20
The register
Every entry, the physical variable it turns on, and the section it sits in.
| No. | Entry | The variable | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Eye level is a decision The convention puts the centre of a work at about 1450mm, which is an average eye height for a standing adult. | 1450 mm | Hanging |
| 02 | Spacing and rhythm The gap between works is doing as much as the works. | the gap | Hanging |
| 03 | Sightlines What a visitor sees from the doorway decides the order they walk in. | the doorway | Hanging |
| 04 | Salon walls Floor-to-ceiling hanging as a system with its own internal logic. | five tiers | Hanging |
| 05 | The first work Whatever is seen first sets the terms for everything after it. | first sight | Hanging |
| 06 | Beam angle and glare A varnished or glazed surface reflects the source straight back if the angle is wrong. | 30° from vertical | Light |
| 07 | What light does to surface Raking light reveals texture and impasto; flat light suppresses both. | raking light | Light |
| 08 | Colour temperature Warm light flatters some palettes and destroys others. | colour temperature | Light |
| 09 | Light as damage Illumination is cumulative exposure, which is why works on paper are shown in the dark and rotated. | lux-hours | Light |
| 10 | What a frame is doing A frame separates the work from the wall and states a period. | the moulding | The Edge |
| 11 | The margin Mount and window: how much paper is left showing, and why. | the mount | The Edge |
| 12 | Glazing Glass protects and reflects; the trade is between the two. | the glass | The Edge |
| 13 | Where a work stops Painted edges, wrapped canvases and works with no frame at all. | the edge | The Edge |
| 14 | What reproduction destroys Every photograph of a painting is the same size — about a hand span — which removes the single most important fact about most of them. | a hand span | Scale |
| 15 | Viewing distance Large works have a distance at which they resolve, and galleries do not always give you room to stand there. | viewing distance | Scale |
| 16 | The small work Intimacy as a formal property, and how a busy room destroys it. | small scale | Scale |
| 17 | Wall tone White is recent and not neutral. | wall tone | The Room |
| 18 | Order A hang is an argument. | sequence | The Room |
| 19 | The space between Circulation, seating and where people actually stop. | circulation | The Room |
| 20 | The white cube A convention with a history and a set of assumptions built into it. | white walls | The Room |