At first, I was stunned! I thought I was hearing things, but the more I paid attention to the music playing in the Museum of Fine Art’s gift shop the clearer it sounded. They were playing a traditional Cape Verdean song. The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has pleased art lovers ever since July 4th, 1876 with a vast collection of antique and contemporary art (About the MFA). Its mission is to display diverse cultures from all over the world that challenge people to think critically and, by doing so, lead “to a greater cultural awareness and discernment”(Mission Statement). Why do the people in charge of the museum decide not to simply upload pictures of paintings and sculptures onto a website in order to promote cultural awareness? Until now, no
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“Six rogue Boston artists invaded the MFA's men's room, transforming it into a makeshift gallery. They smuggled in their own work” (Homan). They hung up their artwork on the walls of the public bathrooms so the museum’s visitors could see. These art activists felt the need to do this because the museum did not support local contemporary artists. They said that the bathrooms were “"the only place in the Museum that exhibits contemporary local art" (Homan). After a while, people started rushing into the unconventional exhibit in the bathrooms. The crowd was so in love with the art shown that they made it difficult for others to enter and exit the bathrooms. Now, the MFA supports local artist in various ways such as hosting performance art by local artists and exhibiting art from community organizations. It is only because the museum has a massive amount of space allowing people to gather that this unconventional social activism occurred. Social activism like this cannot happen online because there is no room for genuine discussion between …show more content…
These factors are strong ties, which lead to genuine discussions, and a physical atmosphere that arouse our natural tendency to be curious. A person can follow or be followed by hundreds of people on Tumblr. The connections a person has with the people he or she communicates with online are not strong or meaningful. This is because he or she cannot talk to all of these online acquaintances in real life and preserve each meaningful connection at the same time; it is too difficult of a task. Therefore, the comments shared between people on Tumblr will not be genuine. On the other hand, conversations between people in museums, even if there are no relationships involved, are genuine because of reasons stated in a previous paragraph: thought provoking facial expressions and honest opinions shared about an artwork. Tumblr does not hold a special value for people because for most of them it is a common part of their life. Most people do not visit the museum daily so people give it a special atmosphere, which then returns the favor by stimulating our curiosity. As a result, Museums are better able to promote cultural awareness and discernment that lead to social change than a website can because of the genuine discussions it influences and physical atmosphere it
“Six rogue Boston artists invaded the MFA's men's room, transforming it into a makeshift gallery. They smuggled in their own work” (Homan). They hung up their artwork on the walls of the public bathrooms so the museum’s visitors could see. These art activists felt the need to do this because the museum did not support local contemporary artists. They said that the bathrooms were “"the only place in the Museum that exhibits contemporary local art" (Homan). After a while, people started rushing into the unconventional exhibit in the bathrooms. The crowd was so in love with the art shown that they made it difficult for others to enter and exit the bathrooms. Now, the MFA supports local artist in various ways such as hosting performance art by local artists and exhibiting art from community organizations. It is only because the museum has a massive amount of space allowing people to gather that this unconventional social activism occurred. Social activism like this cannot happen online because there is no room for genuine discussion between …show more content…
These factors are strong ties, which lead to genuine discussions, and a physical atmosphere that arouse our natural tendency to be curious. A person can follow or be followed by hundreds of people on Tumblr. The connections a person has with the people he or she communicates with online are not strong or meaningful. This is because he or she cannot talk to all of these online acquaintances in real life and preserve each meaningful connection at the same time; it is too difficult of a task. Therefore, the comments shared between people on Tumblr will not be genuine. On the other hand, conversations between people in museums, even if there are no relationships involved, are genuine because of reasons stated in a previous paragraph: thought provoking facial expressions and honest opinions shared about an artwork. Tumblr does not hold a special value for people because for most of them it is a common part of their life. Most people do not visit the museum daily so people give it a special atmosphere, which then returns the favor by stimulating our curiosity. As a result, Museums are better able to promote cultural awareness and discernment that lead to social change than a website can because of the genuine discussions it influences and physical atmosphere it