4 8A - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 The Michigan Dailv - michigandailv.com FINE ARTS COLUMN Out with the old, in with the tech T he Internet can be a life- saver. When you're about to step out the door and realize you don't know what cross street that movie theater was on, or you are about to submit a paper when a sliver of doubt enters your about the birth date of Alexander ABIGAILBK Hamilton, COLODNER it's there. We expect certain types of information to be acces- sible so long as the Web is open to us. While doing some last-minute fact collecting for a high school art-history paper on a local exhibit of 1980s painter Basquiat, I found an entire replica of the exhibit. The museum had a Web feature that allowed me to zoom into individual paintings, read the accompanying placards and explore a timeline of the artist's life. Word of the museum's online feature spread fast around the senior art-history students, each now a ticket price poorer for hav- inggone to the museum. It seemed the feature had taken on a function its creators hadn't envisioned. Was it possible that the museum had blithely given us free rein to explore its collections - the product of too many people, years and internal politics to com- prehend - from the banality of our computer desks, bypassing real patronage of the museum? Conventional boundaries are shifting and procedures changing as technology advances. The Bas- quiat discovery led me to suspect this progress may leave more room for creative interpretation than its makers anticipated. ARackhamguestlecturerrecent- ly envisioned the unique challenges of a globalizing world - in particu- lar the role of technology, which institutions like museums may too hastily choose as the best way to respond to a fast-changing world. The speaker last spring was Vishakha N. Desai, the president of The Asia Society, an international nonprofit organization that orga- nizes dialogues on art, culture and globalization. She entreated the crowded Amphitheater to antici- pate the opportunities and dangers the modernworld presents, partic- ularly for museums and educators. Desai mentioned the dual influ- ence systems like the Internet, dig- ital photography and holograms could have on museums in the future. It's easy to imagine posi- tives - if a museum could feature a 3D hologram ofcthe Elgin marbles or sculptures taken from the Par- thenon in Athens, it could avoid the thorny politics behind a museum in England displaying works that exemplify the cultural legacy of ancient Greece. Greece wants its marbles back, but they've become one of the British Museum's most jealously guarded possessions. Desai imagined a future in which, to some degree, the museums could eat their own cake and some- one else's, too. Desai called for awareness that this technology could help muse- ums reach the audiences they're losing to other forms of entertain- ment. One challenge is that with the advancement of technology, people become more, or exclusively, accustomed to instantcgratification and highly interactive activities, not gallery browsing. It's a shame that museums are often assumed to be the territory of an intellec- tual elite, since most are designed to cater to large audiences - come one and come all. Already many museums have gotten on board with extensive online tours of their gallery spac- es. The Asia Society, which has its headquarters and gallery space in New York City, has a page of links to video interviews, interactive features about current exhibits and reports on international events, all operated throughYouTube. Going further, museums like the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore incorporate the technol- ogy we already take for granted into crowd-pleasing exhibits. This past winter the museum housed an exhibit all about cell phones as tools for making art. One display had visitors approach a web of LED lights with their phones. The brightness of the lights respond- ed to the reception on people's phones. Imagine a roomful of people searching for reception haphazardly creating waves and patterns of light. The Mayborn Cellphones in museums? No longer taboo. Museum in Texas replaced hand- held audio guides, which often cost extra to rent, with a service visitors can access from their cell phones as they wander through the exhibit for no extra charge. Something had to be appealing to museum curators and directors about cell phones in particular. I suspect this personal and social accessory translates a sense of ownership to potentially intimi- dating gallery spaces. A common anxiety about museums is that people aren't prepared