The Temple of Duchamp
It struck me how the experience of seeing Duchamp's Fountain in the Tate Modern seemed familiar in some ways. I worked as a technician/picture hanger at the Tate many years ago and enjoyed watching the curators arranging works of art in the galleries for exhibition prior to hanging; essentially, organising the visitors experience of seeing, using the form and content of the artworks but also the elements of space, light and time. When we visit a museum or gallery, we are subliminally guided around the exhibition by a seamless combination of art, architecture and psychology. In our everyday lives, we delight in encountering pleasant surprises; beauty is somehow more beautiful when it is unexpectedly revealed, light is brighter when it follows relative darkness, an expanse of space at the top of a narrow stairway seems more expansive. Drama can be created when a work of art is initially seen from a distance and is approached gradually. Vistas are very important in exhib