00:11
Hey Len. Yeah. Hello again, Asami.
So we were talking about all things sort of museum experience
just because I went through a marathon of a museum
trip, which let me just clarify that it's a lot even for me.
Just to be clear that density was high. I feel like I went to enough museums for like the next year.
Okay, fair. But
knowing my job, I already have a next visit schedule for something else in my local museum. So
like, yeah, take it away from it. But anyway, keep doing it. But like so we were talking about how
tiring or like overwhelming
museum experience can be, especially in these like gigantic
encyclopedic museum like the Louvre.
Yeah, the British Museum, like you just
cannot
do what you might be able to do in a smaller museum. Just like stand in front of something that tickles you and
just hug the space to yourself. You can't really do that.
But having said that, I immensely enjoyed all of my visits and this is
my tips on how to actually enjoy museums.
And
that is to just give up trying to see everything.
You heard it here, folks. 2025, Asami says, just give up.
Unless you're going to a tiny gallery with like
30 artworks.
Sure, okay. Just don't try to see
just don't try to see everything and also don't try to see everything
feeling like you have something to gain.
Like it doesn't matter. Okay. Yeah, it doesn't matter if it's like a
canonical iconic works that everyone is there to see. If it doesn't speak to you, it doesn't speak to you.
And you shouldn't feel pressured to like stand appropriate amount of time in front of an artwork and
pretend to read the description, which you can hardly see anyway, and
like try to engage. If nothing moves you,
you don't have to try and engage with it. And I feel like that's often
why people kind of walk away thinking, I didn't really get that.
03:01
But like, I'm just gonna pretend like I enjoyed it because like I'm supposed to enjoy it because it's, I don't know,
Mona Lisa, because it's
like, you know,
you know, Bouguereau, because it's Cabanel. Like, I feel like I am supposed to,
you know, find this artwork
good. Like, no, you don't have to.
But in my experience, I do find these
canonical
iconic artists to be iconic for a reason. Like, they draw you in and
like, I walk into a room and I just kind of wander around and
like, what catches my eyes ends up being like
Van Gogh, or like ends up being Manet, and
ends up being Hokusai or something.
And when you repeat that experience over and over again, you do realize,
okay, these guys are masters for a reason. These guys are referred to as
important for a reason, because they have something about their artwork that like
excites you. But having said that, you don't have to like find every single artwork by them
engaging. You don't have to find every single artwork by them
moving. And I think a lot of the times there's like a weird snobbish air in a museum where like,
oh, if you don't pay attention enough in this particular artwork, you don't know what you're looking at, you know.
And likewise, if something draws you in, doesn't matter if it's someone I've never heard of, you know,
like, stand in front of it, like, take some time, like, try and figure out what about it that you find
interesting or exciting. And
more often than not, those experiences are way more
like, meaningful to you, and way more memorable. And what happens when it's memorable, is that when you go off
and visit some other museum, and randomly come across the same kind of artist, or like, maybe it's not even the same artist, but like, in the description,
they mention about this artist that like, kind of tingle you. And you're like, oh,
it's a little bit of aha moment, right? Like, oh, I've seen this before. I've met this person before. And, and that reinforces your memory.
And honestly, at this point of my museum visiting, it's all about this kind of like,
06:00
mini aha moment of like, ooh, like, I, like, I walk in, I see an artwork, and then like, ooh, it's, it looks like this. And then I walk towards it. And then like, it is him, you know.
And that gives you a little bit of satisfaction. Or you walk in, you walk towards an artwork, and you like, look at it, appreciate it, and then realize it's some
artist that you knew, but like, not in this style at all. That's also memorable. Like, oh, I had no idea that this person, this artist made artwork in this kind of style. You know, and, and that's like, memorable, sort of like, that's how you can make museum experience yours. Right?
And no amount of curatorial effort to try and guide you through a gallery can give you that kind of satisfaction. Of course, like, they're professionals, and they try it, and they're very good at doing that. But that doesn't mean you have to follow a certain path, or check out certain things in the museum.
Right.
And, and that's it. Like, I feel like it's, most of the time, that's what makes it tiring. And that's, that's why people feel like they need to see everything in a museum, which is very overwhelming and very tiring.
Yeah.
And if you are in a system like the UK's National Museums, you can go in for free. Like, there's nothing you're losing. You can go in, just spend your time in one room and get out. Like, that's a possible thing you can do.
Yeah, sure. That's a good idea.
