Curate Your Own Adventure

Today we spent the entire day at The Getty Center…literally the entire day. We arrived just after 10 am and didn’t leave until 4.30 pm, an hour before closing. My feet are screaming at me, but, it was so worth it. As well as exploring on our own, we joined a collections highlight tour and went on a Museum Hack tour! I am going to write about our day hour-by-hour. It seems like the most rationale way to approach what was an absolutely massive day. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this long at one cultural institution.

Before I start, however, here is just a quick summary of The Getty. Some of the works were purchased by J. Paul Getty – an incredibly rich oil industrialist. His passion was collecting European art between, approximately, 1300 and 1900. The Getty Trust continues to collect art from this period as well as more modern photography and sculptures. The Getty Villa, at Malibu, houses an antiquity collection.

10.15 am

To get to The Getty, you must first ride a funicular up the hill. It is quite an experience simply getting to the entrance! On arrival, we were really impressed with how attentive the staff were – handing out umbrellas (because it was so hot) and ‘what’s on’ guides.

The Getty consists of five main buildings. The first thing we did was work out what we wanted to see and if there were any interesting tours. There was a collections highlight tour at 11.15 am that sounded like a great place to start. To fill in the hour, we visited the South Pavilion to see A Queen’s Treasure from Versailles: Marie-Antoinette’s Japanese Lacquer.

It was a small exhibition, but, contained some beautiful objects. It is believed that Marie- Antoinette had the largest collection of Japanese lacquer boxes in Europe. Some of the boxes on display had not been seen since the French Revolution. My favourite can be seen below, a dog-shaped box. It looks as though the dog is resting on the ground and looking at its owner.

We then spent some time wandering around the Versailles collection. This included the dressing chair of Marie-Antoinette. It felt as though you were walking through one of the countless palaces in Europe.

11.15 am

It was time for the collections highlight tour. I was so glad that the guide used a microphone and we could hear through little earpieces. Nothing is more frustrating than when you’re on a tour and cannot hear the guide.

Our guide, Gabrielle, was fantastic. She knew a lot about The Getty and was clearly passionate about art. After hearing a little about the architecture of the Getty, we headed inside to our first stop. I could not believe that the floor and some of the walls had been constructed out of the same type of marble used to build the colosseum. Now that is showing commitment to Europe.

We stopped at the bust of Pope Paul V by Bernini, a couple of works by Rembrandt and some works on display in the Impressionists Gallery. For me, the highlight of the highlight tour was seeing Irises by Vincent Van Gogh. This was the first work he painted after booking himself in to an asylum. The colours were unbelievably vibrant.

A quick note on the bust. It wasn’t recognised as a Bernini until it was sold to The Getty. The individual who purchased it from an art auction paid around $30 000. They later sold it to The Getty for around 30 million.

12.15 pm

After grabbing something to eat, we ventured in to see Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography. One thing that really annoys me is when photography is allowed in an exhibition, with the exception of a few pieces that aren’t clearly marked. On the label of some of the works, right in the bottom corner, was a small camera with ‘no photograph’ printed next to it. The labels needed to be bigger to avoid the confusion that was constantly happening.

The exhibition was displayed chronologically. There were some amazing photographs and clothing on display. I particularly enjoyed the earlier works as the later ones were all a bit too bizarre.

The entrance to the exhibition was, understandably, dimly lit. What didn’t help was having a really dark paint on the wall with white text over the top. It was not a welcoming way to start. Once your eyes had adjusted, you were then exposed to comparatively bright light in the rest of the exhibition. A small thing to note, but, it did have an impact on my experience.

1.15 pm

We left this exhibition and walked outside to the cactus garden to snap some photographs. There was quite an assortment of cactus extending out over the hill.

I really wanted to see the exhibition, Art of Three Faiths, that showcased a Bible, Torah and Qur’an. The exhibition literally consisted of these three items in separate display cases. Next to each was a short explanation of the religion they represented. I was more interested in seeing the beautiful calligraphy and imagery on display. I was not disappointed.

