My Way of Seeing

When I enter a museum I think that the glass cases and roped off sections give everything a sense of being valuable or rare. While I do believe that it depends on who the person is, and what they consider to be of value determines how much value a certain item or entire museum can hold for the individual. One of my experiences I can remember was going to the Museum of Flight in Seattle with my dad when I was younger. My dad loves planes and flying and the entire history of aviation, while I was just admiring the museum because I felt like I was supposed to. Clearly, the museum had a much greater impression on my dad, who appreciated the content more, than it had on me. Although I did enjoy the museum, since I was younger I feel like I didn’t necessarily appreciate all that the museum had to offer. Age is definitely a factor to consider when thinking about ways of seeing when it comes to museums. If I would have been older visiting I probably would have been able to take in more of the historical aspect that the museum had to offer. Just being in a museum, for me, creates this sense of value and respect for the collections within it. Compared to things I see in everyday life, objects in a museum always seem to hold my attention longer. I really do think that just because something is placed in a museum, it holds a heightened value. Ordinary objects outside of a museum don’t hold much value, but placed in a museum with some great story attached, and all of the sudden value is present. I think this is because we as people have a fascination with the past along with anything that we believe to be of great value.

Does spiral jetty make the great salt lake a museum?

I would say that the Spiral Jetty does not make the Great Salt Lake a museum. Although it is a very impressive piece of earth art it is a single piece of art. When I think about museums I think of a collection of objects, pieces of art, or other interesting items. While the attempt of preservation of Spiral Jetty is, in fact, continuing, it was created in an environment that the artist, Robert Smithson, knew it would someday come apart. The Great Salt Lake is simply nature, just the same as Spiral Jetty is only nature that has been reshaped. Personally, I do not feel like nature can be looked at as a museum. Although it can be beautiful as well as preserved, it has a natural course over time that creates change. While on the other hand a museum prevents change from happening to the best of their ability. Since nature can be unpredictable, it would be difficult to ensure the preservation of the work. When the idea of a museum is brought up, it makes me think of buildings and glass cases. While there is a lack of a building or an actual structure in nature, art can still be observed but I just wouldn’t classify the area as a museum, as I would not consider the Great Salt Lake a museum to observe Spiral Jetty.