holy bloody hell! i knew the human race had a rising percentage of mental defectives, but this takes the cake!
but i must say, i’m quite grateful that you’ve aired this grievance. it certainly explains the astounding gall that i witnessed last Halloween. i had a VERY elaborate setup all over my front lawn for the trick-or-treaters. (over the past several years, i’ve donated use of my props to various groups that have fund-raising Haunted Trails and such. last year the snipers, er, killed our scheduled event, so i decided on a DIY show at home.) 99.5% of the kids oohed and aahed, got scared or just thought it was all a blast, but LEFT THE THINGS ALONE. it was two alleged adults that i had to ask to get off the lawn when they started trouping around, examining the props. the second one, a woman, had to be told twice, and STILL was in no big hurry to get her ass off my yard. :rolleyes:
now really…would you go tromping off in the dark over terrain you don’t know, with god-knows-what obstacles like power cords and such underfoot, to check out some nifty decoration when it’s on someone’s private property?
pug, you were at the Malibu Getty? That was the single finest museum for its size in the world. A tour of that place was like going through three other major museums. I saw the da Vinci exhibit there in 1983. Without a reservation, I finagled our way in on New Year’s Day back in 1998 just before they closed it. My girlfriend was outraged that I was better at sweet talking the guards than she was.
The gate keepers were treated to some extra fine beef jerky on our way out.
I truly enjoy museums, and galleries, and am usually quite hand in pocket as I stoll through them, too awestruck usually to actually touch what I see.
I shuddered with fright as I watched legions of greasy-handed munchkins go tearing ass through the VanGogh/Gaugain exhibit at the Art Institute here in Chicago last year, still no matter where you go, these dimwitted mouthbreathers and their insouciant little offspring are darting hither and yon in a vein search for culture.
If I were in your shoes, my line at the beginning of the tour would be as follows…
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you so very much for choosing to spend time with us today. In my right hand, you will notice a cylindrical object with two small metal nubs protruding from it’s end. This is an SG60 stun baton, it delivers a shock of 500,000 volts from any point above my hand through 3 inches of clothing. This shock can disturb your central nervous system so violently, you may be complelled to release your bowels without choosing to do so. You may also lose control of your muscles, and become temporarily paralyzed, which in turn, can cause you to flail like a fish on the ground, whilst rooting about in your own waste. With your kind, and honest cooperation, I will not be forced to demonstrate the capabilities of this fearsome weapon today, unless, of course, you touch anything. Thank you, and please step this way.
This would be followed immediately by a cursory demonstration which looks a bit like a hand held lightning storm. Rest assured, hands in pockets would be compulsory.
Yeah, * that * would be fun to clean up. 'Cause you know I’d be forced to use it frequently. Then, the trembling, shit-covered patron would rise, try to shake it off, and reach for the nearest textile to wipe his hands.
What’s wrong with touching artifacts? Some people are visually oriented, some are tactiley oriented. To deny tactiley oriented people a chance to enjoy the display – THAT THEY PAID FOR – is discrimination. Are we to deny handicapped people access next? I suppose Jews shouldn’t be allowed in either.
I really hate it when people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Listen, you rectal fuck bombs, if you don’t want people touching you precious artifacts, then don’t open a museum. It’s not like someone put a gun to your head.
And Van Gogh – phhhtt, I can take photographs that are more realistic.
Admit it – you were waiting for someone to post something like this.
Me too. Mmmm, nun…
I like the idea of the “little talk before hand.” When I was in HS, we had a field trip to a museum. Before the tour, we were made to walk through a room full of 17th century furniture, and led to an auditorium. A docent gave a short speech, which included “the evils of touching.” She told us of a concert in that auditorium, and how one concert goer sat on an antique chair in the next room to smoke a cigarette. We all gasped. Rest assured, we were perfect little angels for the rest of the tour.
On the asshattery I have seen: A few years ago, I took a woman I was dating to a museum. I’m not sure what room we were in, but I think the atrifacts we were seeing were made when the leader of the free world was called Emperor, or perhaps Pharoah. Not far behind a rope was a stone carving of a demonic-looking dog, perhaps Babylonian. Said woman reached out and petted it, saying “cute puppy.” I think she expected me to laugh. She never expected me to hiss “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” in a tone that would scare Gollum. She turned white with fear.
So what if the only reason they don’t want you to photograph it is in order to make money? Isn’t that a reasonable request?
