Since we were unable to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a class, I decided to go myself to see the new exhibition, “The Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and later South Asia.” The exhibit was organized coherently and cleanly even though there was a lot of art, textiles, and ceramics to be displayed. The careful placement and display of all the acquisitions were purposeful and very important as this opening of this gallery has been anticipated and built hype for since 2003. As I entered the exhibit, I was greeted by a large ceramic bowl. It was a spectacular and lustrous 10th century, Islamic bowl. The galleries are organized in a circular manner with an open atrium in the middle which is where the Roman and Greek statues are located. The choice of how to display the pieces was something at the forefront of the curators minds since they knew that many people would be seeing the exhibit. Only decades earlier curators aimed their exhibits and displays to the local community, but now, as we’re deep in the age of the internet, curators must keep in mind that the exhibits will be viewed all over the world. Much of the Islamic community will be watching the exhibit and curators have widened their audiences when designing their galleries.

The new Islamic Art Wing at the MET is a prime example of how the new age of technology has revolutionized art and how people think about art. The world is now interconnected and in constant communication. This has affected the arts and how art innovations and movements are now on a global scale. The audience is no longer a local one, but a global one as the internet has become the most accessible medium to view art. So, as we see through the Islamic Art exhibit, curators not only have their museum visitors in mind, but also the rest of the technological world.