6 ms·

What gets me is that in a world where artists often experiment with viewer interactivity, sometimes you just can't tell what in a museum you're supposed to touc

What gets me is that in a world where artists often experiment with viewer interactivity, sometimes you just can't tell what in a museum you're supposed to touch and what you're not supposed to touch. There was a huge retrospective exhibition of Yoko Ono's work at Musee d'Art Contemporain in Lyon, France in 2016. Included were a mixture of interactive/participatory elements (ladders you were meant to climb, a room filled with hammers and nails that you were supposed to contribute to by banging a nail into whatever you wanted) and other obviously not interactive elements (videos, paintings, things protected by glass). And I remember, in the same room as the ladders you could climb and combat helmets suspended from the ceiling by ropes that were swinging around because people were walking through them, was a sheet of either canvas or paper mounted on the wall, with another piece of either canvas or paper suspended about an inch in front of it by some string, with some holes cut into the front sheet so that you could just see that there was something drawn or written on the hidden layer. Well, in a room filled with people talking and laughing and climbing ladders and pushing helmets around, I went to peek behind the curtain and lifted up the front layer to take a look at the one behind. A custodian ran at me and told me to step away. I still don't know if I damaged it or participated in it.

lucaspiller 10y ago
You reminded me of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm
- paulddraper 10y ago
  Geez. I'm trying to be understanding, but if your work was mistaken for garbage... It's like someone tossing my code because it looked like the output of /dev/random...
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - mcguire 10y ago
    Let's just say that comments are important when you write Perl.
    - paulddraper 10y ago
      head -c 100 /dev/random | perl
- Joof 10y ago
  Considering they called it 'auto-destructive' art; I think the point was that it would eventually be thrown away on accident. I love this.
exergy 10y ago
I was in Manchester Museum recently, looking at samples of Mars and Moon rocks etc., and in classic British wry humour, there was an all caps sign exhorting us to "PLEASE TOUCH". Problem solved :)
- devmunchies 10y ago
  A physics professor in college brought a meteorite to class and wanted everyone to touch every nook and cranny of that thing because it was high in iron and our oils helped keep it from rusting.
nebabyte 10y ago
"You might think I'm interacting with pieces that are not supposed to be touched, but I'm actually providing a valuable commentary on how even in the subjective realm of art, ego seeks the power to maintain control and enforce 'approved behavior' upon what are equal expressions of art" "Sir, we need to ask you to leave" "See, you do get it!"
- HarryHirsch 10y ago
  Two Naked Men Jump into Tracey's Bed The Bed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed The Naked Men: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yuan_and_Jian_Jun_Xi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yuan_and_Jian_Jun_Xi
  - nebabyte 10y ago
    > The artists were detained but no further action was taken. See, the detainment was part of the performance. It symbolized the futility of consequence, commented on the ephemeral attention of the general public, and highlighted that no one is surprised that tracey has naked men jumping into her bed
jansho 10y ago
> sometimes you just can't tell what in a museum you're supposed to touch and what you're not supposed to touch. In one pop sculpture exhibition, I stared so long at a coffee machine until an attendant came over and asked me if there was a problem with the refreshments.
- acomjean 10y ago
  I was a museum security guard and a patron was confused. " can I sit there " he asked. " sure It's just a bench" Though they had an art toys exhibit where the line was less clear. especially the playground jungle gym based art. The signs did little to stop kids..
- tyingq 10y ago
  Are there any documented studies where art experts were challenged to differentiate between: - abstract paintings by someone universally regarded as "good", and something done by a very young child? - a piece of new, legitimate, modern art vs maybe a pile of random things from a junkyard I'm aware it might just be me that's confused, but I have a suspicion much of the abstract and/or modern art world is void of value...that is, without lots of context about the artist and their intentions.
  - dpierce9 10y ago
    Why should context not matter for art (or anything else really)? Suppose you come across a what appears to be a picture of Mozart in the sand on a beach. Doesn't it matter to your understanding of what you see if it was drawn by an artist, the happenstance by the motion of the waves, or a crawling turtle?
    - cprecioso 10y ago
      The context is important, but that an artwork does not have to have any special value in of itself, certainly is a change that some people do not get used to.
      - 10y ago
k-mcgrady 10y ago
Did the info/explanation of the piece or the program not indicate whether it was interactive or not?
ghostly_s 10y ago
There is a sadistic installation at the MoMA, which is a single, fine steel filament suspended from ceiling to floor. There is a small weight on the floor holding it taught, but otherwise the wire is nearly invisible as you walk through the space. I imagine that is very much the point, but I do not know whether installing it right in the middle of a busy room was also a directive from the artist. In any case, the end result of these perplexing decisions is that a security guard has to be dedicated to stand next to this single piece, all day long, advising people not to bump into it. I cannot imagine a job more Sisyphean.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  > I cannot imagine a job more Sisyphean. For what it's worth, if you go to see (or interact) with Maurizio Cattelan's "America"[1] at the Guggenheim in New York, it is a staffer's job to stand by the door and check on it after every person's visit. (After my turn, I asked the staffer if that was the weirdest job they'd ever had to do, and she said that it wasn't; perhaps she had previously worked at the MoMA.) 1: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/maurizio-cattelan-america https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/maurizio-cattelan-amer...
  - shalmanese 10y ago
    The SFMOMA had a Bruce Conner exhibition recently that displayed his artwork TOUCH/DO NOT TOUCH [1] which had to have a guard stationed out front full time whose sole job was telling patrons they couldn't touch the artwork that said "touch" on it. 1: https://www.moma.org/m/tours/55/tour_stops/687?locale=en https://www.moma.org/m/tours/55/tour_stops/687?locale=en
strictnein 10y ago
I leaned against some shelving at a museum once. Turns out it wasn't shelving, but some unlabeled art. shrug

