Looking to beat the heat? Check out some of NYC's coolest Summer exhibits

90 degree weather and stuffy subway platforms are here to stay (for a while).  With Summer officially here, we thought you might like to know whats going in NYC's (air-conditioned) museums.  Check out this comprehensive list of exhibits.

If you're too hot and bothered to look through the entire list, we've taken the time to bring you some highlights:

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’ (through Aug. 14)
This entertaining exhibition proves that high fashion rarely looks quite as frivolous and cluelessly 1 percent-ish as when it upgrades aspects of the obstreperous punk sartorial mode, adding gold-plated safety pins, careful rips and holes, and a feigned DIY look that can involve materials like garbage bags or cellophane.Cleverness abounds. A few designers absorb and transform punk attributes, but most garments simplistically scream punk. Not for nothing do they call the show’s organizing department the Costume Institute. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org

Metropolitan Museum of Art: ‘The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi’ (through Nov. 3) Visitors to the Met’s rooftop will discover something shocking: the stone terrace is splattered with paint the color of dried blood so that it resembles the scene of some terrible crime. Looking closer at the areas of spillage, viewers will find they have been delicately altered. With deft white and red brush strokes, the Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi has worked into the raw paint a pattern suggestive of leafy shrubbery and flower petals, turning the whole into a politically fraught, allegorical mix symbolizing dualities of life and death and hope and despair. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org.

MoMA PS1: ‘Expo 1: New York’ (through Sept. 2) A sprawling, multisite extravaganza including a multitude of installations, shows-within-shows and events, “Expo 1: New York” offers few answers but raises many provocative questions about the current and future state of our planet’s unsettled human and natural ecology. Attractions at PS1 range from a beautiful show of pictures by the beloved nature photographer Ansel Adams to a refrigerated room containing chunks from an Icelandic glacier by Olafur Eliasson. On 53rd Street, next to the Museum of Modern Art, “Rain Room” invites viewers into a chamber where steady precipitation ceases wherever bodies are detected by high-tech hardware. 22-25 Jackson Avenue, at 46th Avenue, Long Island City, (718) 784-2084, ps1.org

Museum of Modern Art: ‘Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store’ and ‘Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum, Ray Gun Wing’ (through Aug. 5) Pop Art is based on two things: ordinariness and eating. It’s about daily consumption; the democratic appetite, ravenous for meat, sweets, life on the street, and getting more of everything, cheap. No artist cooked up a tastier version of the primal Pop recipe than Claes Oldenburg did in New York in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The art he made in that brief, fecund time is the focus of a two-meals-for-the-price-of-one MoMA feast. (212) 708-9400, moma.org

Museum App: Pre-Sign and Get a Discount

Interested in our new Museum App? We're about to launch a comprehensive guide to NYC museums for $1.99. To get it for just 99 cents, sign up before we launch!

Be the first in line sending an email to thearchivistsnyc@gmail.com.

Museums for Kids

Going to a museum with children can be a harrowing experience, or a fantastic one. Make sure that you're prepared with a museum that your kids will love! There are many museums that are geared towards children, especially in the New York area.

What's the trick? Find an age-appropriate, kid-friendly place, one that encourages touching and moving!

Brooklyn Children's Museum:
A play area for toddlers (admittedly, the museum-value of this is a little dubious), exhibits upstairs for older kids, and friendly, interesting topics.

Intrepid:
For older kids (6 and up), since the stairs are pretty steep and there are lots of sharp objects. But what kid wouldn't want to see military planes and a space shuttle!

New York Transit Museum
Located in an abandoned station, this museum is a must for all kids who love trains. They can romp through decommissioned subway cars, learn about the MTA, and have a fantastic time!

Liberty Science Center
Not far from NYC, just across the water, is one of the best science museums in the nation. With tons of hands-on exhibits, learning has never been this much fun...

Technology and Museum Exhibits

By Asher Halpert, Posted on June 9th, 2013

Just saw this great NY Times article about how museums are utilizing technology, including mobile and social. Check it out here. The article focuses on fashion exhibits, but the ideas are applicable to all types.

Highlights from the article:

1. A fashion museum in London is showing film clips of actresses wearing the dress in the exhibit.
2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is showing a hologram of Kate Moss wearing an Alexander McQueen collection.
3. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology allows guests to tweet their reactions to exhibits and then to view a collection of all user reactions.

There are some really great ideas in the article and definitely a lot more room for many more!!

Everything That Is Old Is Cool Again

By Mau Chan posted June 8, 2013

At some point in your life you visit a place that fills you with wonder. What is it about that place that spurs your imagination? Can you imagine a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, or when man discovered fire, these images can capture your senses and fill you with wonder. For the young and young at heart, a short journey to the American Museum of Natural History can give you this experience and so much more.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is one of the quintessential landmarks if you are visiting NYC or passionate about art, history, and culture. Located adjacent to scenic Central Park, AMNH includes exhibits from the prehistoric era to the exploration in space. The museum is also referenced in popular culture. In the series Friends, Ross worked as a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History.  The museum also served as a backdrop for an episode of How I Met Your MOther and the movie the Night at the Museum.

During my visit to AMNH, it was great to see the love for science being bolstered by the museum. Middle school students from the NYC area were invited to the main hall to display their science experiments with the iconic whale as the backdrop.

What AMNH is responsible for introducing its audience to knowledge in the form of curated art. Through different exhibits one learns about the rise and fall of different civilizations. The journey of man from Neanderthal to space pioneer.  My afternoon trip was filled with nostalgia and a sense that the passion to learn continues with the next generation.  Everyone should make time to visit this institution, and a wise person once said,"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".  

Take a look at the article and head to our Facebook page or tweet us @the_archivists to tell us what you think!

Museum Ownership of Human Remains Questioned

By Allison Gold, posted on June 8, 2013

The New York Times posted an article that talks about indigenous cultures who are demanding that museums return human remains. These artifacts that we see as important to modern science, art and education, are someones ancestors, and those groups feel strongly that their relatives remains should no longer be on display. The question for us as museum-goers is an ethical one. Natural history museums are some of the world's most popular, and we flock to these museums not only to be entertained but also to learn -- about human biology and about different cultures. Without these human artifacts, museums will lose many educational pieces, but we can understand why people want their ancestors' remains returned. It's a tricky question -- one we here at The Archivists are split on.

Take a look at the article and head to our Facebook page or tweet us @the_archivists to tell us what you think!