to look at unfamiliar art - but if the art depends on their Sidekick, they've come prepared. This summer, the renovated Liberty Science Center in Jersey City opened. Stations were set up throughout its galleries where visitors could blog their reactions after seeing works. This strategy, along with the incorporation of cell phone use into galleries, seems designed to encourage discourse from a society habitually inclined against it - at least concerning the visual arts. Museums may invest in trendy exhibits as insurance for the future of their more traditional collec- tions, but the danger stands that the wider audience to which pro- gressive museums cater may only want more of the same. - Sometimes Abby shows up at the Daily asa hologram and we can hardly tell the difference. E- mail her at abigabor@umich.edu. COUREYOFARTS&KCAFT Drew, third frow the top left, is the first ofta planned series of albums spotlighting Broken Social Scene's principal song writers. In the right 'Spirit' Broken Social Scene highlights one of its own By Derek Barber I Daily Arts Writer j veryone can write this song," Kevin Drew slurs on "Backed Out on the Cops," one of 14 tracks on Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew, Spirit If.., "but they can't write you and me." It's an apt line for more than one rea- son. Since Bro- ken Social , Scene first shattered the Broken indie-rock B e charts in 2002 Social Scene with the now- classic You PreSentS Forgot It In Spirit Drew People, the "little Cana- Spirit If... dian band that Arts& Crafts could" has set itself apart from all those other Pro Tools bedroom acts that somehow find time to compose between bong hits. This band of scene- stars is a little more than spe- cial. Spirit If... serves as the first in a series of "Broken Social Scene Presents..." albums featuring people who are already in the band. Make sense? Didn't think SO. Than again, maybe it's unfair to compare a "Broken Social Scene" record to a "Broken Social Scene presents" record. But as the title suggests, Spirit If wouldn't be half of what it is without Drew receiving con- siderable help from his bud- dies - members of Do Make Say Think, Stars, Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and, you guessed it, Leslie Feist. Fortunately, as a result, it's the record fans have yearned for since You Forgot It - because we haven't. While the dense patchwork of white noise on 2005's self-titled album, commonly referred to as BSS, wasn't without value, many of those tunes tended to plod along rather than bounce. Basically, unlike You Forgot It, it wasn't any good to drive to. This time around, however, on tracks like "Safety Bricks," it's a relief to hear Drew back in tip- top shape. It's straight-up song- writing with all the hooks that made those long drives at night not so long. Drew whispers, "So I won't kiss / The safety bricks / In a car that's quick / So we can split," and we're right with him, passenger side. Of course, itwouldn'tbe a BSS record without the language. Drew likes the F-word, and he likes it alot. But not ina way one might expect. Those "fucks" are dropped as soft as humanly pos- sible, rather than out of anger or frustration. They're more like bombs of exasperation, which explains a lot. As revealed on the ultra- catchy piano and flute lines on "TBTF" - an acronym for "To Beautiful To..." kiss, right? - it's obvious a lot of sweat and blood went into Spirit If And for any- one remotely disappointed with .2005's BSS, this hit's for you. While all the old gang is still present and accounted, new friends also enter the fold. The company Drew keeps isn't the undistinguished kind: legend- ary guitar slinger and Dinosaur Jr. founder J. Mascis squeals on "Backed Out on the Cops" as the drums steamroll along. At a husky 14 tracks, it isn't surprising that a couple of the tunes are relatively expendable, if not outwardly bad. The verse melody on "Lucky Ones" is addictive, but the hook doesn't deliver like you'd expect a Kevin Drew chorus should. Likewise, "Fucked Up Kid" is endearing enough, but the stripped-down acoustic chugging is a bit redun- dant considering this occurs in better moments throughout the record. But these are minor com- plaints in what is a relatively cohesive and thoroughly sat- isfying effort. It's no mistake the wobbly bass line and.nifty acoustic arpeggios in "Big Love" pay their dues to You ForgotIt's lovely "Stars and Sons." Just as it's no mistake "Gang Bang Sui- cide" plays as a sequel to 2002's "Shampoo Suicide." Kevin Drew may be giving us what we already know and love, but fuck, that's why we love it. WE R FINE, FINE