The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Offers Detailed Vision
The coming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art pledges to "challenge the way people think about museums," and will feature "popular art from illustration to comics, an insider's perspective on the cinematic creative process, and the boundless potential of the digital medium." This is part of the most detailed vision yet offered publicly for the new museum, which is backed by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and slated for Chicago Park District land in parking lots south of Soldier Field.
Replacing a more basic site, the museum put up a new website this week, lucasmuseum.org, that lays out Lucas's vision in much more detail. There is an interesting section that suggests the Lucas will come very close to being a museum of cinema and cutting-edge film presentation space. Museum officials have not commented beyond what is available on the site, but Lucas, is expected to have more to say on the topic when he appears at a Chicago Ideas Week event next Friday.
A spokeswoman said The Lucas Museum is searching for a director, hoping to hire one by the end of the year. In the meantime, the vision comes primarily from the film director and technical pioneer, she said.
On the website, the museum pledges to highlight "educational outreach" and to sponsor a lecture series featuring "the most gifted, intriguing and inventive artists and filmmakers of our time, with topics spanning the spectrum from Comic Art to cutting-edge Digital Architecture." It also wants to offer "a comprehensive collection of regional, national and international cinema, experimental and independent film, video, and digital media." It pledges to "collaborate with local film festivals and present premieres and sneak previews of highly anticipated films."
There's more: "The Lucas Museum will regularly screen legendary archival films and offer conversations with filmmakers, film scholars and critics. In addition, the Museum will host workshops for schools, colleges and after-school programs, as well as lectures on the history of cinema, with an emphasis on regional cinema." All of the above comes under the heading "A new kind of museum." The Lucas' apparent three principal subject areas are highlighted at the top of the home page, under three principal headers, "Narrative Art," "Art of Cinema" and "Digital Art."
"To keep the community up to date," the website says, "The Lucas Museum website will feature a live web-cam as well as time-lapse photography to showcase the progression of the building's design."
For more information on the museum, visit lucasmuseum.org.
Read the original article here.
Photo Courtesy of the Lucas Museum's Facebook
