On Display

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Naming an event

March 13, 2007 · 4 Comments

While we definitely make our own decisions about quality, or significance, most of this seems so much like an exercise in semantics. Grevin makes the point of being a museum, Bodies is an exhibition, and Madame Tussaud’s calls itself an attraction. What are the different connotations of each of these terms? Are they labels or does each of these have a distinct meaning? Value? Does your attitude towards an event, or you perspective on each change because of the label?

Categories: Reading

4 responses so far ↓

  • Michelle M // March 13, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    I definitly think my attitude and perspective changes when such labels are attached to events. When the term exhibition is used I feel it connotes an air of importance and the term attraction reminds me of a fair or something that requires less thinking and may be more for entertainment purposes.

  • Allison K // March 14, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    I agree. I think word usage is expressive and descriptive. Using one over the other suggests what the emphasis may be. An attraction implies a sensationalistic experience. It acknowledges a certain kind of viewer reaction. The spectacle, something extraordinary, is emphasized more. Specific word selection for naming the type of happening calls for a certin kind of viewership. Perhaps it is a negotiation between the planners/curators and audience.

  • sung // March 14, 2007 at 4:09 pm

    It was a fascinating article to read. I especially like the idea that buying actual objects (a bathtub that Marat died in) to elevate the authenticity of the museum even though I don’t think that was what the museum was about really. These wax museums made think about how facts can be manipulated into something else (not very factual) once they enter the realm of public sphere. It is an interesting argument how we are constantly manipulated between facts and factual memories eventually losing grasps of what the true facts are about.

  • Kate // March 15, 2007 at 10:24 am

    I was confused by the difference between “naturalism” and “realism” that Schwartz relies on to explain the appeal of some of the exhibits in Musee Grevin…can some one help me out with this?

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