The Rice University Art Gallery uses 56". I prefer 54" in my own work.
Houston is heavily under the influence of Walter Hopps who likes to hang
work very low. A New Yorker article described this with some hyperbole a
couple of years ago and there was no mention of eyes as the anatomical
reference point! I must add that the Menil Collection knows how to hang an
show.
Krist Bender
RiceArts
URL: http://riceinfo.rice.edu/projects/depts/arts/
.