Encountering the Vitrine: Distance and proximity effects in museum vitrines

This article analyses spatial dynamics in museum vitrine design through
the lens of art theorist Rosalind E. Krauss’ grid concept. Due to the regularity
of shelves, compartments and lattice framework, vitrines are characterized by a
grid structure which, following Krauss’ conceptualization, has a double function:
it frames a space within, and at the same time, extends outwards beyond its own
framework. While museum literature often tells us that vitrines have a distancing
effect, this article argues that because of their dual ability to frame and create
focus, together with their grids’ extension into the space in which the museum
visitor moves, vitrines can also generate a sense of bodily proximity. This argument
draws on Walter Benjamin’s distinction between optical, distanced focus and
haptic, proximate distraction. However, rather than maintaining an opposition
between distance and proximity, the article emphasizes the oscillation between
simultaneous distance and proximity effects in museum vitrine design.