The view of any city tends to be spectacular, but being so high above a city outside of America was a wonderful feeling for me. It gave me a clear idea of exactly how big London is and that in itself was an extraordinary thing to see. Being so close to Parliament was what excited me the most... It's such a beautiful, grand building and to be so high above it and see it in all its glory with the red tour buses driving by made me really happy. It was a very relaxing and, in my opinion, appropriate way to start the day. Even the walk to the Tate Modern afterwards was relaxing and a great way to start things off; I was especially amused by the sad Mickey we found on the way there as well as the word "Jim" that was griffitied onto a bridge we walked under. The tiny skate park we found got me extremely excited, especially since there was so much graffiti on the walls... In fact, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven at that point. It reminded me of Five Points [the building the 7 train passes right before entering into Manhattan or after getting out of the tunnel] and I felt a strange, happy homesickness, oddly enough.
Overall, my Tate Modern experience was probably the best museum experience I've ever had. I normally don't get excited about modern art, but there was something about the overall vibe of the museum that made me feel very happy to be there. We had lunch at the little cafe there, and that in itself was an experience; the food was so good! Pricey, but pretty good.
I think what impacted me the most was Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds" installation. After reading the story behind the installation, viewing the installation became an extremely overwhelming, emotional experience [of course, the music in the background played a huge part in the whole 'emotional' part.] I love how the work takes on so many different and contradicting themes [such as the brutality of the cultural revolution vs. the compassion of sharing sunflower seeds with friends, a unit vs. a group, etc], and how that in itself becomes a theme and kind of a purpose of the work.
I especially appreciate how each sunflower seed is hand crafted differently and uniquely so that each unit has its own individual essence, yet when they're all piled in together they look like they belong together and that they have a greater purpose than being unique, which is already a pretty great purpose in my opinion. I also loved being able to see the footprints in the sunflower seeds, which I can only guess belong to Ai himself.
Just thinking about the idea of units coming together to make a whole, thinking about how much time and care was put into this work, thinking about the social/political background to this work along with the music playing from the movie made me tear up a little bit.
The Gaugin exhibit didn't quite impress me. For the most part, I have a love-hate relationship with Impressionism and I certainly didn't love Gaugin's work. A few pieces stood out to me though, such as Clovis Asleep, which I thought was very beautiful and surreal. It depicted his daughter dreaming. I wondered if it was more invasive than anything else. Inside the Painter's House also stood out to me because of it's darker, gloomier overtone. I noticed that it was more subdued as well as accurate than his other paintings.
The Gaugin exhibit didn't quite impress me. For the most part, I have a love-hate relationship with Impressionism and I certainly didn't love Gaugin's work. A few pieces stood out to me though, such as Clovis Asleep, which I thought was very beautiful and surreal. It depicted his daughter dreaming. I wondered if it was more invasive than anything else. Inside the Painter's House also stood out to me because of it's darker, gloomier overtone. I noticed that it was more subdued as well as accurate than his other paintings.
War Horse, being the final thing on the agenda, didn't get me as worked up as I think it could have, had the day been shorter. I was so tired by the time we got there, and by intermission I felt myself already succumbing to sleep, but, suffice to say, I DID enjoy the play. I thought it was so different from every other show I've ever seen; the mechanics were very impressive, and the way the different characters [including the animals] interacted with each other was a breath of fresh air. There was something very natural about the way the animals moved and sounded and how everyone interacted with one another. I did feel that the play dragged on a little towards the end, but happy endings are always nice, so I really shouldn't complain. What I enjoyed the most about the play was the soundtrack. The man that sang most of the songs had such a rich, unique voice and I especially loved it when he played the accordion, sang, and was accompanied by the violinist. The music was so beautiful that I stopped paying attention to the story whenever the duo came out to play.
I couldn't have asked for a better day; Day 2 for the win!
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