Security

We often ignore security officers in our day to day lives. We try our best not to interact, intimated by their stature and their uniforms, but, in the world of museums they can often be quite helpful. Johan Idema talks about how security guard are not seen as people full of knowledge, but simply people who are meant to protect and prevent items being stolen, while they normally have inside information about the topics of certain exhibits (1).

I was able to talk to a security guard at a museum during my most recent visit, and I got a lot of additional background information about it. Idema stated, "many guards would speak with great passion, if only we asked them" (1), which I found to be the case when I talked to one.

While at the Bellevue Art Museum, there was an exhibit open called "Searching Home". While talking to the security guard working at the museum, I was able to obtain additional information about the piece. The entire exhibit was carved out of wood. Suitcases, bar link fences, everything. The artist behind it, Humaria Abid, was told when she was young that she would never be able to work with wood, as in her country, carpentry was seen as a mans profession. Abid was able to over come those stereotypes, and built this exhibit to represent immigrants and immigration. With out talking to the guard, I would have never learned this information, and would have just simply thought it was cool, but never be able to understand the deeper meaning.

What kind of information did you obtain from an unlikely place/person?

Idema, Johan. How to Visit an Art Museum: Tips for a Truly Rewarding Visit. BIS Publishers, 2014.