The Visitor Experience

A guided tour around an unprepossessing yard and accompanying guidebook. The Visitor Experience took visitors on tours around a collection of ‘found’ artifacts, each with its provenance displayed on museum-like labels. Visitors assembled at information boards and were guided around the collection several times a day, by the suitably dressed guide. A fully illustrated guidebook was available with detailed information about the collection, including an essay by Dr Keith Cunliffe – Keeper of collections for Bury St Edmunds Museums Services, Suffolk. Artifacts ranged from an old bath and a carefully placed piece of masking tape to a piece of carpet matting. What constitutes an artwork – function, place, authority, context, history?