Distanzbedürfnisse

Abstandhalter im Museum

Abstract

Museum barriers – those ropes and cords in front of artworks – seem to be both a nuisance and a necessity. To protect the artworks, they constrain the movements of visitors. Yet it is uncertain if protection really is what barriers are about. In this article, I argue that museum barriers are a material manifestation of deep-seated cultural convictions about how to approach works of art. Even if they are absent, learned and internalized barriers step in. – In recent years, the barrier seems to be disappearing from museum galleries. Reflecting upon the reasons for their presence or absence, I examine some of the functions of barriers in art museums, ask about the relationship of aesthetic and physical distance, and look at how art itself has addressed both the beholder’s desire for proximity and the urge to keep one’s distance.