Tuning Out Digital Buzz, for an Intimate Communion with Art

“Tuning Out Digital Buzz, for an Intimate Communion With Art”Original Author: Holland CotterSummarized by Museum Hack

Once upon a time, museums were

the “quiet cars” of a fast-track American culture industry.

The only way you would retain what you saw was to spend time in the galleries, and imprint things on your brain.

Today, millions of people stream through museums. They move through galleries fast and with a new purpose.

With a camera in hand, audiences have a new viewing rhythm:

Stop, point, pose, snap.

Accessibility is the first and last word on the lips of museum directors.

The basic idea is simple:

More people should be able to see more art.

Now, through electronic media, we can survey an extraordinary amount of art.

But what are we missing by not just standing in front of the art itself?

Digital photographs can give us a sense of things,

but not the entire experience.

But what are we missing by not just standing in front of the art itself?

Scale is one thing we miss. When a painting is as big as a room, it feels

different.

Texture doesn’t translate through pictures. Photos don’t give us the desire to reach out and touch a piece.

A recent scientific study suggests that people enjoy art more and remember

it longer, when they see it live in museums.

The digital presence of entire museum collections online is a tremendous gift of pleasure and knowledge.

But the further we distance ourselves from art itself, from being in front of it, life is what we lose — art’s and ours.

“Tuning Out Digital Buzz, for an

Intimate Communion With Art”

Original article written by Holland

Cotter, Art Critic, and published by The

New York Times

Summarized by Museum Hack About, Company News, @MuseumHack on Twitter

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