> Hi Janelle et al.:
>
> Do you share this same view about historic sites?  At Monticello: No point
> having signageabout who lived there, right?  At the Vietnam War
> Memorial in
> Washington: No point having a directory so that visitors can find
> a specific
> name buried amongst the thousands?  At Gettysburg: Just a big
> open field . . .
> no need for a sign, so people might just drive on by without
> knowing to stop?

Interesting, but none of these are pieces of art and designed to be viewed
as such (with the possible exception of the Memorial - which is more an
architectural sculpture combining form and function). Two out of the three
are historic sites whose original function or historic significance is long
past, The third is, if you like, a living historic site - you are really
comparing apples and oranges.

I would argue (and maybe you wouldn't) that there is a big difference in
significance within a Museum/Gallery setting between a Picasso and a tin of
Victorian tripe from Franklin's expedition to find the Northwest Passage
(just happened to have photographed one of those...). I believe that at
certain levels almost anyone can engage with the Picasso in one way or
another (even though certain forms of engagement may need more understanding
and experience than others), but most people would need a label and
explanation as to why this rusty old tin can is in this glass case in a
Museum?

> Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that people - adults and chilren
> alike - expect instant gratification . . . that the AVERAGE art
> museum visitor
> looks at a painting or sculpture about 5 seconds?  (Is this the latest
> statistic?)  The only way to get people to LOOK longer - so taht
> they do learn
> something - is to provide MORE information, which is to say something
> comprehensible to aid deeper understanding.

Actually - I would say the complete opposite. While I wouldn't argue for a
complete lack of information and context for works of art, I think part of
the point of this article is that much of the information that is provided
is unnecessary and is possibly provided in excess of what is really required
to allow a visitor to focus on the piece of art itself - indeed it does the
work for the visitor/viewer (and from personal experience an awful lot of it
is trite - quite often the quality and level of scholarship of what written
about a piece comes nowhere close to doing that particular work justice -
often over simplifying and reducing things to the lowest common
denominator).

What happens is a person "does" each piece or gallery - reads the labels,
listens to the audio guide, reads the 12 lines in the catalogue - okay, done
that - and moves on. Not taking the time (or effort) to engage with the
piece. I would say that more often than not the "labels" in the various
forms do exactly what you outline above - they actually aid and abet in the
instant gratification more than the other way around (what I liked about the
Tate Modern was, next to the coffee shop, a library area with easy chairs
and coffee tables, a big glass window looking over the Thames to St Paul's
cathedral and lots of relevant books and articles on the pieces in the
exhibitions - on the several visits I made there probably 80% of the people
cosied down with a coffee and a big art book were teenagers).

My understanding of what the article was saying was this approach was a
serious attempt to enable people to engage with the pieces. Not everything
needs to be explained - especially as far as art is concerned. Confusion and
bewilderment are also valid responses - indeed that could well be the
artists intent (not always, but sometimes). I think this approach is
certainly an interesting corrective to a pendulum that has perhaps swung too
far towards the didactic/educational approach

tim a

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