Art and Technology. I'm torn. Kinda.

There is something I like about being in museums. The smell. The anonymity.

Most of all, I love being able to lose myself in certain paintings and artifacts. Sometimes, I get lost in the bubble on a thick-painted canvas or a certain thread sticking out of robe worn only by a 15th century nobelman. Nothing spiritual, more meditative.

Being able to clear your head has since, for me anyway, become more of an art that I didn't have time to master. It is very rare that I am not involuntarily multi-tasking or trying to keep up with my mind going every which way. So being in a museum, unable to watch TV, chat on my cell phone or concentrate other than what's in front of me was priceless but unfortunately an infrequent oppotrunity.

Image from MoMA.or

Bringing the iPad to the museum (although able to read every didactic with out having to stand on your tippy toes is great) would take away from only thinking about the materials and images in front of me. It seems awesome--being able to read even more about a piece of work or see what other people have to say about it (which, is nice because I like going to museums by myself but like to talk about things sometimes)--but I wouldn't be surprised if most people spent more time playing with the device and looking at the screen more than the 150 AD sculpture of a naked Italian dude in front of them.

OK, I'd probably turn the iPad off...after I Google what zodiac sign that animal represents.

Or maybe I wouldn't have ended up going at all and just spent the afternoon zooming in on a Monet on my couch with the dog.

Learn about MoMa iPad (and Android!) apps here:http://hyperallergic.com/22246/moma-catalog-ipad-app/ and here: http://www.moma.org/explore/mobile/abexnyapp (Deep Focus, the agency that pays my bills created this one).