lucaspiller 10y ago

You reminded me of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm

paulddraper 10y ago
Geez. I'm trying to be understanding, but if your work was mistaken for garbage... It's like someone tossing my code because it looked like the output of /dev/random...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mcguire 10y ago
  Let's just say that comments are important when you write Perl.
  - paulddraper 10y ago
    head -c 100 /dev/random | perl
Joof 10y ago
Considering they called it 'auto-destructive' art; I think the point was that it would eventually be thrown away on accident. I love this.

exergy 10y ago

I was in Manchester Museum recently, looking at samples of Mars and Moon rocks etc., and in classic British wry humour, there was an all caps sign exhorting us to "PLEASE TOUCH". Problem solved :)

devmunchies 10y ago
A physics professor in college brought a meteorite to class and wanted everyone to touch every nook and cranny of that thing because it was high in iron and our oils helped keep it from rusting.

nebabyte 10y ago

"You might think I'm interacting with pieces that are not supposed to be touched, but I'm actually providing a valuable commentary on how even in the subjective realm of art, ego seeks the power to maintain control and enforce 'approved behavior' upon what are equal expressions of art" "Sir, we need to ask you to leave" "See, you do get it!"

HarryHirsch 10y ago
Two Naked Men Jump into Tracey's Bed The Bed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed The Naked Men: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yuan_and_Jian_Jun_Xi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yuan_and_Jian_Jun_Xi
- nebabyte 10y ago
  > The artists were detained but no further action was taken. See, the detainment was part of the performance. It symbolized the futility of consequence, commented on the ephemeral attention of the general public, and highlighted that no one is surprised that tracey has naked men jumping into her bed

jansho 10y ago

> sometimes you just can't tell what in a museum you're supposed to touch and what you're not supposed to touch. In one pop sculpture exhibition, I stared so long at a coffee machine until an attendant came over and asked me if there was a problem with the refreshments.

acomjean 10y ago
I was a museum security guard and a patron was confused. " can I sit there " he asked. " sure It's just a bench" Though they had an art toys exhibit where the line was less clear. especially the playground jungle gym based art. The signs did little to stop kids..
tyingq 10y ago
Are there any documented studies where art experts were challenged to differentiate between: - abstract paintings by someone universally regarded as "good", and something done by a very young child? - a piece of new, legitimate, modern art vs maybe a pile of random things from a junkyard I'm aware it might just be me that's confused, but I have a suspicion much of the abstract and/or modern art world is void of value...that is, without lots of context about the artist and their intentions.
- dpierce9 10y ago
  Why should context not matter for art (or anything else really)? Suppose you come across a what appears to be a picture of Mozart in the sand on a beach. Doesn't it matter to your understanding of what you see if it was drawn by an artist, the happenstance by the motion of the waves, or a crawling turtle?
  - cprecioso 10y ago
    The context is important, but that an artwork does not have to have any special value in of itself, certainly is a change that some people do not get used to.
    - 10y ago

k-mcgrady 10y ago

Did the info/explanation of the piece or the program not indicate whether it was interactive or not?

ghostly_s 10y ago

There is a sadistic installation at the MoMA, which is a single, fine steel filament suspended from ceiling to floor. There is a small weight on the floor holding it taught, but otherwise the wire is nearly invisible as you walk through the space. I imagine that is very much the point, but I do not know whether installing it right in the middle of a busy room was also a directive from the artist. In any case, the end result of these perplexing decisions is that a security guard has to be dedicated to stand next to this single piece, all day long, advising people not to bump into it. I cannot imagine a job more Sisyphean.

pavel_lishin 10y ago
> I cannot imagine a job more Sisyphean. For what it's worth, if you go to see (or interact) with Maurizio Cattelan's "America"[1] at the Guggenheim in New York, it is a staffer's job to stand by the door and check on it after every person's visit. (After my turn, I asked the staffer if that was the weirdest job they'd ever had to do, and she said that it wasn't; perhaps she had previously worked at the MoMA.) 1: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/maurizio-cattelan-america https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/maurizio-cattelan-amer...
- shalmanese 10y ago
  The SFMOMA had a Bruce Conner exhibition recently that displayed his artwork TOUCH/DO NOT TOUCH [1] which had to have a guard stationed out front full time whose sole job was telling patrons they couldn't touch the artwork that said "touch" on it. 1: https://www.moma.org/m/tours/55/tour_stops/687?locale=en https://www.moma.org/m/tours/55/tour_stops/687?locale=en

strictnein 10y ago

I leaned against some shelving at a museum once. Turns out it wasn't shelving, but some unlabeled art. shrug