One morning at La Torrefazzione I bumped into Sami Sykkö, the editor-in-chief of the Gloria Magazine, who invited me to share a selection of my second-hand discoveries in their style section. I said ok, and packed some of my favorite outfits and accessoris in a suitcase, but then I remembered that I was also to pick a place for the shooting.
Our house was a mess so I said that won't work, and suggested we go to a nice art museum nearby. There was a wonderful exhibition of 1950s abstract art that I thought would visually fit with whatever I wanted to show.
It was only at the shooting place early in the morning where we were reminded of the museum's copyright policy that prevented any reproduction of any part of the artworks shown at the museum.
With many public museums moving more recently towards more open photography policies, it was disappointing to learn that the Didrichsen art museum has chosen to prohibit photography. For small cultural institutions struggling to attract new generations this is not only unfortunate but quite certainly self-destructive.
No-Photography policy at museums typically aims at preventing two things: 1) light exposure of sensitive artworks and 2) unauthorized reproduction and distribution of the exhibited artworks. Majority of photos taken with a camera phones at a museum end up feeding the visitor's activity stream on Facebook or Flickr, and thus, promoting the exhibition onwards. Photos where artwork is shown as an element of an interior or a fashion setting certainly should not harm the artist nor the museum, quite the contrary. For an increasing number of visitors using camera phones to feed their various activity streams 'No Photos' equals 'Don't Tell Your Friends'. So, how about just restricting the use of flash?
As Didrichsen was full of paintings, it was difficult to find a shooting angle without any artwork in the background. Eventually, we found one: the bathroom. Below the full story.
Images: Elina Simonen for Gloria
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