Basic Rules in a Gallery
There are some general rules in a gallery during an exhibition. The rules are similar in a museum.
There’s a common rule against touching the artworks unless specified otherwise. That’s the most common and sometimes unspoken rule to protect the artwork from oil from the skin and the friction of the touch.
In larger exhibitions, they may have some form of line on the floor to mark the area around the artwork that visitors are not supposed to cross.
For the safety of exhibits, some additional rules may apply, such as no large backpacks or selfie sticks. They would also offer coatroom or locker services for you to keep them during your visit.
In addition to that, some galleries do not allow eating or drinking in the exhibit spaces.
Some artworks are light-sensitive, and flash photography is also not allowed. But in most cases, snapping a photo with your phone is usually allowed.
General Guide to View an Exhibition Based on Medium
There is no ‘one size fits all’ guide for all the exhibitions on the planet. The information below is just a simple guide to serve as a tool to help you navigate through an exhibition.
Upon entering the exhibition space, or sometimes before entering the exhibit space, you should be able to see a form of poster for the current exhibition. In that poster, you’ll gather the details of the exhibition, such as the duration of the exhibition and other general information such as whether it is a group or a solo show.
In a solo show, the name of the artist is usually shown on the poster. However in a large group show, it is unlikely to see the names of all the participating artists on the poster.
There sometimes is a statement that greets you at the start of the exhibition. This statement provides information about the show or the artist involved. In this statement you’ll get the theme and some background about the artworks presented in the show.
Next step is experiencing the artworks presented in the exhibition. Depending on the medium used, you can see, listen, smell, and touch (only if allowed).
2-Dimensional Artworks (Paintings, Drawings, Prints, etc)
Have a look at the artwork, and preferably have the entire artwork in your view. You might need to stand at a distance to get the whole view for larger works. You can step forward to have a closer look at the details.
Spend more than a few seconds on the artwork. Since the artist spends a lot more than a few seconds working on the artwork, spending a longer time viewing the work as a visitor allows you to see a little more of the work compared to viewing it at a glance.
While viewing, notice anything that stood out, like lines, colours or textures. Does the image trigger any feelings or emotions, such as warmth, cold, fear, disgust, joy, sadness or comfort?
As you spend a longer time on the image, does it tell a story? Or does it depict a scene?
Or is it an arrangement of marks on a flat surface, if so, what does the marks look like to you?
Do the marks resemble your bedsheets when you leave your bed in the morning? Or footsteps of your pet when they trample into your house with muddy footprints? Or perhaps a mesmerising arrangement of colours and lines that felt ‘trippy’?
Once you’ve spent some time experiencing the image, you can move on to the next artwork in the exhibition.
sculptures & Installations (stone, clay, readymades, etc)
Sculptures are usually made to be viewed in all directions. They are usually presented in such a way that you can move around the sculpture and see it from every direction.
As you move around the sculpture(s), you can notice details on the artwork, such as the texture of the materials used, the small details that the artist decided to add to the work, the feeling of softness of fabric or skin portrayed with marble, or the liveliness of a creature portrayed by a material known to be hard and cold.
There is also abstraction in some modern or contemporary sculptures. Have a look at the shapes and forms, and the thought or emotions that may come to you. Most of the time, the form may remind you of something familiar to you.
There is a type of medium which I would like to add to this category, which are assemblages and readymades.
These sculptures are made of items you see around you, put together to form a narrative or a statement in itself. I included readymades in this category: an everyday object placed as a sculpture or sometimes arranged into an installation or a scene for audiences to walk around and experience.
A well known readymade artwork is Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ (1917). This artwork depended heavily on the context of when and where the artwork was presented. But it requires some history and contextual studying to understand its significance.
Time based media (Audio or video)
Audio and video formats are part of the big umbrella of a type of medium called Time-Based Media. Depending on the availability of space in the exhibition venue, such media are exhibited in spaces where the works can be shown without much interruption or noise, as these media are susceptible to such disruptions.
Bright environments may be excellent for paintings, but not workable for a projected visual work. Putting two different audio works together without any form of noise isolation (such as soundproof walls) may not be suitable for audio works to be shown at their best.
As an audience, you may just spend your time listening or watching the media as an experience.
At times, these time-based media are placed together with 3 dimensional media, 2 dimensional media, or installations (which I will cover in the next section). Such works will require audiences to utilise more than their sight, I.e. hearing and sometimes smell, to experience it in its entirety.
(A whole lot of) Mixed Media And Installation
As briefly discussed earlier in the section on Time-Based Media, installation can be simplified as an arrangement of works that are meant to be viewed together as a whole. Sometimes, the works are arranged so that the audience or viewers can move around the installation.
A few examples of such works are Nam June Paik’s The More, the Better (1988), a video sculpture which combines an arrangement of CRT television monitors and video played on the screens. Susan Philipsz’s War Damaged Musical Instruments (2015) is an interesting combination of exhibited damaged instruments and the sounds of the musical instruments played on repeat in a gallery space.
Bill Viola’s Ill Vapore (The Vapour) (1975) combines video and smell in its presentation.
Such works make the viewing of an artwork an experience of multiple senses that allows more immersion into the artwork compared to the traditional paintings and drawings.
Performance and Participation
Some works are presented as a performance. It is not usually set on an elevated stage with audiences sitting to view like a Broadway show, but rather, the performer (sometimes it is not the artist) performs for passersby and onlookers in the gallery space.
Sometimes the audience plays a passive role in a performative work where the audience would only be watching. There are other works which invite audiences to participate in the performance.
At times, artists create an installation and perform in relation to the installation. Hence, it is sometimes difficult to define which medium an artwork is. Mixed media is also extremely difficult to define in such situations.
A known artwork you can refer to which involved performance and participation is Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present (2010).
A Sub-Conclusion
The medium or media in which the artworks are presented does not usually justify the idea behind them. Physical media has limitations, and it is difficult to express the sometimes abstract ideas the artist has. Therefore, the artist usually chooses the best medium which has the best potential for the idea in mind.
While approaching an artwork, it would help not to judge an artwork solely on technical skills or on the idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ artworks. Approaching an artwork is more nuanced than you’d expect. But as for an audience working their way into looking at artworks, it is more important to see how you’d react or feel when experiencing an art piece.
I hope this short section could help you move your way through an art exhibition with a better sense of direction.