In short, looking at a picture of the thing instead of the thing itself. There’s a huge difference between the images on our screens and the real thing. In schools images appear on computer screens and projected on walls. Outside of there we look at images on our phones most of the time, or on a tablet, or a computer. The example I was given is the Mona Lisa. How big is it? Take a guess before you read the answer. I have never seen it in person, only projected or on a screen. The best perspective I’ve had of it is when someone in the crowd has taken a picture of the crowd trying to get a picture of the Mona Lisa. It’s not huge, it’s disappointingly small. About 21 x 30 inches. I had always imagined it as being much larger. Because I was always show it to be however big the projector screen was.

All of the images I was shown in my art history classes were the same size. Everything was whatever size the projector screen was. Durer’s Praying Hands drawing, the Pyramids at Giza, a postage stamp, a Jackson Pollock, the view of the Earth rising over the Moon are all presented as being the same scale, the same size. The only way to really see something the right size is to go see it in person. That’s the only real way to get the full experience of a piece of art or anything else.

I know it’s really not possible to see the Earth rising over the Moon from the surface of the Moon. Terrifically expensive view. But tons of other things are really possible to see in person and only require a little bit of a drive or if one is lucky, a train ride. From here in Maryland I can get to the Baltimore Museum of Art or the Walters in about a half hour. I could get to any of the Smithsonian museums in D.C in about an hour. Philadelphia museums in 2 hours, New York in about 4-5 hours. And If I plan ahead and spring for the Amtrak train I can be in Philly in just over an hour and New York in something like 2 and a half. The East Coast is really a Megalopolis. It’s amazing. Where was I?

Direct experience over mediated experience. I sit on the couch and watch the tv, stare at my phone, scroll aimlessly on my computer. It’s one of three sizes. Other than that it’s all one experience. I really do believe in going to the thing whenever possible and experiencing it firsthand. Not just museums either. Architecture. Graffiti. Parks and trees and lakes and wildlife. Theres so much more than our screens. There’s a whole massive world and so many seem content with their screens, myself included. I’ve reached the point of insanity with screens and doomscrolling Instagram and Reddit. I installed a minimalist app launcher on my phone and use the ScreenTime feature to limit how much I circumnavigate the app launcher.

I really, desperately need to get off the damn couch and go look at some stuff. I spend 40 hours a week at work, mostly outside. But its the same areas outside, the same place over and over and over. I need to get somewhere new for me. I need to discover something new to me. I’m beyond the point of caring exactly what it is. I just need to get out of the house. I really want to go see some art and architecture and the outside world. I really want to bring a sketchbook with me and draw some of the world. I have to take some notes on the world and what I see in it. I need to take in something in order to produce something. Nothing happens in a vacuum. I’m in a vacuum. I need to break out of it.