What the Art Institute Should Pay Me to Design and Implement

Every time I visit the Art Institute of Chicago (and that is very, very often), I find myself frustrated by something.  A few things.  Okay, many things.  In the Modern Wing especially, I see so much work that I just can't connect with based solely on its aesthetics, and in these moments I often pull out my smartphone to Google the artist and the work in an effort to grant context to a work that otherwise is just simply lost on me.  And sometimes I'm too lazy and I just move on, accepting that I just don't get it and I'm not going to but sure, it's probably a genius piece of art. Right.

Yes, there's always an artist and a title, but those things sometimes mean nothing at all to me.  And yes some rooms and some pieces specifically have big long labels that talk about the artist and the works in a thorough and well-rounded way but lots of people are milling around in front of those labels, often just pretending to read them so as not to bug their art-lover friend who dragged them to the museum in the first place.

In addition to frustration borne out of a lack of information and context, sometimes I think, "Wow, this is great! I wonder what else we have that is similar... how do I find the impressionists again? Maybe there's something there."  You'd think I'd have a mental map of AIC cemented by now, but I don't. And, embarrassingly, I don't have the entire public collection memorized either. So I don't know what we have or where it is or how to find it, and sometimes that is frustrating, too, and on top of it, the guards stationed throughout the museums are neither friendly nor helpful. GRUMBLE.

So what could solve some of the problems? What could ease frustration in a straight-forward and forward-thinking way?  Ladies and gentleman, I present:

THE PATHMAKER

I think it's pretty simple.  Running on a dedicated iPad (or a BlackPad, or an AndroidPad...), a very delicate GPS system, perhaps supported and supplemented by some sort of coordinate system managed by the Art Institute, will know the location and position of every piece on public display, as well as the location and position of its user.  The simple interface will feature only a small number of active buttons and links that remain consistent through most screen options.  Using the PathMaker is pretty straightforward and easily learned by even your least tech-savvy out-of-town guests.

When you find yourself standing in front of a piece that you'd like to know more about, simply press the refresh button on your PathMaker screen.  As the screen reloads based on your current location, you'll see an image of the art work in question.  A standard label including the artist, the work, and the media will be displayed, and below that you'll have the option of four buttons: Artist Biography, More info on this work, More by this artist, and More works like this.  Pushing any of these buttons will load a new screen with the appropriate information, thought the back button and the refresh button are present on every page.  There is NO SCROLLING in the PathMaker.

If you wish to see more works by the same artist, or similar works by other artists, those lists will have linked thumbnails and titles.  Selecting, say The First Part of the Return from Parnassus, also by Cy Twombly, will load a page with a larger image and should you decide you would indeed like to see that piece, you'll hit the "Take me there!" button below the image.  Turn-by-turn navigation will guide you to the piece.  If you decide you'd rather not see another part of the Return from Parnassus, simply hit the back button and make a selection.  Or just start walking and the next time you have a question about a piece, stop and hit the refresh button.

Sounds easy, right?  And very cheap.  And super straightforward to code and implement.