We only spent a short time in this exhibition. After, we visited the shop and relaxed before our final tour.

2.15 pm

Museum Hack is a company that promises to deliver entertaining tours. Currently, it operates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. I was beyond excited to finally have the opportunity to experience one of these tours – and I was most definitely not disappointed.

Our guide, Monisha, was incredible! We were the only two booked on the tour so essentially it was a private tour – very fancy.

The following two hours were filled with hilarious stories, challenges, and opportunities to interact with the artworks. It was a tour that cut out all the boring parts and got right to the stuff that was interesting. Here is an example of a story, challenge, and interactive opportunity.

Story: one of my favourite stories was about the chandelier pictured below. Superficially, it looks like a pretty over-the-top piece of art. The small bowl-like structure hanging below, however, was designed to be filled with water and hold a goldfish. You would never know just by looking at it today!

Challenge: in one of the galleries we were asked to find two individuals in the artworks on display and come up with a love story. It was a fun way to actually look at everything in the gallery! I chose these two and came up with a story about how she was bored of everyone and everything and he was constantly a third wheel.

Interactive opportunity: this one was my favourite. In the sculpture gallery we could select one statue to pose with and copy its stance etc. Here was my attempt.

If you are ever in one of the cities mentioned earlier, make sure you book yourself on one of these tours. You will laugh so hard it hurts and wish that the tour would never end.

For more information or to book please click here! Or follow this link https://museumhack.com/tours/los-angeles/

4.45 pm

It was time to leave and head back to our hotel. I had the best day in the oasis that is The Getty.

Perched high above Los Angeles is the Griffith Observatory. It is often publicised to visitors as the perfect place to see the Hollywood sign and learn a little something about the universe. If that doesn’t persuade you to visit, you might also recognise the Observatory from the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause. This film is one of the 300 that feature the observatory’s facade. We visited purely because I wanted to see the skyline of Los Angeles and watch one of the many films on offer in the planetarium. I love seeing anything to do with space even though it completely freaks me out how small we are in the bigger picture.

The Observatory is housed in a stunning Art Deco building. It first opened to the public in 1935 meaning it has been operating for just over 80 years. It is a really incredible building and offers some of the most amazing views of Los Angeles. You can also watch people try and get their photograph holding the Hollywood sign.

According to their website, the Observatory welcomes over one million visitors per year. Judging by what we saw, quite a few visitors actually walk inside the building and go through the displays. There was also a large crowd for the planetarium show Centred in the Universe.

We arrived at the Observatory around 2 pm. As the next planetarium show was scheduled for 2.45 pm, we had some time to kill. On the entrance level of the Observatory are a couple of little displays. The first is a large Foucault pendulum in the middle of the main building. It is one of the largest pendulum devices in the world and demonstrates the rotation of the Earth. If you look at it long enough, you might find yourself getting sleepy. Although it may look like the ball is changing direction, it’s actually staying on the same path while the Earth moves.

In one of the side rooms is a small display showcasing Galileo’s telescope and the first telescope used in Los Angeles. There were plenty of other objects and display boards dotted around the room. There had been an attempt to integrate technology. Unfortunately, quite a few of the displays with technology were not working. This was quite disappointing.

The ones that were working, however, were quite interesting. In particular, there was a display that showed you how much heat your body was radiating. Considering it is summer, everyone who stepped in front of the camera was positively glowing.

It was then time to see the planetarium show. It took all my strength not to fall asleep in the comfy reclined chairs. Oh so many visitors did. The presentation was quite interesting going through some history of astronomy and trying to explain, in very simple terms, what is dark matter and dark energy. Although at times very dramatic, I did enjoy the section of film that asked ‘why should we care about things like dark energy and dark matter?’ Being curious has led us to many advancements and hopefully this desire to look outside ourselves and to the world around us will lead to many more.

To finish our visit, we climbed to the top of the Observatory to see the 12-inch Zeiss Refracting Telescope. The story goes that Griffith J. Griffith was inspired to open a public observatory equipped with a large telescope after visiting the Mount Wilson Observatory. The Griffith Trust purchased this telescope in 1931 from the Carl Zeiss Company in Germany. Today, the telescope is believed to be one of the most ‘looked through’ in the world, attracting just over 600 people per night to the star shows.

