THE BROAD’S THREE O’CLOCK TOUR STARTS WITH A QUESTION

The Broad free tours start at 3 p.m., giving a museum visit a useful interruption: another person to ask about the thing in front of you. Its Visitor Experience team is directing attention toward John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres's sculptures and John Baldessari's photo collages. The best reason to join is the chance to move beyond a quick recognition of a name.

General admission is free, and the museum recommends reserving a timed ticket. The tour invitation applies on opening days. The Broad is closed Mondays, including September 28, so it is worth putting the next visit on the calendar before heading downtown.

A person in the room can change the question

The museum's photograph places a staff member beside figurative sculptures, making the scale of both easy to read. The invitation is practical: ask about the objects, their subjects and the choices behind them. Visitors do not have to arrive with an interpretation prepared.

That kind of exchange sits beside more formal programmes such as LACMA's Christina Quarles talk, held on September 19. An artist conversation has a scheduled speaker and subject. A gallery team can respond to the work a visitor happens to stop beside.

The Broad's announcement places regular tours in the third floor galleries, with Thursdays moving into the special exhibition. Its public tour schedule is the place to check the day's arrangement. Ask staff about exhibition admission before joining a Thursday tour; a free tour does not make every ticketed exhibition free at every hour.

Three o'clock gives the visit a shape

Starting with a tour can make the rest of a collection less intimidating. Returning to one object afterwards lets the visitor test what they heard against what they can see. That second look asks for time, not specialist vocabulary.

Collection displays also change. The earlier removal of Mehretu's Invisible Sun showed why an old photograph is not a promise about what will be on the wall. Staff and current gallery information are more useful for planning than a saved image alone.

The Broad's visit page lists Tuesday through Sunday opening, with later hours on Thursday. It also offers a free mobile guide, so visitors have another route into the collection when a guided conversation does not suit their pace.

Choose an open afternoon and leave room around the 3 p.m. start. Ahearn and Torres's figures and Baldessari's collages are good reasons to ask a person a question before reaching for another screen.