Way of Seeing in a Museum

When I walked into the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) in Spokane, WA, I did not expect to be able to see any of the exhibits. I was there to volunteer, but luckily, and unexpectedly, I was pressured to go and explore the exhibits before working. Because I was not expecting to visit a museum, my way of seeing the exhibits was different than it would normally be. Normally when I visit a museum I have some knowledge of what it holds and a small idea of what the exhibits will be. I was completely taken by surprise at the MAC.

The MAC has three main exhibits; a timeline of Spokane, an American Indian exhibit, and usually one or two art exhibits. When I visited the museum there was also a traveling exhibit titled "Out of This World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television." The Out of This World exhibit made me see popular movies and costumes in a new way. The museum environment made me look at something that normally I would barely even notice while watching a movie; what the people were wearing. When in a museum environment I notice how little details suddenly have importance. I also am aware of how unobservant I am in life outside of a museum. Also, because I was not planning to experience any of the exhibits I had no prejudgments of what I would see. I came into the MAC with an almost completely open mind, without any preconceived beliefs of what I would experience.

Picture of Indiana Jones Jacket from: http://empsfm.org.exhibitions/index.asp

Does Smithson's Spiral Jetty Make the Great Salt Lake a Museum?

What is a museum? Is a museum merely a building that holds objects of historical value or is a museum anything that encompasses an object of value? The Spiral Jetty is a great work of art designed by Robert Smithson. Smithson used nature, basalt rock, to create a spiral work of art in the middle of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Because the jetty is in a lake, it is greatly effected by the elements and conservationists must decide whether to let nature transform the Spiral Jetty or to interfere and keep the jetty the way it was when it was created by Smithson in 1970.

These concerns of preservation leads to the question, does Spiral Jetty make Great Salt Lake a museum? If Great Salt Lake was a museum because it holds one piece of artwork, then every location that has a sculpture, a work of art, or even a historical site would also become a museum. Also, if nature is considered artwork, national parks would also become museums. A line has to be drawn when it comes to what is and is not a museum.

According to the American Association of Museums, a museum is defined loosely as a non-profit organization that owns, cares for, and educates the public about tangible objects with exhibits on a physical site. The Great Salt Lake is not a museum because it is not a building, it is not run by a staff, and it really is not educational in nature or even available to the public on a consistent basis since the jetty is often underwater. If anything the Spiral Jetty and the Great Salt Lake should be part of a national park in order to conserve Smithson's artwork.

Works Cited
Kennedy, Randy. "How to Conserve Art That Lives in a Lake? "New York Times (2009): n. pag. Web. 19 Jan 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com>.
"What Is A Museum?" American Association of Museums. 19 Jan 2010. Web. <http://aam-us.org>.