Moma’s Print on Demand Kiosk
MOMA and the Art Group have rolled out a new print on demand kiosk located just outside the upstairs exhibition galleries. The kiosk as a touch screen that allows users to scroll through a database of images from current exhibitions and the permanent collection, choose an image, a mat and a frame and have the package mailed to your home address.
I’m not sure what to make of this, it seems both weird and convenient. While the interface is easy to use, the actual kiosk could use some work, as it looks like an airport ticket dispenser, not so innovative.
A few clicks and a framed print will be hanging above the ol’ hearth. In the image below you can see examples of work from the Bauhaus show, the image quality is very good.
To read more about this topic, check out this article by JD Jarvis hosted here by the museum of computer art.
Why do we need galleries when museums make buying art so easy? I understand that public institutions are subject to “the bottom line,” but where does this end?
Hasn’t the London Natural History Museum been doing this for quite some time? They aren’t good quality digital prints by any stretch of the imagination unfortunately.
I like to think the next obvious step is installing a fully functional printshop in the middle of the gift shop.
There would appear to be some basic copyright violations here. They can’t include the whole collection can they? If my work was there I might sign some of those rights away for a cut of the action, but I can’t see the Warhol Foundation being down with Moma printing out Andys whenever somebody pressed a button.
Jason, personally I don’t think we need galleries OR museums, because we have the Internet. My computer monitor allows me to see Rembrandt etchings in “millions of colors.” That seems like an improvement, considering they were originally just black & white.
LOLZ…. oh RL
Oi! No galleries or museums? While some artworks lend themselves to digital or other mass production (like the Bauhaus images which were largely meant to be reproduced), some art HAS to be experienced in person. Much of what distinguishes fine art from commercial art is evidence of the hand of the maker. I’m surprised to see a comment like this on a forum dedicated to printmaking … isn’t that the charm of old presses and hand printed pieces? That they don’t have the sterile quality of mass produced digital prints?
Just a joke, Leelu… Just a joke.
DOH! ;-p
Obviously my skills as a satirist aren’t as keen as I like to think!! 🙂
RL, I think your humor just doesn’t translate to text, that’s all. It probably has to have the benefit of experience… your jokes have gone over my head before, too!
Any idea how much printing and shipping for one of these suckers might cost? For me, it’s typically more cost effective to use that money I might spend on reproductions to put into owning original prints, but I can see the lure it would have for the average tourist, including folks like my mom.
I don’t recall the price range but nothing at the MOMA is cheap. They do have a kind of modular pricing system that varies depending on size and type of frame.
While I don’t know your Mom, I would have to agree with you, Nicole. I tend to spend my moneys on making on my own work.
Besides it’s way more affordable to get original work by small presses like Tug Boat, Little Friends of Printmaking, Bird Machine or Print Liberation.
Ha! Here’s a good rule of thumb: I’m never serious about anything.
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