There aren’t as many pictures today because it was raining, and thus I did not get a lot of outdoor shots. My main stop today was the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (The National Central Art Museum Queen Sophia). Here are some photos near the exterior of the building and a couple of the courtyard in the center of the museum.
This museum houses modern art, as you can tell from this series of sculptures, called Wichte (Jerks) by Thomas Schütte; it’s one of the first things you see in the hallway on the first floor.
A whole section was devoted to art inspired by Raymond Roussel. I liked the Marcel Duchamp piece (first picture). The brushes in the second picture are attached to a motor, so the fan of brushes expand and contract. The third and fourth pictures are of a piece called A New Life by Guy de Cointet. The fourth picture pretty much sums up my attitude towards the whole exhibit—I had an “I don’t get it” reaction to most of the pieces in this display. My timing was good on the last picture, as I just got it when I saw the slide of Nancy and Sluggo. Am I cultured, or what?
Here are a few random pictures from the museum (I don’t remember which exhibits they were part of.) The lighted box in the last picture flashes the word PING on and off. Linux/UNIX fans, rejoice.
The second floor contains works by Dalí and Picasso. I never was very much of a fan of Picasso, and even after seeing Guernica in person (no photographs were allowed), I’m still not much of a fan. The mask is by Dalí. I also saw a few photos by Man Ray, and a video of Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou.
The fourth floor had an exhibit of art by Muntadas, which I greatly enjoyed. The first picture has the words “Look See Perceive”; the second has stickers that all translate to “Warning: Perception requires involvement.” After several rooms of very powerful graphics, you come to a room that has all blank canvases and a slide projector whose light is on but there are no slides. One of the best rooms in the exhibit was The Boardroom, which had a conference table in the center. On the walls were portraits of reigious figures (Rev. Pat Robertson, Ayatollah Khomeini, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, and, much to my delight and surprise, Reverend Ike). Each of the portraits had a small TV screen where the mouth would be, and the TV was displaying a speech by that person. I couldn’t get a picture; it was too dark, but someone else did get a picture.
The museum also had an exhibit of works by Alighiero Boetti. His good stuff is really good; his bad stuff just stinks. Here are a few of the ones I liked. The last one is very clever; it’s a book titled From One to Ten; each panel has the number written out in tiled letters.
I was lucky to see this exhibit of work by Emilio Ambasz; it was the last day for the exhibit. The architectural models were OK, but his design work was really exciting. The last picture is of a bendable pen called the Flexibol, which is a play on the Spanish words flexible and bolígrafo (ball-point pen). My translation of the description is below these pictures.
Designed for young students, these ball point pens in vivd colors adapt their elastic movement to the human body. Between the rigid point and the base, a flexible segment follows the body's movement, avoiding the risk of breaking when the pen is placed in the pocket. The ink is in a flexible plastic tube that runs the length of the pen, avoiding the inconvenient loss (?) that is typical of rigid pens. When you turn the body of the pen, the lower part moves upwards to meet the top part. The point comes out and the flexible part is hidden, permitting an optimal grip.
Even the stairwell is artistic; that thin line of turquoise paint goes up the stairs and ends abruptly at each floor’s entry/exit door. The next two photos show pictures numbered in a Fibonacci series. Each picture shows the corresponding number of people in a room in a factory. The last picture is of a work titled Spectator of Spectators. If you look closely, the right-hand poster shows a picture of that sculpture.
Pictures of a door on a Ministry of Justice building and a fountain at Enrique Hierros Park.
I liked the positioning of the metro symbols in the first picture. The second picture reads “We like how you move”; I’ll try to get a better photo of that one sometime. The third photo shows the clever use of the button on an assistance intercom as the dot of a question mark.
OK, the first one is just weird. The text reads “Whenever I hear ‘Rebates’ I leave flying.” The second and third photos are for a musical titled More Than 100 Lies. Great use of negative space in the third photo. The fourth photo is from the National Dance Company, and the last one is for a company called “Secure Rentals.”
