The directors of the Prado and the Reina Sofía, Miguel Falomir and Manuel Segade, sat together for the first time in public to celebrate Museum Day. The meeting marked an end to years of distance. Both acknowledged that, although they compete in the global cultural Champions League, their coffers barely allow them to play in the Regional Second Division.
Open source and algorithms to share collections 🤖
Falomir and Segade propose unifying digital cataloging systems and developing shared APIs that allow cross-referencing data from their collections. The idea is to create a single search engine that integrates holdings from both museums, optimizing technical resources. This approach would allow developers to build applications that showcase the evolution of Spanish art from the 12th century to the present day without duplicating infrastructure.
The Champions League of bargain budgets 💸
While the Louvre and the British Museum invest in new wings and glass elevators, our museums compete to see who can best patch the warehouse leak. Falomir and Segade promise cooperation, but what they really need is for the Treasury to stop looking at them as if they were a luxury expense. Perhaps the next step will be a crowdfunding campaign to buy a popcorn cart at the ticket office.