GLAM/Newsletter/July 2011/Contents/Spain report
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Picasso gets a face-lift
By Kippelboy
Picasso's Las Meninas
[edit]During July, Àlex Hinojo, the Wikipedian in Residence at the Museo Picasso in Barcelona, conducted an experiment with the librarian and the curator of the Museu Picasso. The museum displays Picasso's Las Meninas series, created by Pablo Picasso in 1957, inspired by the work of Velázquez. The project consisted of creating an article, utilising the best existing resources, documentation and advice. This was provided by the museum curators and librarians, focusing on a specific object, and without restrictions.
The participants had time, books and a laptop. To create the article, Hinojo also had access to a lot of information and documents preserved in the museum, some of which usually had restricted acces. He also received the support of the departments of conservation, the museum library and digital projects. The result is an article in Catalan over 70k and with more than 135 references, which is currently being reviewed and hopefully soon to be declared a Featured Article. Once it is complete, work will begin on translation into other languages such as English, French and Spanish, with help from remote Wikimedians. Importantly, during the creation of this entry, participants also created 33 other related articles, to contextualize the artwork. It's not only about 1 focussed topic, but 1 area of knowledge extracted from a museum library and released.
The article has become the best existing online resource for Picasso's Las Meninas, proving that the collaboration between curators and wikipedians can be very beneficial for both parties.
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