Looking Inside a Museum

Each person that goes inside a museum will look at the collects in a different fashion. I believe that the greatest influence on how we perceive collections in a museum is how they are presented. The presentation affects the way that each person will look at objects. For instance, putting something in a glass case that is in the middle of a room and having lights shining on it, will obtain the focus of the viewer more so than an object that is poorly lit and put in a corner of a room. If all of the exhibits were in the same condition with no variation on light or placement in a room, then it would be truly up to the viewer to decide what they like the most. Because of the people that create the exhibits there will always be a bias towards what they believe is the most important to show off or present. This bias will change how a person will see inside a museum.
When I enter a museum I honestly try to take in account all of the factors that are influencing me to look at one thing or another and attempt to look past these obstacles for viewing. For instance when I went to the Conner Museum last Thursday, one of the first objects that I noticed was a Kangaroo. This Kangaroo was one of the largest objects in the room and clearly visible, it drew my attention right away. I believed this to be my favorite thing until I looked around a little bit closer to see that in the corner that there was a Mexican bird collection and that some of the birds had greater detail and more information. This collection was far more fascinating than the kangaroo that I had looked at. I then realized that because of an objects placement I had tended to focus on it more and was oblivious to my surroundings until I forced myself to look around more. This goes to show that the placement of a collection can have a profound effect on the viewer.