The part of the readings that I found to be the most interesting was in the Art in America article “The Museum Interface” written by Sarah Hromack and Rob Giampietro, in which Hromack discusses a group of people n New York she spoke to who chose not to attend what she perceived to be an important exhibit due to the high quanitity of social media exposure to the exhibit they had received. I feel like this example directly relates to what we’ve discussed in class, which is whether or not the digital experience of an exhibit can act as a replacement to actually experiencing the exhibit in person. Hromack made the point, which I agree with, that without physically visiting a museum and seeing a piece of art for yourself, you lose some sort of sensory reaction and perhaps sense of wonder. That indefinable quality that comes from the museumm experience, I don’t think will ever be replicated into the digital sphere until we are virtually able to enter the museum space and experience it as though we are there in person.
Still, I think that the role of digital exposure in the museum world is important. A growing trend in museum visitorship is to use social media and photography to look at art in a comedic sense through parody. Last year my family went on vacation to Italy, where we essentially took a museum tour of the country. While the artwork was impressive and awe-inspiring at a certain point interaction and interest with for example hundreds of similar statues of ancient Roman figures becomes limited. My sister and I thus decided to pose ridiculously with said sculptures and objects so as to liven up the experience. Though I was slightly concerned with disrespecting the museum and the art, I think humor can actually work really well in helping people who otherwise not be interested in art to actually appreciate what they are seeing. The article “Museums See Different Virtues in Virtual Worlds” touched on the comedic role of social media in the museum experience when it touched upon the mustache tour of the Met.