Today we started out at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The first thing I really saw was Dale Chihuly's blown glass chandelier which Emily presented on. I agree with her that it was somewhat disappointing with how incredibly dusty it was. I was also disappointed in how it was lit. If Chihuly wanted to show the interaction between light and glass, I feel like the piece was lacking half of its purpose: the light. Don't get me wrong, the glass work was impeccable and surreal, it's crazy to think that such a heavy, fragile thing is hanging from the ceiling; however, I was expecting a huge spotlight which would shoot off various colors all around the entrance. Instead, there was just a dusty collection of blues and yellows. I hope Emily does contact the director and complain! After the presentation, we went down to the special exhibition entitled Shadow Catchers, which was a show on camera-less photography. This was probably my favorite exhibit thus far. I'm really intrigued by alternative processes, and I found this portion of my photography studies my favorite. Photography is often categorized as hyper-realistic, so I find it really inventive when an artist can break this mentality. The first piece that really struck me was Floris Neususs' "Untitled (Korperfotogramm)" from 1962. In this piece, all you can see is a silhouette of a woman with flowers falling. While it's clear that the process required the model to stand still, there is a sense of movement. The flowers seem to be falling and the overall composition is a beautiful juxtaposition between stillness and dance. Neususs' "Be Right Back" was probably my favorite piece of the day. It was an installation piece in which a platform held an empty chair. On the ground was a shadow of someone sitting in the chair, obviously now that person is missing. This piece asked a lot of questions- who is the person? Where did they go? When will they be back? Did something happen? I thought this was so successful and a clever mind game- I kept coming back to it. There were other artists who decided to create pieces without a subject. One artist just recorded an abstract pattern of white on black lines, which when the label was read it explained that it was a recording of lighting on photo-sensitive paper. It had a drawing-like quality about it, despite it being spontaneous and random. Danielle and I actually watched a short film that explored and interviewed each of the artist on their methodology and thought processes behind their works. I found this highly successful and interesting. They were all so varied and different, but all fell under the same category of camera-less photography. Adam Fuss made a daguerreotype, from the series "My Ghost", in which he over-exposed the paper to create this blue backdrop to a sole butterfly. This soft background to the fluttering creature created a very beautiful, yet disturbing. There was something eerie and fragile about the piece. After the special exhibition, we happened to stumble into the Raphael room. That whole room took my breath away- I never knew that the paintings (which were actually cartoons- not even the finalized pieces!) were so large. The cartoons were designs for tapestries that were commissioned by Pope Leo X in 1515. There was one finished tapestry that was hanging on the wall and it was really neat to see it compared to the preparatory image. Overall, I loved the colors and felt so dwarfed by the size of the works. I have to say that this was probably my least favorite museum we've been to thus far. It was incredibly difficult to navigate and I didn't feel amazed by too many of the objects (this isn't saying they weren't well done or gorgeous, they just weren't interesting to me). Many of the other works I saw were religious in subject. I saw some illuminated manuscripts which were beautiful. I'm always awed at the small and gilded details. I also felt that many of the rooms I visited had an emphasis on functionality and practical things as opposed to paintings or sculptures. I saw a lot of clocks, mirrors, and clothing. Some of the artifacts were more interesting than others. I found the cases that had a painting with the actual article of clothing in it intriguing because you could see close to the real thing the artist got. I also really enjoyed the themed rooms which were completely redone as they would have been back in their era. These are like stepping back in time because everything as it would be: the floorboards, decorated ceilings, fire places, wallpaper- everything is as it was. There's also something innately engaging to see how much or little our everyday items such as spoons or plates have evolved. It's a way that I feel we can directly connect to the people of the past. I did enjoy the hands-on activities or pieces that were around the museum. There was one room that let you build a chair as they were constructed back then. This was kind of fun to try- although, I didn't feel safe sitting in mine when I was done. Many of the labels also had pieces of a replica of the sculptures so that you could feel the material and weight of the object on display. The jewelry was perhaps the most fascinating display. There was so much of it and quite a variation. They had it organized in a time line so you could really see the fashions and materials in which was favored throughout the years. Some of the pieces were just excessive while others I wanted for myself. The ivory pieces were my favorite. There were several earrings, necklaces, and rings in which had a small carving of usually a person out of ivory and the subtle details were great. Though it wasn't in my museum plan, I was glad to see Durer's "St. Jerome in his Study". I had several pieces by Durer on my museum plan for the National Gallery- but I never got to them and I don't think I'll get a chance to go back before we get to Paris. Durer's work is so intricate and perfect, that I was glad I got to see an example of one of his complex etchings. I also saw Canova's "Sleeping Nymph", which was fantastic. I'm quite impressed and intrigued by sculptures because I cannot sculpt well myself, and I also enjoy studying the figure. Canova's reclining figure is so perfect it seems that she may wake up at any moment. We could never find the actual floors which had plaster casts of many of the big monuments, but we did see them from the balcony. The two pieces that were most impressive to me was Trajan's Column and "David". First off, I did a presentation on Trajan's Column in one of my courses, so I knew that it was tall, but I had no idea it was THAT tall. They had only two pieces of the monument (not even on top of each other) and they both hit the high ceilings. It was remarkable. The narrative that runs around the column is very clear, and I now i can certainly believe that there are 2,500 figures! I've never been to Italy, so I've never seen "David" and I was shocked at how large it was. I always had envisioned that the sculpture was about life size- but I can totally see why it's such an impressive and famous piece of work. The sheer size and accuracy deserves note. I was disappointed I couldn't go down to it (or see the real thing, for that matter). The plaster casts were quite impressive and interesting in their own right. I did see some of the paintings that were in my museum plan; however, only briefly since we were running down to try and make the meeting- then we couldn't get back to the room.
