Project Title
Gender and Location Representation in MoMA’s Collections
Project Description
The central question of this report was to investigate whether the Museum of Modern Art held true to its values of diversity and progress in the history of its art acquisitions. I created graphs and charts that interpret MoMA’s collections by gender and nationality of the artists.
Methods
To help my audience understand such a huge set of data, I created an information visualization. I used two linked datasets available that contain metadata for the 15,000 artists and 130,000 artworks within MoMA’s collections. I used Tableau, an interactive data visualization software, to create a “story” that allowed me to explore the who, what, when, and where of the data. The next step in the project was to conduct usability testing to ascertain the accessibility of the information. With perspectives from a broad range of experience within the museum field, as well as those who are not part of the community, I ensured that this data would be engaging and digestible to any audience.
My Role
I am the sole creator of this project.
Learning Outcome Achieved
Digital Technology & Tools
Rationale
In this project, I learned and demonstrated how to use digital tools such as APIs and data visualization software. By using Tableau to interpret MoMA’s collections, I created a way to make sense out of a large amount of data. This data analytics project aimed to use technology to museum services and engage diverse communities. The usability testing aspect of this project enabled me to create a dashboard that would be valuable not just to me, but to others in the field. The call for transparency and responsibility that was reenergized in 2020 has found many museums reevaluating their own roles in perpetuating inequality. Museums are not neutral institutions, a saying that was repeatedly debated and discussed during my time at Pratt. This project allowed me to prove that statement with hard data, taking a step towards progress in representation.
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