The Impact of Display Analyzing the Artwork Tokumaru Kyoko at the Harn Museum Essay

verview This assignment is designed to help us reflect on how museums shape our experience of artworks. It will require you to visit an art museum and pick a single artwork within the museum that captured your attention.  You will then answer the following question: “How does the artwork’s display impact how you see and understand it?” Your response should take the form of a short essay (900-1200 words) that analyzes the artwork’s form and the impact that its curatorial context had on your viewing experience.  Visiting the MuseumYou can select any art museum that is open to the public and visit.  The Harn Museum on the University of Florida campus is open and welcoming visitors and free to students, for example. If you are working on the course remotely, you may chose to visit one in your hometown or a new area if you happen to be traveling.Step 1: Locate and Visit a Museum: First, you should select and visit a museum in your area. For those of you in Gainesville, I recommend visiting the Harn Museum of Art which is free for all students. The Harn is an amazing resource (for this assignment and beyond).  You can find more information about the Harn at their Step 2: Study Your Own Museum Visit: During your visit, I want you to study how the museum scripts and influences your experience. I suggest you start taking notes and pictures as soon as you arrive at the museum (think about the museum’s façade and how you enter and choose your path, for example). Observe how you are led through by guides–written and architectural–that inform your interaction with the objects on display.  Use the (see PDF 1) ocument to help you determine which things to pay attention to and what to take notes on. Those notes will help you write your essay after you are done. Some museums allow photos, which can also help as you write your essay.  Ask at the front desk about the museum’s policy on photography, and be respectful during your visit. Try not to disturb the other visitors.Step 3: Select a Single Artwork: Once you have had a look around, select a single artwork to analyze within its immediate museum context. First takes notes on that artwork itself that will allow you to do a formal analysis of it later.  Take a photograph, if allowed. Then, carefully consider the way a curator made choices about its display and presentation, and how those choices impact the way you see it.  Ask yourself: does the artwork belong to part of an exhibition, what “didactic materials” are included in the exhibition, and how do they inform your experience? Is the artwork alone on a wall or crowded among other artworks? How do the colors, lines, and other formal elements in the artwork connect or contrast with those in the nearby artworks? How does the viewing experience feel for you? Do you need to back up to see the artwork because its big or inch closer to see details because its small? Is there a bench nearby where you can sit? Ask lots of questions and take lots of notes.