Saatchi

1. Sightlines

The Saatchi Museum definitely employed a great use of space in order to create an environment that enabled a multitude of different sightlines when viewing a piece.  This is especially evident when one studies the placement of pieces such as "Up", "Down", and "Swarm".  Rather than being shoved up against a wall, these works were placed towards the floor center, allowing observers to walk completely around the object and to view it from multiple vantage points.  This created a feeling of immersion within the piece, allowing one to experience it in multiple ways.  This definitely diverts from the layouts found in many of the other museums, where the artwork is placed directly against the wall, limiting one's view of the piece.

2.  Didactics

For me, the absence of a comprehensive description of the piece within close proximity to the artwork itself did nothing to lessen my experience.  My relationship with the art is entirely based on how I see it visually, or what immediate feelings it stirs up within me.  An in depth knowledge of the piece's background (including the artist's intentions) usually does nothing to enhance that experience.  In fact, I feel that it may hinder my subjective opinion's of the piece, as I may force myself to see it the way the artist meant it to be seen, rather than simply allowing myself to see it in my own personal way.

3.  Collection

I definitely felt that the collection was more adventurous.  Most of the other museums we have visited feature pieces that are typically considered classically as "art" (paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc.).  However, here we see such pieces such as swarm, where real dragonflies and bumblebees are doing battle with fictional demons, all strung up in a three dimensional casing.  We also saw the incredibly unconventional Spam piece, where multiple posters were hung up displaying vulgar and nonsensical pieces of Spam.  However, although these are not necessarily conventional pieces of art, they definitely all had an effect on me, and both I believe made commentaries about life.  While Swarm made me question the idea of what is small and meaningless, the Spam piece made me consider the values of our society today.  For me, these are not meaningless pieces, they are steps forward.