The interactional organisation of museum visits 85
painting which may be seen as a violation of other visitors’ “use space”
(Goffman 1971). The extension of the activity at the current exhibit is
designed as a side involvement; it may involve talk and discussion about the
work of art and reading labels and text-panels. These activities can be elon-
gated or cut short allowing visitors not to be seen as putting pressure on
others to end their current activity.
7. Discussion
Theories of the “social order” in public museums have long argued that
museum visits are social events. They ascribe the basis for the organisation
of people’s conduct to the architecture and layout of museums (Bennett
1995; Bitgood 1992; Huang 2006). These theories about the org