ARTS musuem of denver - Essay Example

Interrogating the Museum April 05, The Bernadette Berger Discovery Library Since we are in America, I chose to visit European and American Art in Denver Art Museum. The collection was housed in the area in the museum which was called Bernadette Berger Discovery Library and it contained not only artworks, but also artifacts, books, printed materials and even photography. The artworks were the ones that were collected by people who visited the Native America during its early years that includes baskets, ceramic materials even photographs and newspapers.

I particularly chose this area of the museum because of its unique presentation that as if it was not a museum or a library but rather a family area of house where everyone can gather to relax and their things. Unlike in a typical museum where visits are usually a bore (except on some occasions where there are great and interesting works that is exhibited) where we spend the whole time staring at paintings or sculpture while listening to a guide, the called Bernadette Berger Discovery Library is different.

Visitors are treated like guests there and we do not even have to stand the whole time because there are couch present. They are oversized couch and really look and feels nice and just when we thought that they are just for display, visitors can actually sit on them and relax. And to encourage us just to relax, the guides will just leave us alone to roam around and satisfy our curiosity. This explains why the Bernadette Berger Discovery Library is called “discovery library” for short to encourage us to discover things for ourselves.

And the museum wanted its guests to stay longer to learn more about their exhibits (which do not look like the traditional exhibit where paintings and artworks are displayed uniformly with their boring labels) by not making them stand up most of the time (which is very tiring especially when the museum is big that we have walk around) but just by relaxing with their cozy furniture and climate controlled environment. The set up was like a house only that it is bigger. There are even European cabinets there which were personally used by European nobilities which makes it more interesting.

There are also a lot of books but it is not necessarily a library because there are also artworks and artifacts that were hanged on the wall just like our house. There are also small cabinets where you can pull the drawers out and there you can see the well framed pictures, printed materials and some old jewelries. Around the area, you see beautiful vases from ancient Greece as well Egyptian mummy case and an old doll house which makes the discovery library “homey” because it really feels like home there.

At one time, I even sat on the floor to personally check an artwork and nobody mind me sitting on the floor. I could not do that on other museum which made the Denver Art Museum quite popular with young people like me because it is friendly with its guests.