Visual Culture: A Museum and

Visual culture: A museum and mall comparison decided to select a mall and a museum as my sites of comparison because both are public places in which individuals, often accompanied by friends and family members gaze upon objects. However, the mall is perhaps the ultimate in 'commercial space.' It is an area where virtually all of the objects an individual sees can be consumed -- clothing, books, music, food, and ornaments.

In contrast, in a museum, none of the objects seen can be taken out of their original places, or touched by the public (with the exception of children's museums and museum gift shops). Even objects that were once useful, like pots and pans of ancient peoples, now have reverential status as they are put on display and deemed priceless. There is an aura of reverence surrounding a museum's objects than an individual seems to feel he or she must display, regardless of whether he or she likes art.

It is striking to see the body language of museum-goers, as the individuals make their way around the different exhibits. While in the mall, individuals grab, touch, and examine objects for purchase, and in some cases let them carelessly fall to the floor when they deem them undesirable. So long as an individual does not steal or permanently damage property, shoppers may take an 'anything goes' attitude.

In the museum, people walk with their hands by their sides or in their pockets, clutching perhaps a brochure about the different exhibits, as if to signal that they know they are in a place where touching things like a consumer is wrong. Even though individuals were dressed casually in both places, there was a reverential quality to the body posture of the people in the museum, as they all walked slowly, deliberately, with restraint.

In the mall, some people ran, some teens playfully pushed their friends -- others consumed food. The silence in the museum is omnipresent, in some ways an even more palpable presence than the art itself. While the art's visual qualities may be loud in some areas, and quiet in others, people, even the tour guides and the children with their parents talk in hushed, stage whispers in a museum. People evidently do not want to disturb the experiences of others in a museum, even though it is a public space.

In the mall, voices proclaiming entire conversations could often be heard. Young babies cried and loud music blared in the background and people seem less self-conscious about disturbing others -- there is no price of admission, only the price of consuming. In both places, the hard floors echoed sound, or carpets constrained the delivery of sound in different areas.

But one are was entirely characterized by silence with the occasional hum of a whisper, the other by loudness, and both places were either so silent or so loud, listening soon became uninteresting -- everything was white silence or white noise. However, this did not mean that there was a lack of engagement at the museum between people -- individuals often walked in groups, talking and discussing inaudibly either the artwork or personal matters.

These observations raise the provoking question -- what is the difference between these different areas of visual display? Is a museum simply a place where the objects one.