Day Six (May 8th): New York City

Highlights, of a much quieter day than yesterday:

1.- Guggenheim

I visited the Guggenheim, which was, frankly, underwhelming. The building is obviously gorgeous and walking up the circular main gallery is an interesting way to see an exhibit. However, there were way too many visitors; the place was crowded and loud, not the best environment to try to appreciate art.

The main exhibition was on 'Gutai', a Japanese art movement/collective from the early 50's to 1970 that sought to re-define art, in the post-WWII era. There was a range of types of works, with the central element or theory behind the collective being moving beyond what is understood as being art. These works included representations of how public places could be transformed into living art, large room-size projects and more traditional-looking art pieces that utilised non-traditional techniques (e.g., painting with one's feet or by using a remote-control model car). Most of the collective/movement's work falls into art deconstructionism, which is probably right interesting and thrilling for artists and art scholars.

There were a couple of side galleries that were open. One dealt with South East Asian contemporary works, none of which struck me as memorable. The other exhibited works from the gallery's permanent collection, mostly French Impressionists (Pissaro and Gauguin amongst others) and a number of Picasso's. Two of the side galleries were closed for the preparation of an exhibit on sur-realism between the World Wars, which was to open in a few days. I think I would have gotten much more out of that than the Japanese deconstructionists.

2.- Siegfried (The third instalment of the Ring Cycle, for those wondering...)

Yet another comment about the set: to simulate the environment of the cave, where Act I is set, a grey rocky scene was projected on the slabs, complete with snakes and bugs moving about on what was meant to be the cave wall. I have no idea how they did it, but it looked three-dimensional.

3.- Comped drink count: 3. The Irish bartender at Peter Dillon's, the Irish pub next to the hotel, bought me a shot of Jamieson's when I stopped in for a couple pints on the way home.

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