Although most of the displays were outdated, it appeared that the Observatory was aware. Every donation box had a sign stating that they were going to use the funds to update. The planetarium show was entertaining and quite informative.

To finish, a little shout out to the gift shop. I purchased the most adorable mini projector that can show the stars on your ceiling at night. Really excited to add this to my room when I return home!

This morning we headed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). I really wanted to see this famous installation that sits outside the main entrance. This work is titled Urban Light by Chris Burden. It consists of 202 restored cast-iron street lamps and is meant to represent a civilised city – safe after dark and beautiful to see. Wouldn’t it be nice if cities were safe after dark – especially for women. Maybe one day. As you can imagine, it is a hot spot for photographs. I couldn’t resist running between the lamp posts and posing for a quick snap.

Little did I know that LACMA consists of five separate buildings, each displaying remarkable collections. Currently, three of the buildings are undergoing renovation. We visited the German Expressionism Gallery, 3D: Double Vision, and American Art since the 1950s.

German Expressionism Gallery

As well as having a permanent display containing works by some of the Bauhaus greats, this gallery also had a small temporary exhibition space. On show now until 26 August is Picturing the Masses: Germany, 1900-1938.

This was a really interesting exhibition that sought to portray mass movements. This not only included crowds of people, but also mass production and the mass dissemination of ideology. For example, there were catalogues containing mass produced products and film footage of Nazi party rallies.

I was particularly drawn to this artwork titled Crowds with Shape of Reason Missing by John Baldessari.

Even if you are familiar with the original image, this white space allows the visitor to project their own imagery into the piece. It literally could become anything you wanted it to be.

The layout of this exhibition can be seen below.

The contrast between the red in the display cases and the grey walls aesthetically suited the works perfectly. Almost every work was on paper in either black or white, or muted colours. The only two exceptions were the works by Cesar Klein and Max Pechstein.

As red stands out in both works, this complemented the red in the display cases.

I was really excited to see a couple of works by George Grosz. In a nutshell, his work depicts the decline of German society. Considering the work selected for display was titled The Entire Population is a Bunch of Malingerers you get the idea he was critical kind of guy. In the work pictured below he has categorised the urban masses of Berlin into characters such as wealthy industrialists who benefited from hyperinflation and World War I. I love his work, and others similar, primarily because he wasn’t afraid to hold a mirror up to society and point out the bad and the ugly.

In the permanent display was a good old Bauhaus chair. So sleek, so practical.

3D: Double Vision

Although the American Art section was mostly closed, the ground floor had an exhibition about 3D technology. It was a lot of fun. Throughout the exhibition there were three different types of 3D glasses that allowed visitors the chance to interact with the artworks.

The first were the classic red and blue anaglyph glasses. They helped works like these of the moon come to life.

There were also plastic 3D glasses used by modern cinema and cardboard lens viewers. Each work had a small symbol indicating what glasses to wear, if any. I can imagine that this wouldn’t be suitable for everyone, however, it was an interesting way to encourage a level of interactivity with the works.

Dotted around the exhibition space were also small cabinets containing historic objects. These included aerial surveillance images and machines used to gain a sense of depth during World War II.

The exhibition also tackled the fears surrounding the onset of this new technology. For example, in the 1950s there was genuine concern that the introduction of 3D might lead to the blurring of reality and illusion.

It was a really fascinating look at the impact of 3D technology on entertainment, art and politics.

American Art since the 1950s

One of the final galleries we visited displayed American art since the 1950s. There were some classic works on display by Warhol, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein.

While walking around this gallery I noticed a small room off to the side containing some new acquisitions. This one literally lit up the room.

Jump Rope by Idelle Weber brings a sense of anonymity to those engaged in everyday activities. Seeing pop art by a truly remarkable female artist put the biggest smile on my face. You might recognise Weber’s work as her depiction of a man in a suit became the silhouette image of Mad Men. I hope they move this work to be with the other examples of pop art!

