A couple years ago my mom and I paid a little visit to my brother who was living in Louisville, Kentucky at the time. Little did I know the area was home to all kinds of innovative little hubs. The one that stands out the most is 21c Museum Hotel - hotel, museum and restaurant - all-in-one.
The museum aspect of the conglomeration made an impression on me. Established as the first museum in North America to strictly exhibit 21st century art - hence the name - it outfits the hotel with an enamoring mix of contemporary art exhibitions and permanent installations.
A few of the permanent installations...
Red Penguin (2005) - Cracking Art Group
The icon of the 21c Museum Hotel - these permanent residents make themselves at home throughout the building.
Arillated: The 21c Pip Mobile - Monica Mahoney
Untitled, 2006 - Werner Reiterer
This beauty is installed outside the entrance of the building making breathing sounds every time a guest rings the bell for the host at the restaurant. I spy red penguins...
Text Rain (1999) - Camille Utterback & Romy Achituv
By far the most entertaining installation in the museum - Situated in the middle of the hotel's elevator lobby, somehow, a camera projects a photo of the person standing in front of the wall onto the wall, like a mirror. Simultaneously, letters fall down the projected image, and when they hit an object (i.e. your arm) they collect and eventually spell out words. I could stand there for hours.
Several "new aquisitions" were being exhibited when we visited. One artist's work particularly stood out to me - Pieter Hugo.
More about these images in the photo captions here.
Photos from 21cmuseumhotel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment