Whenever I go to museums, I make it a point to touch as many things as I can. I touch books in bookshelves, I touch statues, columns, painting frames (not the paintings, I’m not crazy <:o} ), everything historically significant within arms-distance. A corollary of this is that I really hate these things:

Fetishist!

No, not really. The most fascinating thing about History is that it actually happened, in this world, at the hand of real people. It’s not a movie, it’s not a fantasy, it’s the consequence of peoples’ actions throughout the ages. They left a real, tangible mark on the world, and what better way to acknowledge that than to actually tangere it.

Seeing historical objects from a distance is, for me, like watching a very-real-looking movie, or a theatre play; interesting for sure, real no doubt, but not “lived”, not “grounded”. It’s the difference between curious entertainment and full immersion.

Take this room, for example:

Interesting museum piece, but that’s not what it is for. The artisan who made the furniture didn’t mean for it to be stopped, lifeless, for show behind a barrier. Its whole purpose was to be used, seated, slept on. Likewise, notwithstanding displays of power through ownership of finely-crafted furniture pieces, Ludwig II. bought them to be both appreciated visually – thus fulfilling the artisan’s dedication –, and tangibly – thus fulfilling the object’s purpose.

It’s not a museum piece at all, it’s a story. Take the bed: someone harvested the wood to make it, someone made it, someone transported it, someone sold it, someone bought it, and someone used it. All of these people are dead, but some portion of their lives was dedicated to this object. To just put it behind a barrier and say “look, isn’t it pretty?” seems so unsatisfactory to the point of almost feeling wrong.

History isn’t a movie or a book, it is part of us! It lives in our world! So are you, by the way – you are part of the world; these things are yours too. Feel them!

Tags: #Art #Philosophy