In Svetlana Alpers’ article titled “The Museum as a Way of Seeing” she observes the interesting feeling that we all have experienced when in a museum. This is a strange occurrence and I will talk about my take on this phenomenon.
I have been to my fair share of museums and they all have different effects based on a few different components. The first would be the content of the museum. The effect of the museum will be greater if it has something interesting to the specific person who is going. For example I, myself, favor historical museums (particularly American history) so obviously a museum like that will get me more excited than an art museum. I have been to most of the important sites of the revolution and civil war, subjects that I love most of all in American history. The experience started far before we got to the museum. I was very excited to go and see all old battle fields and the artifacts that have been found and displayed. When I got there my eyes were opened and ready to see all these things and to hear about each one of them from a museum worker. However the experience goes both ways, I remember I went to the glass museum and I had been dreading it for the whole day. These effects the way people perceive museums, even if the museum is arranged nicely and has a lot of information about the objects or in my case the works of art, the observer will still come away with a negative impression because the subject of the museum was not interesting to that individual.
The next two factors of perception of a museum I have already mentioned, arrangement and information. These are not as important as the focus of the museum but they still have the ability of changing a good experience at a museum in to a bland and forgettable day trip. Arrangement of the items in a museum will get the viewers attention or not. Also the question of “how much information?” is crucial to the success of the museum in the spectator’s eyes.
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I found it interesting that when you talk about your experience when going to a museum that a large portion of the excitement and experience you get is prior to when you arrive. You have a expectations of the museum which greatly influence you. I wonder if this experience is common for most people or if it is the actual items and the museum that influence you more. I feel as though that it is the collections that are the greatest influence on myself so I am very intrigued by your experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree that content and arrangement are important when viewing a museum because people often choose to visit a museum based on the exhibits and information it displays. When I was younger there was nothing worse than being dragged to a museum by my parents and not being interested in it. If this happens, you don't take the time to look around and learn new information. If you're interested in what is there it's a completely different experience because you want to explore and experience all that the museum has to offer. However, arrangement comes into play at this instance because no matter how interested you are in the material, if it's difficult to move around or items aren't displayed in a visitor-friendly way then it's easy to get discouraged.
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