Shock, outrage, scandal: #savemimsy

Here at the Ministry we endeavor to de-mystify the behind-the-scenes goings on of the museum world for the general public. But for this post, we are making an exception to our stated mission to talk about something which has rocked the very core of the museum world, but which will mean very little to everybody else. Did you hear that Adlib is taking over MIMSY?! Not even just that, they are throwing CALM in the mix as well!

But I only just updated my software!

For any intrepid non-museum readers, these bizarre acronyms are, in fact, the names of widely used collections management databases. What are collections management databases? Basically just electronic versions of all of our stuff- what it is, where it is, the essentials more or less. We couldn’t function without it, or rather we’d have to go back to using paper registers and inventory cards (shivers). As to why they have such bizarre names, I have no idea. Take for example, the hilariously named and much beloved MIMSY which sounds like we keep all of our data stored in…well…an old-timey name for female genitalia. And then there’s Adlib, which makes it sound like we make all this shit up. And lastly CALM, which I can guarantee makes you feel anything but that. Yes, before you ask, the usefulness of the database is reflective of its price.

Each of these databases has their benefits and challenges, but I think I can safely say, the general feeling in the museum community is Adlib sucks, and MIMSY rules. As someone who has used both professionally, I agree with this assessment. MIMSY is the all-singing all-dancing database, with more export and search functions than you can shake a stick at, and beautifully linked dynamic databases all tied together to link exhibitions, loans, media, people, places, and locations to one object record. Adlib, on the other hand, is like a shinier version of CALM. It’s just an access database with more tab options. It doesn’t even have a grid view for f**k sake. You mean I have to click through these records INDIVIDUALLY to check each location??

So you can imagine the dismay when it was announced that Axiell (the company that owns Adlib and CALM) is now ‘merging’ with Selago (purveyors of MIMSY). But let’s not kid ourselves, it’s Adlib getting their hands on my beloved MIMSY. And yes, all the innuendo that comes along with that. What will this mean for us all?! Will the merger mean we can finally do away with clumsy Adlib in favour of MIMSY? Or will we lose all the snazzy programming we have come to know and love?

Selago will, apparently, be answering these concerns at a meeting held at Kings College, London on January 9^th. http://www.adlibsoft.com/news/ug2014announce

We remain skeptical. Skeptical, concerned, and interested in what all you other database lovers have to say. Do you work in collections management or documentation? Share your thoughts using the hashtag #savemimsy (even if you are maybe excited for the switch, which we really doubt you are).

Shocking Shunga? Review: 'Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art' at The British Museum

The British Museum's latest prints and drawings exhibition ‘Shunga: Sex and Humour in Japanese Art’ appears to be their most explicit exhibition since their opening in 1753. It seems to be another blockbuster from the leading Museum but is the exhibition as exciting as it's hype?

Some very careful marketing going on for an exhibition with an age limit. 

A phenomenon of early modern Japan, Shunga flouted the strict Confucian laws of virtue and ethics with the art movements sexually explicit paintings, prints and illustrated books.  Although Japan was no sex party during the period, Shunga was openly part of everyday life. Reaching out to  the working and middle classes the works provided a light hearted and often bizarre instruction manual to new brides on their wedding day for centuries. However as the ‘spring pictures’ depicted enlarged genitalia and same sex copulation it’s no surprise that with the westernisation of Japan in the twentieth century that the beautiful, amusing and educational images became taboo and soon disappeared.

Even once the British Museum acquired some of the thousands of images their graphic content was deemed so shocking that they continued to be hidden from the Western world. Rumour dictates that Shunga images were stored in a locked secretarum along with other ‘obsence’ artifacts until the twenty- first century when they were dispersed and undoubtedly enjoyed across the departments. A very different story to the Wellcome Collection’s housing at the Science Museum where Dildos are proudly exhibited in storage and Chinese sex figurines lay in glass fronted cases – the Wellcome could certainly do a very shocking exhibition with their haul. 

Is Shunga as shocking now? The ornate pictures can certainly be seen as some sort of early modern pornography but now when we visit museums that often show us historic sex toys and paintings of passionate clinches, the exaggerated genitalia definitely brings more humourous edge and proves  that size has always mattered! I was relieved to see a continuous positive approach to sex throughout the exhibition. Women are encouraged to be sexual (even with  an octopus) and same sex copulation is acceptable. It’s clear to see that these images influenced Toulouse Lautrec and his positive sexualisation of women in his notorious 'moulin rouge' paintings.



Unfortunately the exhibition layout failed to magnify the shocking elements of the work and severely lacked in objects to accompany the images and fill the large space. The  exhibition only features a very small spattering of carved copulating ivory figurines, and a couple of stunning Kimonos. Although the works are well presented in retro cabinets lining the walls it’s this layout that leads to the downfall of this exhibition and the majority of British Museum blockbusters: TOO MANY PEOPLE!  Any excitement and shock is almost instantaneously lost as crowds gather and begin to form queues around the glass.  Resulting in shocked gasps, giggles and excited chatter ruining the scandalous effects for the next visitor, fortunately for a few exaggerated illustrations it was possible to see a few phallas' over a chuckling shoulder. 

But when I finally got to see all of the naughty bits and pieces I was giggling too, not because of how shockingly accentuated the penis’ and vulva's are but because they depict strange and hilarious situations. For example one piece of Shunga shows men competing in a phallic contest and ‘fart battle’, bizarrely judged by court officials.

The shock factor may disappear with the crowd but Shunga is a strong, beautiful art that must not go back into the secretarum. So get your elbows out, battle the crowd and see the British Museum’s latest prints and drawings show. 








Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art' is open until 5th January 2014. Book tickets here: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/shunga.aspx