Midterm-Observation: I took a trip to MOMA to view the way that people view the pieces on display,
mostly curious in the spectator's viewpoint and how that is dictated by the artwork itself, the gallery space and social custom.
This piece uses light to direct the viewers attention, but the order is dictated by the spectator's approach. It doesn't detect motion and "re-start" when a new person approaches. So depending on when you encounter this it could read in a completely different order. Left to Right depends on approach. People would view this series based on their entrance to the gallery, stop and re-read from a distance from left to right, possibly in an attempt to connect the movements shown. If these were rearranged it could read as a completely different span of time.
This uses the trick Scott McCloud describes to connect the canvases, but again, could be read left or right depending on approach. The top part rotates, allowing spectators various viewpoints without changing position. I noticed when viewing this map, I start from the U.S. and read right to bottom. I imagine most people start from their home country.
Because of the vertical placement this reads as a ladder, if it were placed horizontal, it would look like train tracks. Although this is placed left to right, the subject of the photo looking in a particular direction gives guidance on the direction. I watched this room for awhile and noticed that people would enter, stand for a moment and exit without fully exploring the other sides, despite the space (and security) allowing it.
Approaching this as descending the stairs forced me to read top to bottom. We read bookshelves left to right, but in shelving they are ordered by category, so we actually read a series of groupings, find our point of interest and search left to right within that grouping. The transparency on the "back" side of the sign makes the text read backwards if approaching from the opposite side.
The motion of escalators forces users to interact with it in one direction. The random placing of these drawers leaves interaction up to subjectivity. I would open the red drawer on the bottom if given the choice, because it looks most interesting to me. This made me think of the alphabet and how we're first introduced to it as A-Z. However, typewriters and computers have forced us to learn a second alphabet order based on the keys placement. What we be the loss in having a singular alphabet based on this order?
Regardless of the lettering or numbering, people read subway signs searching for where they'd like to travel. The level of importance is based on their subjectivity. It was difficult to try to read the sign objectively. Silverware settings have a particular order based on traditional serving order. Most of our ordering of things is based on social custom. Photo album on display.