I like their Goodkind Media Center, which houses PCs with web-based access to new media and video archives.