My experience in working at a museum is that often times, the gift shop funds a vast portion of the mueum costs. Museums are horribly expensive top run and every little bit helps.
What I have never understood is why people feel a need to photograph stuff at a mueum anyway.
what could possibly be the reasons?
IMO, most people take the picture to say : OH! I was at the Louvre, see?! (insert Gloat)
and then put the picture away in some album rarely to be seen again.
I spent a summer in Italy with an art program. The professor showed us slides of what to expect. Including was one of the Sistine Chaple. He told us how he snuck the picture and tee hee wasn’t it funny and gee, the picture is of a poor quality because he couldn’t focus the camera.
So, we go to the Sistine Chapel.
About 1/2 of the students start to sneak pictures even though they were specifically asked NOT to. Most did not use a flash. This of course, lead to other people taking pictures. Soon enough, the whole room was flash after flash. It got to the point where it wasn’t even enjoyable for anyone.
So, what was the point of it? Just to have a picture so you could say you were there? Way to go, way to be selfish!
Now if you say you want the image so you can study it later, then just buy the postcard already or look for it on the net.
It doesn’t matter if its unfair or not… It what they request and I wish more people would respect that.
I once took flash pictures in a museum (strangely enough, it was the museum where I later did my internship!). However, at the time, I didn’t realize it was forbidden.
Ack! I have this problem with Van Gogh’s paintings–I always want to touch them, to feel the thick paint. Whenever I go through a Van Gogh exhibit, I have to put my hands in my pockets. My god! She scratched it! A Van Gogh!
Once my husband and I were going through an exhibit with a friend who is an art history professor, and he was carefully gesturing at a painting to show us some technique and the guard was on us in an instant. Our friend never touched it, of course, he knew better, but I appreciated the guard for being so quick to remind us not to touch it. What’s with some people?
When I was there maybe 5 years ago, they had just restored the ceiling. Drapes hung over the windows to reduce the amount of light that came in, and they specifically forbade flash photography. If anyone so much as took a camera out of their pocket, a guard was soon behind them and tapping on their shoulder.
I ended up buying a book at each of the major tourist spots I went to (St. Peter’s/Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, etc.), as they nearly always had better photos than what I could take, even of spots where we were allowed to photograph.
We had to go through this exhibit as an assignment for my history class. I thought I’d take pictures and bring them to class. Plus, there were some gorgeous costumes that I wanted pictures of.
shrugs
I feel REALLY bad about it now. I wish there was a way to take pictures WITHOUT a flash in museums.
I keep hoping some company will measure his works with lasers and sell reproductions that have the unique texture of his works. This would not only allow folks like you and me to run our hands over Sunflowers, and Starry Night. It would show how damaging such things are. I’d wear my prints flat in a year, tops.
Hmmm, that would be a neat idea for an interactive exhibit-have small pieces of texture on a shelf near the actual painting, and you can “feel” the texture.
That was one thing I loved about the Heinz-the interactive exhibits. The “What We Wore” exhibit had hats and corsets to try on. There was also a little booklet of fabric swatches. It was a lot of fun.
That, or they rationalize it. “Well, just ONE picture won’t hurt. And I see all kinds of pictures of it, so they MUST take pictures, so just ONE won’t hurt…”
Just a thought. Maybe the museum should have a “You break it, you pay to have it fixed” policy. The first time someone gets hit for millions after messing up a Van Gogh, maybe they’d learn.
Yep, that was it. And we were also there very shortly before it closed, for which I’ll always be thankful – it was a gorgeous place. However, the new Getty is wonderful as well, and I’d like to get back down there someday.
When in Paris, we visited the Musee d’Orsay, and were surprised there as well at the lack of protection between the Van Goghs and the public. Few to no security guards were around, and mobs of people milled within a few feet of the irreplaceable paintings. Luckily, the Lautrecs were behind plexiglass and in a dimly lit room - probably because they were fragile pastels on paper.
Ah well, it shows that humanity hasn’t changed much in the last umpteen thousand years.
Consider the ancient Egyptian tombs and temples. They seem impossibly ancient to us now, but remember, even 2000 years ago some of them were already several thousand years old and they attracted the curious then as they do now. And tourists of the day were just as eager to leave their mark for posterity as modern day grafitti artists. Ancient carvings have been obliterated by equally-ancient carvings that basically amount to “Mouth-Feather-Owl was here.”
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