Blueprints and Scripts

It seems that this course is already changing my ideas about museums, and how I will experience them in the future! Until reading the first few articles in our text book, I only thought of the museum as a place that human civilization created in order to house all the art being produced by humanity and to provide another vehicle for the study of history and culture. It is those things, and it sounds like the people in the below video would agree! But now I know it is also so much more... or at least, its history consists of more. :)

Firstly, I thought that it was interesting to learn about the word museum. While a bit dry for my taste, the article on this topic was insightful and comprehensive. I liked learning that the word museum originally was not used only in reference to a tangible structure or even collection, but that it was more of an "epistemological structure which encompassed a variety of ideas, images, and institutions that were central to late Renaissance culture" (Findlen, 23). The term museum used to be much less specific, and more as an umbrella term for a wide variety of philosophical modes, discussions, and memes. "The Renaissance notion of museum [only] defined [an] imaginary space" (Findlen, 27). The word then evolved into a means for gathering materials for a text, and eventually into a name for the institution that we are familiar with today. 

I loved the metaphors, comparisons and evocations drawn for the modern public museum in The Universal Survey Museum by Carol Duncan and Alan Wallach. Even if it was not always in direct comparison, I liked how often they crossed-referenced other cultures and practices.

Museums... 

are "simultaneously temples, palaces, treasuries and tombs - buildings filled with echoes of ancient ceremonial practices of accumulation and display."

are like "Roman displays of war trophies."

are "Western supremacy and world domination." 

The Museum...

"stands as a symbol of the state, and those who pass through its doors enact a ritual that equates state authority with the idea of civilization." 

"organizes the visitor's experience as a script organizes a [theatrical] performance."

is "set up only for the sacred purposes of art." 

I think my favorite one is the notion of specialized ritual, and how the museum's architectual set-up is comparable to the script of a play. So interesting to me. This was illustrated later in the article, when the authors detail the ritualistic experience of the Louvre. I'm so glad I read that part, because if I ever get to visit the Louvre, I'll know why certain elements (like the arches, or the grand staircase) are in place! And of course, now I will be trying to figure out the experiential intentions of each museum I ever visit in the future (...in addition to experiencing the art). Sounds like all my future museum visits will consist of either 1. much verbal processing and probably annoying my friends or 2. trying my darndest to internally process all of my conjectures based on the architectural layout of each institution. Haha! Here's to the art nerds... :)