“The Last Newspaper” | October 6, 2010–January 9, 2011
StoryCorps was proud to be a part of the “The Last Newspaper,” a major exhibition at the New Museum in New York City inspired by the ways artists approach the news and respond to the stories and images that command the headlines. The exhibition animates the Museum with signature artworks and a constant flow of information-gathering and processing undertaken by organizations and artist groups that were invited to inhabit offices within the museum’s galleries.
For visitors, “The Last Newspaper” was a unique site of dialogue, participation, and critical thinking, posing new possibilities for a contemporary art museum experience. The exhibition was co-curated by Richard Flood, Chief Curator of the New Museum, and Benjamin Godsill, Curatorial Associate.
Partner organizations uses on-site offices to present their research, engage in rapid prototyping, and stage public dialogues, opening up the galleries as spaces of intellectual production as well as display. As a partner organization in “The Last Newspaper,” StoryCorps presented a selection of its popular radio pieces and animations while exploring new approaches to working with its ever-growing archive of over 35,000 interviews. During the exhibition, StoryCorps staff created new models for providing access to interview content that served as prototypes for future projects. StoryCorps also created and populated a reference desk at the Museum, providing public access to a portion of its archive for the first time ever in New York City. StoryCorps staff was on hand to assist visitors in searching the archive for topics of interest and listening to full, unedited interviews. As the exhibition progressed, a new archive was created based on the interest and varied searches of the museum visitors themselves, and reflects the nature of the changing collection.
