This article discusses questions of spatial configuration and display design in museums, and how this affects the way museum objects are perceived. Based on an in-depth analysis of the Glass Cabinet at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark, the article explores how the glass items on display are seen not as singular objects, with a curated (hi)story to tell, but more as a collected mass of disparate glass objects with a material reality of their own. When looking at these objects, the spectator is placed within a large glass enclosure which protects the objects on display from the curious hands of museum visitors. However, this glass ‘vitrine’ also has the effect of putting the museum visitor on display, thereby challenging conventional subject-object relations within museums. In order to discuss the particular subversive ways in which the Glass Cabinet presents its objects, the article will partly draw on museological research on object collections and museum display, and partly on current thinking within the fields of object-oriented ontology and new materialism, where a de-centering of humans is proposed and the material realm of objects is emphasized. By speculating about the obscure life of objects within the Glass Cabinet, and the effects this might have upon the visual operations at play, this article will reflect on – and challenge – the ways in which we display and look at objects within museums today.

中文翻译：

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透过玻璃柜的镜头：进入博物馆物品的物质境界

本文讨论了博物馆的空间配置和展示设计问题，以及这如何影响博物馆物品的感知方式。基于对丹麦哥本哈根罗森堡城堡玻璃柜的深入分析，本文探讨了展出的玻璃物品如何不被视为单一物品，讲述一个精心策划的（历史）故事，而更像是一个收藏品大量不同的玻璃物体，它们拥有自己的物质现实。观看这些物品时，观众被放置在一个大玻璃罩内，保护展出的物品免受博物馆参观者好奇的手的伤害。然而，这种玻璃“橱窗”也具有将博物馆参观者展示出来的效果，从而挑战了博物馆内传统的主客关系。为了讨论玻璃柜展示其物品的特定颠覆性方式，本文将部分借鉴博物馆对物品收藏和博物馆展示的研究，部分借鉴面向对象的本体论和新唯物主义领域的当前思想，其中提出了人的去中心化，并强调了物体的物质领域。通过推测玻璃柜内物品的晦涩生活，以及这可能对视觉操作产生的影响，本文将反思并挑战我们今天在博物馆内展示和观看物品的方式。部分是关于面向对象的本体论和新唯物主义领域的当前思想，其中提出了人的去中心化并强调了对象的物质领域。通过推测玻璃柜内物品的晦涩生活，以及这可能对视觉操作产生的影响，本文将反思并挑战我们今天在博物馆内展示和观看物品的方式。部分是关于面向对象的本体论和新唯物主义领域的当前思想，其中提出了人的去中心化并强调了对象的物质领域。通过推测玻璃柜内物品的晦涩生活，以及这可能对视觉操作产生的影响，本文将反思并挑战我们今天在博物馆内展示和观看物品的方式。