Certified CenterOnce, at the Art Institute in Chicago Illinois, one of our dealers here at Fields BMW of Lakeland was looking at "American Gothic," that classic picture of the farmer holding a pitchfork next to his conservatively-clad daughter in front of a white country building, when he apparently stepped a little too close and an alarm went off right there in the gallery.
It was pretty embarrassing for this guy, but that's the way things are in museums. When it comes to timeless artifacts, curators don't even want you breathing in the general direction of the stuff, let alone touching anything. As great as museums are, you have to admit, being given the opportunity to wrap our hands around an ancient sculpture would certainly add a whole lot of enjoyment to the experience.
Knowing that, our BMW Museum located in Munich, Germany threw together an event this evening called "Night of the White Gloves" that allowed patrons to touch classic automobiles like a Mille Miglia 328s, 1960's-era 507s, or M supercars from decades past, as long as they were wearing white gloves supplied by the museum.
It's a totally unique experience that not many people get the opportunity to have, and certainly no other museum in the world could afford to do something like it. Of course, if you're ever interested in visiting the new 2013 BMW "museum" we call a showroom, you can always touch whatever you want, but we love the idea of a museum turning off the alarms for a night and letting folks get a little more personal with history.