 One of the most challenging tasks that we have had in getting ready for this installation is deciding which of the literally thousands of objects in the collection deserve to be in this first installation. I think one of our jobs as curators is to help people look, to see the details and the other features of the works of art that are what drew me to them in the first place. One of my very favorite pieces in the collection is a small Indian painting of the goddess Siddhulakshmi. As a conservator, I get to spend a lot of time looking at objects, figuring out how they're made, and trying to understand what it is that they need. Because I spend so much time with an object, it's almost as if I get an opportunity to get inside the artist's head. You inevitably start thinking about who the artist is and what was their place in society, and what might their experiences have been the day that they were making this object. It's as if you're in conversation with the artist just by spending this much time with their artwork. When you take an object that has never been looked at by conservation, and it's never been examined, for you to be the first person to really examine this object is a particular triumph. When you're designing an exhibition, you need to think about the different ways in which the visitor needs to look at a work of art. You want them to look at one object while also being led to another object, and that creates a kind of choreography. I think when visitors walk up the glass staircase and enter into the Asian galleries, they're going to have an experience of wonderment, and they're going to take the time to engage with each of the objects and explore the many cultures that are represented on the floor. And it's the totality of those experiences, new history, new colors, new shapes, that give you a full impression of the museum as you leave.