Yesterday we visited the Hugh Lane Gallery that includes a striking installation of Francis Bacon’s studio. The gallery removed each item from the studio’s original location and reproduced the space piece for piece within the museum.  When considering theories of place in conjunction with this studio, we might begin by asking questions about the changes that a place undergoes when it is dis-placed.  However, I want to go in a slightly different direction and consider the experience of the visitor.  Under what circumstances can one claim to have been to or been in a place?

My family has a rule that you can’t say you’ve been to a country if you don’t leave the airport.  If you have a layover and go out into the city, then it counts whether or not you spend the night.  This family rule informs the way that I feel about experiencing place.  One must experience a place to be able to claim it.  At the Francis Bacon studio, there is small space where one can “go in” to the room.  There is about a 3’x3′ glass alcove that allows one to have a simulated feeling of entering the space.  But does this count as entering?  How many of the 5 senses must be awaken?  Does seeing a place counting as “going”?  Or must one touch, smell, taste, and hear in order to experience?  Where is the line drawn?  I would argue that the hermetic seal between the visitor and the Francis Bacon studio keeps the individual from being able to claim having truly “been” in that place.  But what about a room that is simply roped off?  Does that count as “being” in a place?  It’s closer.  Maybe, in the end, it doesn’t matter.  The way we lay claim to places is perhaps arbitrary to begin with.  But I will say that I have seen the Francis Bacon studio.