New Art Museum in LA

There is a new art museum opening this fall (September) in LA: The Broad Museum!

Check out the website.

Who else think it looks like a cheese grater... or a speaker?...

 

 Read more about the building design and collection here.

 Who wants to go on a field trip?...

Touch the art?! Cue panic attack.

"The No. 1 unspoken rule in an art museum: Don’t touch. Museum guards are strategically placed throughout museums to ensure harmful oils on visitors’ hands won’t corrode artwork.

But at the current exhibition at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, touching is encouraged."

Read the article here.

 WHAT?!
 
 How cool is this interpretation for an art museum? They are not acutally touching the real pieces of art, but what do you all think of this concept?

As someone who can see pretty well (with the help of contact lenses), it's hard for me to imagine walking through an art museum and not being able to see the what is hanging on the walls- the colors, the facial expressions, the shadows, the shiny frames... I experience art visually- my other senses are hardly involved at all. Maybe I can smell fresh paint from a recent gallery installation, or listen to the murmurs of other patrons/ tours. However, most of the time, experiencing art is 100% visceral based on my eye sight as I am not allowed to touch, let alone taste, a painting.

It is interesting to me that I want to use my other senses, specifically touch, to experience the art based on what I am looking at. How badly have you wanted to touch the silk or fur of a gown in the fashion gallery? Or, wanted to run your fingers on the grooves of paint on Louis McElwain's painting upstairs (I can't say I've ever wanted to lick a painting, nor smell one, but I'm sure some other bold patron has tried at least once when Security isn't looking)?

Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)

Granted, some artworks do ask you to use your other senses. For example, Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in LA) wants you to take a piece of candy and eat it. Video works of art have sounds to accompany the work. Some installations and sculptures want you to play and interact with the art, too ("Fireflies", anyone?). Art is not exclusively for the eyes only, but can you fully grasp the content and the context for the piece without seeing it?... What do you think?

What are your thoughts about this exhibition in Madrid? Do you think that it can provide a true likeness for what a painting looks like for those who cannot see it? If you described your favorite painting to a friend who had no idea what it looks like, do you think you could covey what it looks like by describing how you interpret it with your other senses?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section! I would love to read what you think.