Final Thoughts

What really stood out to me at LACMA were the great visions supporting the temporary exhibitions. The permanent galleries were typically art gallery in feel and style. The temporary exhibitions, however, were well-designed and innovative. I wish I could visit again in the future when new exhibitions are released!

Greetings from the hot and sunny Los Angeles! Last time I visited this city I was 6 years old and only cared about one thing – Disneyland. Since then, my list of things to see and do in Los Angeles has grown longer and longer. Finally, I now have the opportunity to visit some incredible museums and see the sites. Today was our first day so we decided to take things easy and stay around our hotel. The Museum of Death was only a short walk away. I had heard about this museum from one of my true crime podcasts so I knew it was going to be intense. But, I was genuinely interested in seeing how such a sensitive issue can be displayed. Also, I think there is this human need to try and make sense of the unthinkable and macabre.

In short, it could have been handled a lot better due to the fact that they had some incredible objects, but, these weren’t curated as thoughtfully as possible. I should also note that I am fully aware this museum is a bit of a money-maker endeavour. Still, I think it’s important to review anything that has the word ‘museum’ in its name. So here we go.

There will be some structure to this post, but, I firstly want to say that it is quite amazing there is no age limit. The website does warn against extremely graphic imagery. If anyone under the age of 16 or even 18 stepped foot into this museum I would strongly recommend it is followed by an appointment with a mental health professional.

No photographs were allowed in the museum, for obvious reasons. This was actually what I appreciated the most considering the contents inside were so graphic. The rest of the post will focus on the objects, layout, labels and film.

Objects

The objects inside were taken straight from your nightmares. The very first room had some paintings by John Wayne Gacy and letters from serial killers such as Richard Ramirez. These objects were, as you would expect, extremely uncomfortable to view. Especially considering they were sort of crammed into one room with long labels explaining who the serial killers were and what they had done.

Other graphic objects included crime scene photographs which I thought could have been more respectfully displayed. They were just hanging on the wall with almost no context. Maybe if they had have been displayed in folders that people could look through it might not have seemed so intentionally shocking.

Some of the most interesting objects, for me, were the Victorian mourning jewellery and autopsy instruments from the past. This was probably because they had more imbedded history and weren’t as horrifying to see. There were full autopsy kits from the early 1800s and a make-up kit used to prepare a corpse for burial from the 1980s.

Another set of objects I found insightful were the funerary objects for Jewish burial and the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) display. I had thought that the entire museum might be more like this – representations of how different religions and cultures view and deal with death.

There were other random objects I want to mention including skulls from various animals and a whole room dedicated to the Heaven’s Gate cult. In other words, the objects were all, to varying extents, confrontational and some were problematic.

Layout

The layout of the museum was so that visitors could explore at their own pace. There was a pretty clear path from start to exit, but, there were rooms that branched off throughout. At times, it also allowed those who didn’t want to see particular images or objects to continue on a different route.

Each room had a different theme so you (sort of) knew what to expect. For example, there was a room called the Manson Family filled with objects that belonged to the members. Other themes included execution and taxidermy (of animals).

As each room was filled with objects and furniture, it was difficult to make your way around with others in the space. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to move around when the museum is at capacity.

Labels

There were labels around the museum that offered some information about the objects on display. They were mostly very basic and left me thinking surely there is something more that could be written.

There could have been more research into some of the objects on display stopping them from being merely shock value. This also could have helped with addressing the ethical issues surrounding the objects.

Film

We spent the most time watching documentary footage of early Hollywood murders. This was shown in the very last room of the museum. This footage explored cases such as ‘The Black Dahlia’.

I think we spent about half an hour just sitting in this room learning about the dark side of early Hollywood.

Final Thoughts

This museum could have been a really interesting display on death. There were elements such as the film footage etc that showed great potential, but, the rest of the museum required more careful curating.

If you are going to deal with death, I think it’s important to leave people feeling informed and not mentally scarred.