Museums exhibit high-tech appeal

By Sue Zeidler

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Paintings and sculptures long stored away are finding a new audience as museums strive for mass appeal with high-tech Web sites packed with video, podcasts and interactive elements.

Moreover, these institutions are finding that rather than diminishing the number of museum visits, the Web is actually boosting in-person attendance.

"All museums, especially art museums, realize the Internet is a way to drive visits," said Ford Bell, chief executive officer of the 6,500-member American Association of Museums.

"Some museums now let people go online and download tours ahead of time on their iPods," he said.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art offers a podcast series (http://www.sfmoma.org/education/edu_podcasts.html) that includes audio and video interviews with artists, curators and visitors as they explain or react to works on display there.

Visitors can also save $2 on admission if they present their MP3 player loaded with the current podcast of Scottish video artist Douglas Gordon describing how he filmed an elephant in the middle of the night for his work "Play Dead: Real Time," which was recently featured at the museum.

The Chicago History Museum allows visitors to download three tours, including two of permanent exhibits and one of a special exhibition.

A recent national survey by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) found that Web site visitors were inclined to more than double their frequency of museum visits. "Internet users visit museums in person 2.6 times more often than non-Internet users," said Mamie Bittner, deputy director for the IMLS.