Friday, January 21, 2005

baby it's cold outside

not just cold. it's FREEEEEZING! dude, i was just walking around the city in 11 degree weather. that's -11 celcius. and that's not even with the wind chill. what was i doing outside you ask? well, i've been indoors the last 2 days straight, trying to avoid the weather. but when i got a call to go to the new and improved MOMA for friday free day, i jumped at the chance. it's now $20 to get in on regular days! since when did paying $20 to see art happen? jeez.

i knew it was frigid when i stepped outside, assessed the cold factor and went back inside to add leg warmers and my belly warmer. even with all my gear the walks from apartment to subway and then subway to museum were brutal. luckily the line was not too bad to get into the newly renovated museum. i must say, the place was pretty frickin sweet. the architecture was gorgeous. super sleek in an unpretenious way. just nice big white walls, huge open spaces, a great layout and cool lookouts and glass cutouts where you could view the ebb and flow of traffic. and the art of course was fantastic.

i still think MOMA may have my favorite permanent collection of any museum i've seen. i mean they have the famous "starry night" and my personal favorite, henri rousseau's "the dream." it's just so huge and colorful and reminds me of my childhood (my mom used to have a print of this painting and when i was a youngin, i placed a band-aid over the naked lady's boobies. my mom thought it was so funny that she left the band-aid on the print for years). anyway, besides the cold, it was great to get out and see some "aaaht." highly recommended if you have yet to see the new space (and go on free friday, unless you want to pay the ungodly $20). ART FOR THE PEOPLE dammit!

3 comments:

Megan Hill said...

no, no, i definitely hear what YOU'RE saying. and i totally agree. i just thought $20 was a bit much. when my friends and i were complaining about the cost, we agreed that we'd totally pay $10 (as you would a movie... you're paying for the upkeep of the theater and all the people who essentially made the film). we just though $20 was a bit excessive. that's all. i mean at this rate, movies will cost $20 soon enough so i guess i shouldn't bitch too much. then again, when that time comes, i'm sure i'll be ranting again...

Anonymous said...

I do think 20$ is a lot of money as well for a museum. I don't know any museum in Europe that costs that much. Even the Louvre is not more then 10$.
Well, there's only one reason for this big difference in price...
art for the people indeed!

Anonymous said...

bear in mind that museums, unlike the typical movie theater, enjoy all sorts of state and federal subsidies and cash flow. you've already given them a lot of money before you even decide to go.