This is the second of my proposals for the three wishes project:
Newer galleries, such as the Tate Modern, were designed with visitor numbers in mind. The layout of the rooms at the Tate mean that visitors are more likely to move about them in a particular way, and are also less likely to miss a room than in other galleries. Those involved in the designing of the Sainsbury Wing said, “We want to avoid the danger of visitors by-passing rooms because they are out of the way or appear to be in a cul-de-sac”. The design of the gallery subtly directs visitors in a form of crowd control that creates similar experiences for each visitor.
I want to create a different type of gallery space, so that each time a visitor comes they have a new experience and sense of the space, and therefore the artwork within the space. I have sought to create a gallery space that does not allow the visitor to easily see from one room to the next, with differing interior and exterior spaces. I have not numbered the rooms so there can be no order perceived from there, and I probably would not offer a map. I want to ignite the feeling of exploration in the visitor that I would feel when I went to galleries and museums when I was a child – The sense of discovering something new every time a different room is stumbled upon.
I do not mean by this to draw attention away from the art that housed within the space. After all it is considered to be the museum or gallery’s purpose to display art. The pieces displayed in the different spaces in the gallery become a commodity that the visitor seeks to discover, and in the discovery can appreciate the piece as something exciting that they have found.