ARTS AbbyColodner writes on the ongoing dispute over at the Massachusettes Museum of Contemporary Art. Look for updates. The Filter. michigandaily.com/thefilter DVD REVIEW The old neon 'Rock' of our childhoods COURTESY OF SUB POP Well, these kids are enthusiastic. New band, sound constant By MARK SCHULTZ Daily Arts Writer "Fraggle Rock" is one of those shows everyone remembers fondly. True, the television tastes of 9-year- olds are less than discrimi- nating - Jamie-Lynn Spears still has her own show, for example. But a criti- cal reeval- uation of this old Frgl favorite Rock doesn't expose S as many Lyons flaws as you might think. The show follows Red Fraggle, her Fraggle friends, the diminutive Doozers and Fraggle-eating Gorgs as they do nothing really but plan events and hang out. It's great to be a Fraggle, especially since you get to sing. The songs are with- out a doubt the best part of "Fraggle Rock" - alot of the tunes have melodic sensi- bilities reminiscent of Beach Boys songs and, unlike the bizarre musical sequences of such shows as "Flight of the Conchords," they fit seamlessly into the show's landscape. As cute as all the songs are, after watching "Fraggle Rock," it becomes evident why the Fraggles never gained the same level of fame as the Muppets. All the Fraggles look alike, and they are, for the most part, whiny, child-like characters whose innocence becomes tiresome. The show is too wholesome and lacks the character variety of bona fide classics like "Muppets Tonight." Besides the 22 episodes, this third season offers a bonus disc with far more behind-the-scenes and mak- ing-of specials than neces- Come on, you miss those Doozers. By KAREN STASEVICH Daily Arts Writer Seventies theme songs, aerobics, pep rallies, super- hero dance parties - The Go! Team mashes up the stuff of nostalgics' dreams in the 11 tracks * onitssopho- morealbum, The Go! Proof of Team Youth. Too bad Proof of Youth the group SubPop already did the same with its first release (then a solo act), Thunder, Lightning, Strike. It's hard to fathom how The Go! Team's transforma- tion from Ian Parton's one- man production housed in his parents' kitchen to a six- piece act ended in so little change. A sign of creative experimentation, even a mis- step, would be welcome here. The band should be capable of varying its formula, given that it gained not one but two drummers, a live rhym- ing vocalist in exchange for audio-clip mashing and a full three years for the new ingred gives? Still rial fai someth get an overall Go! Te enough old-sch Powers double variou, consor a" isr listene -anyti the ste Fror Ninja4 on "G listene less ofi track ients to reinvent.What Ninja adds a flavor distinctly pro-femme with "It's a wom- even as the mate- an's world /You've got to give iled to formulate into it what you got" and various sing better, it doesn't calls of "Ladies /Yeah." y worse, either. The "My World" stands out in a conception of The way that isn't altogether out- am's sound is creative standing, but it's still diver- h, bringing together gent enough from the rest of sool hip hop, "Austin the group's material. It's a s"-esque theme songs, mellow instrumental inter- -Dutch chanting and lude of guitar and various s sound samples in a keyboard sounds with soft tium that compels the maraca shaking. The entire thing is reminiscent of '70s sitcom background music. f o The Got Team's problem with progression probably stems from the way the band band that was actually formed. Thun- pus n der was entirely the work t pushmg of Parton and his mixing skills, but live performances itself. required band members and thus requisite change. The new musicians fit in perfectly - possibly so much that the addition stifled any creativ- r to tap, gyrate, flip out ity the new members brought hing other than sit by to the Team. And although it reo. seems the band can't alter its m the moment rapper formula, the good news is it's starts spitting rhymes working really well. But for rip Like A Vice," the the sake of a little construc- r s engaged. Regard- tive criticism, on the next its similarities to every album, how about showing on Thunder, Lightning, some inventive teamwork? U I I That hair will never go out of style. sode breakdowns featuring enough. "Fraggle Rock" may producer and director com- not be the pure joy it was as mentary on this disc might a Squeez-It-drinking pre- sary. If you're a huge fan of give you your fix. For the pubescent, but like an old the show, the slow-paced rest of us, though, viewing yearbook, its charms are fun audio commentaries and epi- a few episodes will be sweet on second look.