Actors lend their voices to podcasts on art
In recent years, many museum visitors have discovered the joys of using audio guides to enhance their visits to special exhibitions as well as to permanent collections. Standing quietly in front of a painting, letting my eyes take it in while through earphones a mellifluous voice explains the background and history of the work, and what to look for—this seems to me to be the ideal museum experience.
Now, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has taken audio accompaniment to a new level, by producing podcasts. The first one, in October 2005, featured the actor Kevin Bacon reading from van Gogh’s letters. It was heard by about 16,000 people on iTunes and the Met’s web site, and even made the list of the 100 most-listened-to podcasts on iTunes.
That first production was experimental, and its success has led to other podcasts; for example, Sam Waterston can be heard telling the life story of Queen Hatshepsut (for “Hatshepsut, From Queen to Pharoah"), and punk rocker Johnny Rotten talks about the rise of punk style in England in the 1970s (for the exhibition “AngloMania").
The commentaries can be found at the Met’s website, www.metmuseum.org, on the pages devoted to current exhibitions, where they can be downloaded, subscribed to, or listened to on streaming audio. What a great way to add a new dimension to the appreciation of art.
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