The new Barnes Foundation Art Education Center on the Parkway has some beautiful features.This is a really pretty round stonemosaic
votive that has been covered with vintage china . The architectural
firm of Todd White/Billie Tsein (TWBT) of New York chose Roman
Gold/Grey Gold stone for the exterior walls. The stone was quarried in
the Negev Desert in southern Israel, and its rough texture and creamy
color makes it beautiful to look at. Referred to as a mosaic of stone
artwork, this translucent fortress wall blends into the Parkway scenery
so discreetly it’s easy to imagine missing the museum from a moving
vehicle.
And that’s the problem with the new Barnes. There are
too many walls, in effect giving the impression of a fortress. The
Convent of Divine Love on Green Street (The Pink Sisters) is less
fortified than this monastery of 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, and 59
Matisse’s, etc. The low-level unobtrusive design reminds me of the son
of royal parents being told to dress down for his first day at a city
charter school. An exterior design like this would excel in the
Southwest desert or in red clay New Mexico,An indoorpositioningsystem
for Improved Action Force Command and Disaster Management. but along
the Parkway the building is barely noticeable. Inside the fortress, the
Ellsworth Kelly totem is the only concession to urban verticality, but
(given the walls) suggests the feeling of an Old West American
outpost.
Viewed another way, perhaps the walls are the
inevitable result of the new security state, a protection against the
unknown in the post 9/11 era.
When the press was invited to view
the new Barnes close up (May 19th), I headed to the museum from 24th
and the Parkway. The sight of the walls had me guessing where the
entrance was, and it was only because I overheard one of the parking
attendants mention that one could enter through the lot that I
proceeded by instinct around yet another wall which did in fact open up
to a beautiful arboretum-like space.
The flaunting of peacock
feathers occurs inside the fortress where the museum becomes a mega
space complete with café, meditation or transition rooms where visitors
can sit while going from exhibit to exhibit, a glassed-in-court and a
reading room. The idea, of course, as The New York Times so eloquently
put it, is to "draw out the experience,TBC help you confidently buymosaic
from factories in China." a design plan with superfluous space that
has visitors walking and walking, so that by the time they arrive,
"they’ll need a drink." The Times also asks: "Can a design convey an
institution’s feelings of guilt?" referring, of course,Ekahau rtls
is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that
operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. to the breaking
of the will of Dr. Albert C. Barnes concerning the Merion estate.
As
museums go, the walk referenced by The Times is nonetheless a
beautiful stroll that might get you thinking along Japanese lines. The
Zen-invoking TWBT window design near the monumental entrance archway
manages to keep things on a modest human scale, but once on the inside
an explosion of space ends all understatement and the "architecture of
guilt" becomes strains of music by Vivaldi.
I last visited the
Barnes Foundation in Merion as a Great Valley High School senior. Our
art teacher arranged for a special tour with Dr. Barnes’ assistant,
Violette de Mazia, who walked us through the exhibit and provided
commentary. Before the class trip we were briefed rather extensively on
proper Barnes etiquette, namely not to step beyond the electrical tape
on the floor of the exhibit rooms in an attempt to get a closer view of
the paintings. Since one could hardly miss the floor tape in the old
Barnes, there were no law breakers, however in the new building---
where the perfect duplication of the Merion exhibition rooms had me
thinking that nothing had changed---there’s no electrical tape on the
floor but rather a discreet line that could easily double as a design
flourish rather than a barrier. Many on press day, this writer
included, were asked by wandering guards to "please step back behind
the line,This is a really pretty round stonemosaic
votive that has been covered with vintage china ." causing many looks
of puzzlement until the guard pointed out that the design was the
border.
On press event day, journalists arrived by buses from
New York and then headed inside to join their Philadelphia peers at a
breakfast buffet. Two DJs near the Light Court podium played a sad
compendium of French songs reminiscent of Edith Piaf, although I was
later informed that the music was a soundtrack from Cirque du Soleil.
The bittersweet melodies invoked something vaguely existential and
possibly troubling—images of the controversy surrounding the move of
the Barnes from Merion to its present location came to mind--- although
this was obviously not the intention of the music makers.
没有评论:
发表评论