Is that the REAL thing?

That's what kids say when they come to the museum and see art that they might have discussed in the classroom, or viewed when a museum educator came to their school for a visit. Is that REAL? And then the '"Ooos and Ahhs" and "I remember that..I remember seeing that". There's really nothing like hearing these remarks from kids. And now to my point in reference to Gary's comments about 3D art and authenticity. No matter what we do, and museums are doing more and more to engage visitors from interactives in the galleries, to video games, cell phone tours, ipods, you name it, there is really nothing that replaces the old fashioned looking at a work of art. We recently had a Festival of Mysteries family festival in conjunction with our current exhibition DejaVu? Revealing Repetition in French Masterpieces . In order for the kids to get the special offerings we had (Sherlock Holmes-type hats), they had to go into the exhibition, look a the art, and answer specific questions. What a concept! The kids and their adult companions viewed the art, talked about it together and had a great time. So, from my point of view, we want the social interaction and social engagement in repsonse to our works of art. Remember when Bill Gates obtained the rights for many of the world's famous works of art and had them on display on a monitor in his home - his own gallery of images on display? Sure it brings the art into our homes, but there is nothing like seeing the authentic painting on the wall, seeing its size, or seeing our sculptural bust by Henry Ossawa Tanner and noticing what looks like the artist's fingerprints in the painted plaster. So for me, no matter what we use in the galleries - from checkers to hi-def to 3D, in the soulful words of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, aint nothing like the real thing, baby!