Creative output ideas

So... I have some ideas that I'm interested in pursuing for this project. I want my creative output to revolve around the 'don't signs' within the museum. These are:

- DON'T run, push other people or play in the museum.
- DON'T touch pictures: fingers and fingernails scratch varnish and paint.
- DON'T touch picture frames: fingers dislodge fragile gilding and very old wood.
- DON'T touch furniture and sculpture: oils from your fingers stain wood and stone and etch your fingerprints into metals.
- DON'T enter the museum with crayons or pencils.
- DON'T open furniture drawers, lift tops, or sit on chairs and tables.

Classen, c. (Ed.). (n.d.) Touch in the Museum. The book of touch. Retrieved from http://faculty.utep.edu/portals/1649/3390HS/Classen%202005%20Touch%20in%20the%20Museum.pdf

- DON'T run, push other people or play in the museum:
Have an interactive wall panel which through the pressure of someone being pushed into it, reacts in some beautiful way which attracts people to look at it. A form of advertisement, potentially advertising lights? Just as an initial concept. Could potentially advertise a lighting company which specialises in lighting and sound for concerts and other big venue type events. Also a type of sound could come from the panel. Changing depending on the pressure presented when someone is pushed into it. This could be succeeded through the use of pressure buttons, which under a certain amount of weight, sets off the sound and/or imaging/lights.

- DON'T touch pictures: fingers and fingernails scratch varnish and paint:
- DON'T touch picture frames: fingers dislodge fragile gilding and very old wood.
A varnished piece of wood which has many types of unvarnished and aged pieces of wood covering it. Hundreds of layers cover the 'nicer' varnished piece. On the varnished piece shows an advertisement of a varnishing company or a type of wood producing company (Parapine?). You as the viewer are needed to scratch the pieces of unvarnished wood and strips of paint to reveal the varnished advertisement underneath.


- DON'T touch furniture and sculpture: oils from your fingers stain wood and stone and etch your fingerprints into metals:
Potentially produce a type of product which reacts to the oils on peoples fingers so slowly create the advertisement of a company. Possibly the police force? Forensics? Giving a visual aid which helps put the police out there. As a way of showing how much evidence we leave behind.

- DON'T touch pictures: fingers and fingernails scratch varnish and paint.
Another idea for this rule is to create an interactive advertisement which advertises exhibitions or even paint companies. I will look into the art movement called pointillism which through the use of dots of paint produces a picture. I famous artist from that era is George Seurat and his most famous painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte', 1886. The paint pockets will work like bubble wrap but all shapes and sizes. The pockets will be opaque so that the image which will be produced by popping the products won't be known until at least majority of the pockets are popped. This will create interaction from the consumer or viewer as well as opening up the opportunity to reach people who would not necessarily look into that company or visit the exhibition.

Change

After reflecting on my last project I have decided to change my approach to this assignment. I will be focusing my research into the 'don't touch' signs that are displayed throughout various museums. Instead of focussing on atmospherics within marketing I want to look into the advertising side of things. I want to pull my interest of museums and try and mould it with my design and marketing.

Reflection

I would like to look into barriers within the museum so that I would not need to use physical barriers to create no touching zones.
I would also like to look into the rules of the museum. Looking into touching as a norm within museums and shops and creating a link between them.

Visual Idea

For visual purposes I have portrayed my design idea using fashion. Mostly as a visual representation but also because fashion is no longer something that is purely functional. Fashion has become art.
So the top image shows pieces of clothing behind class casing. The jewellery is in an out of reach space so that it can be looked at but not touched. The last shows shoes which are behind a barrier to enforce no touching.

From the research I have done I would like to look into creating a high-end fashion store which focussed its displays in the style of a museum. Using museum techniques and aesthetics to reduce touching within retail stores. This would be more aimed at higher class shops as it would be more realistic for this to be implicated into those style of stores.

Museum rules

In reference to my earlier post:
At the beginning of Classen's book there is a quote by Getty Museum (2004) stating rules of the museum:

-          DON’T run, push other people, or play in the museum.

-          DON’T touch pictures: Fingers and fingernails scratch varnish and paint.

-          DON’T touch picture frame: Fingers dislodge fragile gilding and very old wood.

-          DON’T touch furniture and sculpture: Oils from your fingers stain wood and stone and etch your fingerprints into metals.

-          DON’T enter the museum with crayons or pencils

-          If in a wheelchair, be careful that your foot-rest doesn’t bump into furniture or walls.

These rules came about when museums went public. The public included everyone from lower to upper class. The upper class saw it as disgusting to see the 'filthy commoners' touch all the artefacts as well as risking theft of the pieces. The lower class would, as seen in the eyes of the upper class, run around and touching everything with their dirty hands. They would push and shove each other. Because of these actions those from the higher class started on the creation of these rules. To the point where they are today as shown in this extract written in 2004.

News

Stuff. (2013). Tourist breaks finger off 600 year old statue. Retrieved from www.stuff.co.nz

An up to date article on an incident where a visitor touched a statue in a museum, resulting in the visitor damaging the statue. This proves my theory of the not touching within retail stores because you can’t steal something within a store without touching it.

-          The tourist allegedly broke off the left pinky finger of the statue while attempting to measure it.

-          The statue, which is thought to depict the Virgin Mary, dates from either the 14^th or 15^th century. It is part of a work titled ‘Annunciazone,’ located at Florence’s Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, which contains a significant collection of sculptural artwork dating from the renaissance and medieval periods.

-          Tim Verdun, director of the museum, has been quoted as saying that “in a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is: Do not touch the works.” This quote relates well to my idea of introducing no touching to retail stores.

This works along side the idea of no touching in museums. Showing just how important it is to not touch within the museums not just due to the risk of theft but also to the conservation of the artefacts. The statue mentioned is 600 years old. It is part of our history, hence why it made big news when discovered that someone broke a piece off. This is part of our history which is important to people. This links into shoplifting how through touch people can not only damage the product but also steal it.