We might know how to look at a work of art – but how to look at an art museum?
Two ''observational'' documentaries in the Melbourne International Film Festival eschew voiceover and interviews to present contemplative, fly-on-the-wall views of two of the world’s great galleries.
In National Gallery, Frederick Wiseman, an acknowledged master of the so-called ob-doc mode, takes a stately 173-minute look at the revered British institution of the title – that’s actually shorter than his four-hour view of another famous institution, the university campus at Berkeley featured elsewhere in the festival.
Where National Gallery sedately follows the work of restorers and managerial staff, The Great Museum comes with a built-in – albeit reverentially plotted – arc as director Johannes Holzhausen follows the behind-the-scenes action as Vienna’s palatial Kunsthistorisches Museum prepares to reopen its famed Kunstkammer rooms.
