Blog
Fresh perspectives on art, life, and current events. From deep dives to quick takes to insightful interviews, it’s the museum in conversation. Beyond the walls. Outside the frame. Around the world.
The Latest

Art Inspires: Poet Sun Yung Shin on ghosts, gods, and the bliss of the underworld
Sun Yung Shin, a Minneapolis-based poet and teacher, was inspired by Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings of Hell, a silk painting on display in gallery 206. 명 부 쩐 – 冥 府 殿 Myeongbujeon, the Hall of the Underworld “The day that makes one an orphan.” —Myung Mi Kim, Works On the day that makes ...

Honoring the Monuments Men, art saviors of World War II, with a self-guided tour at the MIA (Part I)
In The Monuments Men, opening February 7, George Clooney is his usual charming self in a dapper mustache and Army officer’s garb, cracking wise in Art Deco cafes and backslapping buddies Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and John Goodman as they race through Europe in the wake of D-Day. Billed as “the greatest treasure hunt in ...

According to "Her," the future of tech is bright, strange, and sexy. Here's how museums may get there first.
In the new movie Her, a lonely introvert played by Joaquin Phoenix begins a relationship with the talking operating system of his computer. Set in the familiar future, it’s been described as a “science fiction romantic-comedy drama,” another way of saying it’s a film by Spike Jonze, who likes to mess with genres not to ...

According to “Her,” the future of tech is bright, strange, and sexy. Here’s how museums may get there first.
In the new movie Her, a lonely introvert played by Joaquin Phoenix begins a relationship with the talking operating system of his computer. Set in the familiar future, it’s been described as a “science fiction romantic-comedy drama,” another way of saying it’s a film by Spike Jonze, who likes to mess with genres not to ...

Connecting art and earth—literally—with Monica Haller, new artist-in-residence at the MIA
Last summer, I caught up with my friend Monica Haller while she was in the Twin Cities working on an exciting project for Northern Spark, the all-night festival of light. (Working with Molly Reichert, Nick Knouf, and Jonathan Zorn, she set up special listening decks by the Mississippi River for people to hear the sounds ...

Krista Tippett on the intersection of art, science, and spirituality
On January 23 and March 27, you’re invited to join Krista Tippett for On Being Live at the MIA. Held in conjunction with the museum’s Sacred exhibition, she’ll tape her radio show before a live audience for later broadcast, speaking with artists Ann Hamilton (January 23) and Dario Robleto (March 27) on art and spirituality. ...

Moving pictures: Classic films as you've never seen them before—through the lens of artworks
The world of Harry Potter aside, still pictures—paintings, drawings, photographs—don’t tend to move. But that doesn’t mean they can’t evoke some of the great moving pictures of our time. Recently, as part of the MIA’s Evolvelle initiative to interpret the museum’s collection in experimental ways, we asked Baltimore-based actor and film historian George Figgs to ...

Moving pictures: Classic films as you’ve never seen them before—through the lens of artworks
The world of Harry Potter aside, still pictures—paintings, drawings, photographs—don’t tend to move. But that doesn’t mean they can’t evoke some of the great moving pictures of our time. Recently, as part of the MIA’s Evolvelle initiative to interpret the museum’s collection in experimental ways, we asked Baltimore-based actor and film historian George Figgs to ...

A childhood quest leads to Easter Island—and soul-searching about objects taken far from their homes
As a child, I was captivated by the mystery of Easter Island after reading a short story in my fourth-grade reader. This was 1975, so Easter Island was still a distant and perplexing place, full of unanswered questions as weighty as the statues that dotted its slopes—the first commercial flight to the island had landed ...

Helena Hernmarck’s "Glimpse" and the art of tapestry weaving—then and now
If you walk into gallery 340 on the third floor, you might notice that one of the things there is not like the others. In a space dominated by tapestries, sculpture, and armor from the 15th to 17th centuries, Helena Hernmarck’s 1974 tapestry, Glimpse, was recently included as one of the MIA’s ReMix installations, a ...
