The commitment of these museums to new media has prompted debates on the issues of collecting and conserving digital media, even though there is currently little commercial support for the creation and production of net art. Digital art has hit the big time in terms of recognition now that major museums are showcasing it. Canada's Minister of Culture launches a new Virtual Museum of Canada. It contains an art gallery with more than 200,000 images, including paintings from the Group of Seven, Inuit sculpture and photographs. In the month before it closed for a five-year renovation, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art attracted 54,000 visitors.
Online visitors can see a lot more than what used to hang on the walls.
For example, the museum could display fewer than 1,000 photos, paintings, sculptures and other artifacts. During the renovation, online visitors can download 16 virtual exhibits and 4,000 objects at any time. Art in Technological Times. He s also a vocal proponent of incorporating new technologies into museums. The contemporary museum's role today is no longer purely as a vehicle for showcasing art, but also as a space to discuss the contrast of values and ideas.