The Opening is seen as the beginning of something new, kind of first showing of your latest work.
Something that you cannot avoid noticing are the same people attending these shows. I suspect these professional opening-goers to consider themselves as the newness that has to be seen. The 5 minutes of obligatory looking at the works is quickly replaced with small and bigger talk about everything else that's new in their life.
There are only some mixed drinks that can help you to get over this feeling.
