The Glenstone is a museum in Potomac MD founded in 2006 by billionaires Mitchell and Emily Rales. I'm pulling this quote from a Hyperallergic article regarding the minimal amount of wall text:
"Equally critical to Glenstone’s carefully designed visitor experience as a retreat from the outside world is the absence of wall text in its galleries, save for the essentials (artist, title, date, medium). A Glenstone brochure announces that the galleries “display minimal didactic wall texts and encourage you to generate your own interpretations about the works you encounter.” Grey-clad guides are on hand to answer questions, but priority is given to the viewer’s ostensibly unmediated engagement with the artwork over explicit contextualization. The Washington Post described Glenstone in 2018 as “an escape from it all” — not just from the bustle of everyday life, but from time and history, too."
This raised a thought: when I go to a retrospective or large exhibit at The Met or MoMA, there is quite a bit of wall text throughout the galleries. This presents a bit of a conundrum; I want to read it and the text is always illuminating about the art, the artist, time, place etc. However, it does take time away from just looking at the art. The text influences my thoughts and feelings about the work by contextualizing it. Which raises the question that the Glenstone addressed its way: Wall text or minimal wall text?
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