With Regard to VP Pence touching what he was told not to touch:

[MineralMan]

A couple of years ago, I visited a local modern art museum here in the Twin Cities.

There was a sculpture out in the middle of the floor that obviously incorporated movement. There were no ropes around it or any barriers to keep visitors away. On a panel on the sculpture was a button with a small engraved label that said "Press to Activate." So I did.

Out of the woodwork came two museum security people, who scolded me sharply for pressing the button that said "Press to Activate." Elsewhere in the museum were many interactive exhibits. But, this one, apparently, was not intended to be "activated." I pointed out the engraved label to the security people, and let them know that there were no signs anywhere regarding not touching sculptures with such labels on them. They were nonplussed and confused by this.

The sculpture was out on the floor, with no barriers. A cord from the sculpture ran to an outlet on the wall. There was a button on the sculpture that said "Press to Activate." Who would know that you were not supposed to actually press that button.

I was just doing what I was told to do, after all. Anyhow, the sculpture went through its sequence of movements, as it was designed to do. Perhaps the artist even intended for people to press that button. Go figure.

Funny stuff out there, sometimes.

[MineralMan]

1. So, DUers, what have you touched that you were not supposed to touch?

Please fess up in this thread, and your sins will be forgiven, forevermore.

[lapucelle]

2. Press to activate the guards, perhaps?

Maybe it was performance art.

I once tasted a cube of sodium chloride in the high school chem lab after the chemistry teacher (a nun) told us it was salt. She was so upset that I thought she was going to hit me. "Don't EVER put chemicals in your mouth!" she sputtered.

Of course I didn't listen. It was the 60's.

[MineralMan]

3. Yah, the 60s. I once ate a sugar cube back then.

I probably shouldn't have. Made me feel real wierd for a while.

On your point, though, I'm sure it was intended to be a performance piece, but the guards and maybe the museum itself had lost sight of that. Why else was it plugged in and had a button with that label. I made it perform, but maybe the performance was over already.

They didn't seem to get the irony of the thing. Oh, well.

[Leith]

8. So Did I

But they told me to eat it because it would keep me from getting some disease. I thought it was for polio, but since I still have the circular scar on my upper arm for that, it was probably for something else.

[MineralMan]

9. Hmm...Nobody told me anything.

Or, anyhow, I can't remember anyone telling me anything. I got my polio vaccine in a shot in 1957, so it wasn't that. I think it was some sort of hippie drug or something.

By the way, millennials don't have that upper arm scar. Maybe that was what made us all so smart and hard-working. Who knows?

[csziggy]

15. Those circular scars are odd

Back when they were vaccinating children in the public schools, I stood in line and got the polio vaccination. No one told me I was supposed to get a sore and then a scar so I wasn't concerned when I didn't. Somehow it slipped my mother's attention - she was a RN and knew what was supposed to happen since she was head nurse of pediatrics at the local hospital.

Years and years later when I was thinking about going to Europe for a semester our family doctor was reviewing vaccinations and giving me some when he realized I didn't have the polio vaccine scar. He was upset - I'd been unprotected for all those years. I guess herd immunity saved me from a horrible disease. So I got the polio vaccination then along with all sorts of others for diseases that were only found in foreign places.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. I also had a sugar cube and was told it was for polio......

[tblue37]

4. Quite possibly the unwitting appearance of the security guards and the discombobulation of the

museum visitor were part of the artist's interactive intention.

[MineralMan]

5. No, I don't think so. They seemed very sincere in their

alarm at my impetuous actions. Besides, there was nobody else in that gallery at the time.

[tblue37]

12. The guards' freak out doesn't necessarily mean the artist did not intend it to happen.

I could imagine an artist figuring that into the effect of his piece.

[hunter]

6. When our kids were young an elderly driver damaged the passenger door of our minivan.

His insurance paid for the damage, no problem, but we had to visit the van at the body shop before the repair was complete to retrieve some things that had been left inside.

Our van had just been prepped for the paint booth. The guy at the body shop told my kids not to touch the door. I retrieved the items and we went on our way.

A few years later, sure enough, a perfect child-sized hand print was flaking off the door that had been repainted.

[MineralMan]

7. Yup. And after Pence touched that part, it will have to

be re-cleaned to remove his sweaty handprint, too. Dumbass!

[MindPilot]

11. At least in the case of the part Pence touched

the print can be cleaned off before the next coating or process.

Similar tale to yours...There is a dye used to locate leaks in automotive A/C systems; it is injected into the system, and then is visible under a black light. Someone didn't follow the proper procedure to keep from spreading that stuff around, and this vehicle's owner noticed a few weeks later in a parking lot with those yellowish lights two purple handprints where the tech had pushed the hood closed.

[MindPilot]

10. I did a similar thing once, touched a piece at an art museum.

Completely unconscious action on my part; it was a sculpture that was shall we say, tactually inviting. I was immediately admonished for my sin.
But there was not a bloody obvious sign saying "DO NOT TOUCH" right where I put my hand.

ETA, To me there is something almost erotic about a freshly machined surface...I grock the urge to touch it, I really do. However I seriously doubt that VP Pence has the same metallurgical proclivities as do I.


My worst crime though was at a car show. I was leaning way far over the velvet rope to get a better look inside this beautiful custom car, and my camera strap slipped and the camera swung out and knocked a little ding in the driver's door. I felt like shit; fortunately the car's owner took a very mellow "oh well, shit happens" attitude about the whole thing.

[lapucelle]

13. I guess it could have been worse...

Steve Wynn Damages Picasso Painting With His Elbow

http://artdaily.com/news/17842/Steve-Wynn-Damages-Picasso-Painting-With-His-Elbow#.WV_u37hHhec

[lapucelle]

14. At least there isn't a video tape of you, MineralMan

as an object lesson in what not to do at a museum.

"Rather than fix the piece, artist Shelly Xue decided to leave it as is and retitle it “Broken.” The museum has since posted the video of the child’s play beside the exhibit to serve as an example to others."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kids-filmed-smashing-art_us_57435ed2e4b045cc9a71b119

[SoCalDem]

16. My son SAT on one of these at the DMV

and set off a cascade of them crashing down .. He thought it was a swing..he was 4..and we got to go the the front of the line

[Tiggeroshii]

17. When I was four, I tried to hold the elevators door open as it was closing to be helpful

Got my hand stuck innit for a few seconds until the operator of the elevator calmly opened the doors back up. But it was a little scary for myself and those around.