You have nothing to lose. So yeah, I feel like that's, that's, that's what it is. Like, you know, kind of, yeah, don't, don't feel like you need to gain something from a museum. Sometimes you walk into a museum and nothing, none of the works there speak to you. And you know, so be it, right? You just don't know, like, at what future moment, you might have one of those aha moments.
In Japanese, I learned this new word, like, kigo-setsu. I think I told you before, like, it's like, symbolic landing or something.
Yes, this sounds familiar. Yeah, we had a, might have been an off podcast chat.
I don't know what it is in English. But it's like, when you see the same thing in a different context, that you see, you get exposed to an information, you see that information in a completely different context. But in your head, you make that connection. Be like, ah, I've seen this before. Oh, I didn't know that's what it meant. Oh, this is also appearing, this concept also appears in completely different context. Like, that's kigo-setsu.
09:00
And I feel like when you can do, when you have enough input in your life experiences, or in your museum visiting experiences, you can then start doing a lot of these kigo-setsu. And that makes it fun and have you have more ways to engage with artwork than just how the curatorial team in the museum wants you to engage with the artwork.
Yeah, and there. Well, yeah, I want to let me let me sort of reinforce that point that you made. Because I joked with it right when you said give up at the beginning of the podcast. But I think I think what yeah, you're aiming for is accepting that this visit doesn't have to go any particular way. Right? So let go of the let go of the preconceptions, which people will tell you for everything in life.
But let go of like, what you think you should be doing in the museum space, exactly. And maybe consider like, the museum curators curation as a guide. Like if you don't know where to start, and you're just, you know, finding your feet in that space. If it's one of these museums that you can enter for free, and you can go more than once, well, then you could wander through and then go again and look at something, you know, that really caught your eye.
And you bring up a good point that I think people you don't have to have any type of response. The idea is that, especially with art, there is something perhaps to take away, but it might not resonate with you like it resonates with somebody else. And it might resonate with you now, because of context or otherwise, but it might later. Right? Yeah.
Yeah, that temporal aspect is so important. Because you might just like, not feel anything as let's say a 15 year old kid, and you just walk past by it. Then like 10 years later, you might have another opportunity to visit the same museum. And then maybe you feel something about it.
And like that, that would not have happened if you weren't previously exposed to this, you know, experience. So yeah, yeah, it can come from your own spot on it. Yeah, I mean, I was just summarizing your point. So but the, the, yeah, that essence, it's, it's hard, right? Because people do end up going for a number of reasons to a museum. But that I think is a helpful way to
Yeah.
Remind everyone to relax, just go.
Yeah, like, yeah. Having said that, though, like, it is, it does require some amount of engagement, right? Like, if you just don't engage at all,
Right.
Then you're not going to get much out of it.
12:01
Well, then yeah, you didn't have to go in the first place, right? But there is, you need engagement. If you want something out of this, if we start from the presence that you have entered into this space, because even somebody was like, you might like art, why don't you visit a museum? Then it's like, okay, then give it a chance and look at the stuff.
Yes.
See if something is interesting to you. Maybe not, right? Maybe you have no sort of hand in like, you know, art and that type of creation.
But you gotta give them a chance to engage you.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right? Like, you, you could not, but then you can also just not go to the museum, right?
Yeah, yeah.
This is also fun.
There are plenty of other things you can do in Paris, like eating copious amount of croissants.
Yeah, croissant.
There is, yeah, you could just do that. Yeah. What are you doing going to all those museums for? You should have been eating more croissants while you were running around Paris. I don't, I don't understand.
You could look at all of like the the sort of perfect layering and what's the, what's that word?
Lamination.
Lamination. Yes. Thank you for bringing that word back to me. Yeah. Yeah, that's what you should have been doing, admiring your croissants as you eat them.
Yeah, you could do that. But like, if, you know, you spent some amount of money to travel all the way to somewhere nice.
And you want to see.
If you wanted to see, if you are going to pay some money to go into the museum, and you want to get something, anything out of it, you gotta let them have a chance to engage you in some way, shape or form.
And I think to do that, I mean, art, visual art being a visual medium, you gotta see it, right?
Yeah, yeah, you have to, you have to see it. In some cases, you might even want to touch it, but do not do that. Most of the museums don't let you touch them.
Yeah, don't always do that, unless, unless they invite you to, you know?
Right, unless invited to do so, do not touch. This applies to everything in life.
That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening and find us on X at Eigo de Science. That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. See you next time.
