A Tale of Two Spaces

(Artifacts from the East Asian section of the British Museum)

Today I went back to the British Museum, and afterward I couldn't help but compare it to the Institute for Contemporary Art, which we visited on Thursday. The first and most immediate difference between the two spaces is that the British Museum is exactly that, a museum, and the Institite is a gallery/arts center. Museums seem to cater more to the average person (and often family) that wishes to see historical art/artifacts and learn a little something. Galleries, on the other hand, feel quite different; at least to me. They are much more exclusive, not so much in that they will turn you away outright, but in that they promote a very elite idea of what art is and who should own it. This message is conveyed by modern gallery design, which seems to always be utterly white and almost painfully minimalistic, and by the price of the art itself. I honestly don't know anyone who could afford to purchase gallery pieces on a regular basis, even though I do know that such people exist. (Perhaps I am thinking more of the Chelsea gallery scene in Manhattan because we were just there.)

I don't mean to criticize galleries or the people that buy art from them, but I am of the mind that art is something that should be accessible to anyone who wants to see it. This is why I am completely smitten by and continually return to places like the British Museum, the Tate Modern, the Chicago Institute of Arts, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, etc. I love the fact that you can see so many different types of people at these institutions, all wanting to see (and hopefully learn) something interesting.

Galleries are, however, probably the best place to go to see the most contemporary art that exists, as new exhibitions come out on a monthly basis. Obviously, both spaces have their merits, and it is interesting to continually go between them during this program. Both types of institutions provide all of us with the opportunity to explore the past and see into the future through the cutting edge art that is being produced everyday. I think that between museums and galleries, I am having quite the art experience on this trip, which is fantasic.