After our group meeting, Brittini, Danielle, and I spent a little more time looking around the Victoria and Albert Museum before heading over to the National Science Museum. We had chosen to go there first because we thought it'd be more interactive and fun. We were right. The first exhibit we visited was on psychoanalysis which explored Freud's theories on the unconscious. One of the pieces that impressed me was this sculpture that when lit casted a shadow of two profiles. I thought the sculpture was merely a series of abstract, red shapes; however, once I approached it I realized it was made up of penises and fingers. It was interesting either way. There were plenty of illusions in this section of the museum. There was a three-dimensional television set that fit into a triangle which played a loop of a Rubik cube of the world's disasters. We also went through the space exhibit, but we didn't get to do any of the hands-on activities because there were two schools of kids there. There was a sculpture of the earth with a projection of the real time weather on it which was pretty neat to look at. We also explored the "Trash Fashion" exhibit which was a series of clothes that were either environmentally friendly or made out of garbage. There was a dress made out of old newspapers which was surprisingly classy and fashionable. There were also shirts and skirts made out of natural substances and utilized a harmless dying process. We spent the most time in the "Who are You?" exhibit which talked about humans and how and why they vary. There was a series of games which you could play and learn about the brain. One game, which was teaching about habits and how we learn, was like a race car game: you had a steering wheel and had to steer the car the opposite direction than you'd expect. For instance, if you wanted to go right, steer left, and vice versa. It was really frustrating and I gave up half way through. There was also this morality game which asked a series of questions about what you would or wouldn't do. For instance, if you were on a bridge and a train was about to hit a group of people, but you had the power to steer the train away to kill only one person, what would you do? Most people would kill the one over the group. The questions kept getting tougher and tougher as you progressed through the game. There was also a game on memory and sight using cameras. It discussed how scientists still don't understand how the brain understands or perceives time and images- I found this interesting. There was a lot to learn there- they talked about blood spattering, and how it can tell a lot about a murder as well as a person, genetics, interests, feelings, and more. Danielle did this one game where you had to stick your hand in a box and watch several videos. Sometimes something would grab her hand, others it would just blow air, and sometimes there was nothing at all. Afterwards, it wanted her to describe her emotional state then explained why we experience each of the feelings. The last thing we did on this level was to profiling experience where a computer asked you a series of questions and gave a number of tests to try and accurately create an avatar of who you are. Some of the questions were like "What scares you?", "Are you a day person or a night person?", "Where do you feel comfortable"? etc. Some of tests required you to read other languages or remember patterns. After the fact, a little version of you appeared in the back wall where a huge screen showed a series of dots- each representing a person who had done the test. It was an interesting end product to the experience because it showed that we are all very similar- these colorful dots- but unique also (which was shown when our individual avatar would step forward). I think this was my favorite portion of the museum. We also looked at some old cars and learned about our carbon footprint- but those were less interesting to me.
We did also make it to the Natural History Museum; however, we were there for a very, very brief time. The building was so phenomenal that we wanted to see what it looked like from the inside (which was even more beautiful) but we quickly realized that we didn't have the time or energy to spend to another museum. So, instead, we just walked in and out of a few rooms. We saw a few of the dinosaur skeletons- which are always interesting, and we went into the bird room. The bird room was a bit creepy because it was just a series of stuffed birds in various positions. I think it was most interesting to see the dodo bird since they are extinct and I didn't know what they actually looked like. Other than that, I would have much preferred seeing live birds.
To unwind, we decided to once again to a market. We ventured out the Convent Gardens which was supposed to have a similar market as Camden, but with performance art, mimes, jugglers, and dancers. This was what interested us; however, we failed to see said "performance artists, mimes, jugglers, and dancers". Maybe they only come out in the summer time. I was disappointed. I don't think we actually found the market either because we were just ducking in and out of very Americanized stores like H and M. We did go to "Fashionably British", which was incredibly expensive and not very different than our "Abercrombie and Fitch". Of course, since we're girls, found plenty of things to buy elsewhere.
Once we returned to Russell Square, we met up with our class for our group meeting. We each went around and talked about our favorite parts of the various museums and discussed travel plans for Paris. Then we went over to "The Friend at Hand Pub" for a group dinner. Danielle and I had gone their before but didn't get to eat there because it was so busy, so I was glad we were getting a chance. It's also worth noting that Oscar Wilde used to drink there- so I felt classy. We had a three course dinner with one drink (which was very nice of our professors to do for us) and it was ridiculously tasty. I was bummed that I hadn't eaten there before. Their hamburgers were SO good and I have no idea why, but they were better than any hamburger I had ever had before. I'm also not a soup person, but I lapped up the whole bowl as our starter. We also got a dessert, which I'm still not sure what it was, it tasted kind of like a breaded cake...or something with pudding on top, but it was also amazing. The whole meal was great and I'm very grateful for our professors for paying! It was a fun way to spend the evening.
After dinner, Brittini insisted that we go out to this one pub she had visited with her room mate to try strawberry beer. I had never heard of such a thing and couldn't really imagine it, so we went down to try it out. It was also fantastic. It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. I wrote down the brand to see if they have it in America. It was a very delicious evening.
Question of the Day: What is the smallest thing you've seen today?
I'm excluding the jewelry because it's naturally small; however, the smallest thing I saw today was a devotional booklet from 1330 of the coronation of the virgin as Queen of Heaven and two saints sculpted out of ivory, painted, and gilded. It was clearly a pocket-sized book for someone to bring with them while they travelled, but it was so intricate and beautiful. The details sculpted out of the ivory were shocking. Some of the figures were sculpted all the way around and were only connected by their feet and head. There was a magnifying glass so you could look at the details and I imagine it was necessary to make the piece as well. Mary was so detailed- you could see the strands of her hair and the ripples in the dress.
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