Writing 2: Way of Seeing

Museums influence my way of seeing because by having context to what I am viewing I can heighten my understanding of the objects that I view. Museums have the ability to influence the way that I view an object by the structure and detail that the object is given. For example, if I go to an art exhibit I might see paintings without a name or description that are lined up right next to each other. If a museum is structured in this way it allows me to casually walk around and view the paintings, but after a while this becomes tiresome because I don’t understand what I’m seeing. However, if paintings are given the right amount of space and some description of the artist and time period I take more time with each piece that I’m particularly interested in which enhances my experience. The reason that I enjoy going to a museum that displays art or other objects in this way is that it allows me to learn and helps give meaning to the object that I’m viewing. Another way that museums shape the way I see is by sub-dividing the objects within the museum, allowing for more understanding of the artifacts as a whole. Since the museums that I have visited are broken up into different time periods or themes I have a more comprehensive view of the objects that I see or interact with. In this way, museums shape my way of seeing because I can have more of a choice in what I view. In Washington, D.C. a Smithsonian may be dedicated only to American History, but because there are so many subgroups within American History it’s important to be able to have objects broken up into coherent groups. Museums shape the way that I see because by creating exhibits that give context to artifacts and group them in a particular way I learn more about the museum and the objects that it holds.

Short Essay 1: Does Spiral Jetty make the Great Salt Lake a Museum?

The Spiral Jetty makes the Great Salt Lake a museum because a museum is constituted by collections with an institutional purpose that is expressed by staff and visitors. Museums also have three things in common: they contain objects that are given cultural significance which are assembled with some degree of intention and that come from the past (Pearce 7).
The Spiral Jetty is documented by the Dia Art Foundation’s Francesca Esmay because of its recent reappearance due to drought which has lowered the water levels in the Great Salt Lake. She is documenting the jetty every year in order to give curators and conservators a better idea of how it is changing. This shows that the piece has importance in the artistic world and is looking to be preserved so it can continue to be shown to the public. Robert Smithson’s artistic goal was to make “…’art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements as they exist from day to day’” (Kennedy 1), giving the Spiral Jetty meaningful cultural context because visitors to the site can interpret the artifact in this way. The reason that the piece is considered an artifact is because by Pearce’s standards it is made by art or skill and applies human technology to the natural world (6). Since museums are not determined by the amount of objects within them the Spiral Jetty, being an artifact, makes the place where it resides, the Great Salt Lake, a museum.
While the Great Salt Lake is not a typical museum that you would find in a city or on a college campus, it shares the same characteristics of museums because the artifact within it is from the past and has cultural context. The Dia Art Foundation which owns the piece is documenting how it has changed and the decrease in water levels of the Great Salt Lake has allowed visitors to once again visit the site and interpret it in their own way.