[wpietri]

Art is undeniably faddish, and there is definitely a political element; I wouldn't want to deny that.

However, that's sort of like going to a natural history museum and expecting to see the whole ursine evolutionary history and ecology explained next to every bear. There will be a little plaque with the basics, but the typical viewer knows a lot of the basics and is a repeat visitor, so they are expected to learn these things over time.

These days I'm perfectly happy to bring up Wikipedia when at a museum.

[starship]

In the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, they have a tree ring from what might be the oldest tree ever found. Next to that gigantic slice of wood on the wall is...a giant plaque. The plaque describes in detail how measuring the life of a tree from tree rings works, as well as the history behind that particular tree and when it was cut down.

In fact, as I recall, there was such a plaque next to almost every exhibit in the entire museum.