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Sketch of MP3 player, Wikimedia Commons
Remember when museums rented little headsets and cassette tapes, so you could have a dulcet voice whisper in your ear all the strange little details of the art you were observing? The tapes are now finding second lives as craft projects and the headphones have shrunk to earbuds, but you can still get those guided audio tours, and now many of them are free. What if you can't make it to the museum, but you desperately want to see what's out there? Also covered - more and more museums are offering video tours. With a cell phone, Ipod or a laptop you can get even more from your museum experience.
- The Walker Art Center, always as close to the edge of technology as it can get, has podcasts and cell phone audio tours available on its website. The Art on Call Project is a 24/7 hour phone line that gives you access to a literally on-call audio tour. Not only does it give you comments from artists and curators, it can help you find local exhibitions and events. You can also download specific audio tours to your mp3 player, including the Pablo Picasso exhibition , the Sculpture Garden tour, or a complete tour of the Center.
- The Minneapolis Institute of the Art's Youtube Channel can catch you up on their lectures, give you insight into art processes and even give you small tours of the collection. Example video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBmqcdCwnuY
- Historically curious? You can subscribe free to the Richfield Historical Society podcast via Itunes or on their direct site.
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