Rules of an Art Goer?

As a human being who has gone to school, I would like to believe that I have some understanding of how I am to act/behave when at a gallery or museum.

Clearly I am wrong.

Or maybe I should say, I have been shown that I am wrong.

About a year ago, I was visiting a rather well known Foundation to see their exhibition. I must admit that I have never been told that I can't look at something at a show. As it was the height of summer, I, naturally, had a pair of sunnies.😎

My sunnies were placed at the top of my head as I meandered through the show.

At a specific floor piece, it required me to look down onto the floor.

It was there where I heard someone say to me.

No. Take off your glasses.

No?

I thought to myself. 🤔

What do you mean no?😧

What do you mean I had to take off my glasses from the top of my head. 😠

Whilst I can reason that this docent believed my sunnies may potentially fall into the piece and damage it, I would like to also believe that I have common sense (Um, also that I have respect towards the arts and cultural sector).

Should I be bending my body to an angle to which my sunnies could fall, I would either:

A: hold onto them

or

B: voluntarily taken them off my head without having been scolded

Needless to say, I was 😡😤🔪

(Nope, none of the mindfulness kicked in. I was too baffled by the treatment to even remotely be aware enough to come to any logical sense.)

Mainly it wasn't because I found the docent to be rude (of course partly it was that), but rather, I couldn't understand why or how someone would have the audacity to react in such a brute manner.

I am a seasoned art goer.

Am I not? 🤷‍♀️

Since that incident, I have PTSD.

Now every time I go to a museum, I self doubt what I can or cannot bring/do/wear.

In general, these are the main rules:

1) You cannot touch the walls

2) You cannot touch artworks, unless otherwise specified (I've actually seen someone ruin a piece of art at MOMA. This lady decided to lift up an upside down glass filled with water because she thought that the water inside wasn't real. Needless to say, she was escorted out of the museum)

3) You can bring a pencil

4) You cannot bring a pen

5) Stand at a reasonable distance from the work (reasonable is subjective. Sometimes there are pylons, when in doubt, have your arms behind you to ensure security knows that you're not planning on vandalising the piece of work)

6) Have common courtesy (screaming, running is obvs not permitted)

7) Water is ok. Best to have that checked into cloakrooms though, alongside with large bags