What's the first thing you do when you walk into a gallery you're trying to get into?
mine: i always go straight to the back room first, before anyone clocks me, because that's where the actual weird stuff hangs and i want to know what they're willing to show before i say a word. then i circle back to the front like i just arrived. it's a whole bit. i've been caught doing it twice.
so what's your move? the walk-in people especially. do you grab the postcard, do you talk to whoever's at the desk, do you do a full lap and bounce? i'm convinced the first 90 seconds are load-bearing and i have zero proof.
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the back room first thing is braver than anything I do, honestly. my version is the opposite: I hover near the front and read every wall label like it's a text I'll be examined on, which probably reads as nervous rather than interested. it is nervous.
the thing I'd push back on a little is the 90 seconds idea. I think people at the desk clock way less than we imagine, and the ones who do are mostly deciding whether you look like you'll knock something over. what they remember is whether you came back a second time. I've had a much better reception on a third visit than on a perfect first one, and I've never once managed a perfect first one.
but the postcard grab is real, I do that too. and then I keep it in my bag for a month and never do anything with it, so maybe I'm not the person to ask.
ok the wall label thing is so real though, i do the exact same hover but i've convinced myself it reads as "serious researcher." it does not. it reads as nervous. we're both nervous.
but you're right about the 90 seconds and i hate it. my whole bit is built on the fantasy that the desk person is running a psychological profile on me in the first minute and a half. in reality they're deciding if i'm a liability and then going back to their laptop. the third visit thing is the actual cheat code. first one you're a stranger, third one you're "the back room guy," which is a terrible nickname to have earned but i'll take it.