Event 3 Art and Hammer Museum

Chairs which swiveled like tops (lots of fun).

For my third event I went to the Art and Hammer Museum, knowing it was a museum for modern art I expected to find art pieces that involved science or technology, and thanks to this class I found them everywhere.

Artistic bridge built after a past president of the museum.

Jeremy Deller's English Magic had a symphony covering David Bowie

One thing that pops out immediately is the way the whole building is really an art piece. This is sort of a mixture of art and technology, maybe beyond just architecture in that they really seem to put art into everything. There were odd chairs to sit in that swiveled like tops and make for a fun interaction, there was a small bridge built after a president of the museum that evoked many of the feelings of a modern art piece, as well as walls made like puzzle pieces, and ping pong tables in the most serine setting.

Mary Reid Kelly's take on the story of the Minotaur

Another surprising third culture feature was that many of the exhibits were movies. Ed Atkins' "Even Pricks" was a highly rendered animation of a number of surreal events including monkeys talking, thumbs inflating like balloons, and beds collapsing in flames, all thrown together haphazardly with intense sounds like knocks and explosions to try and express the craziness of anxiety and depression. Another movie by Mary Reid Kelly was a feminine take on the story of the Minotaur, which was beyond bizarre but strangely watchable with all women actors having fake eyes, curves, and hair to name just a few. A third movie featured beautiful shots of birds along with parade routes and other odd scenes, set to David Bowie covers (who doesn't love Bowie right?).

Even Pricks' highly rendered monkey that was more than a little freaky.

Even Pricks' surreal thumb deflation that gives the odd feeling of anxiety.

In all, it was an interesting and enjoyable experience that I would recommend to anyone, and it made me realize how much the third culture is really everywhere. To me it seems almost everything is art in some way, buildings, paintings, movies, cars even; and technology and science are really just subsets of the spectrum of art.

Selfie of me at the Hammer