Fees Contest Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of our contest for a free place at Museum Utopias.

Honorable mention goes to CP, via Facebook, who posted John and Yoko's declaration of Nutopia. However, since we had highlighted this as one of our Historical Utopias, this entry was not qualified to compete.

Second runner-up was JRH, also via Facebook, with this:

Bournville and the Cadbury's Museum- The village was built as a utopia, the factory based on utopian values and now the museum is a utopia for the modern women and her addiction to chocolate- there is no place like it!

For her feminist entry, JRH wins some museological books!

First runner up was SCG, with two entries:

I'm submitting a tee shirt I found that makes use of the idea of utopia in a kind of nonsensical way--I mean, if everyone is born smart, who are they going to eat? The woman on the shirt seems to be experiencing extreme frustration with 'stupid' people. Perhaps a utopia defined by the intelligence of its inhabitants is a particularly 'academic' idea of utopia.

and her second:

When I arrived in Baltimore for spring break last week I remembered the 'FoodTopia Cafe' I'd driven past many times. Despite its utopian name, I find this place a little sketchy. Its location on a street full of strip clubs isn't the problem so much as the fact some dude was urinating on a nearby building while I was taking the photo. I mean, maybe these factors add up to a utopia for someone, but for me, not so much!

For her enthusiasm, SCG also wins some museum studies books!

Finally, our winner, EM, who hit it out of the park with her multi-layered entry:

This photograph shows me viewing an utopic collage on the British Museum's website. The collage was made by Lilian Lijn and shows an view of a utopian New York, in which green walkways have been layered into the city's rooftops.I have photographed it from my desk, with the Barbican Estate in the background. The Barbican Estate was built with ideals of the good society, intended as a city within a city and designed to include the functions of a utopia within its brutalist walls. The balconies of the Barbican remind me of the floating walkways in Lijn's collage, because they are seasonally festooned with leafy plants.

The digital realm offers museums its own utopias of access, virtual walkways and new ways to connect and see the collection. The British Museum's online collection has created a new kind of collage, allowing me to set Lijn's artwork against the idealistic arhitecture of the Barbican development. Museum digitisation has brought to life two visions of utopia, showing me a new way to see a utopic project which is very much alive.

Congratulations to EM, who wins a free place at Museum Utopias and big kudos from us.

Enjoy this little trip to the world's utopias, and remember, you have until March 19 to register to attend!