I was going to do my Christmas shopping yesterday, at the local shopping centre, but was umming and ahhing on the bus, and decided to head into town instead. I wanted to see the new Gallery of Modern Art, or GoMA as it has also been named, which had been opened the night before. Was expecting to only be there a couple of hours, a taster as it were, and then head into town to do other stuff.
I didn't manage to get across the river into the city proper until after 4pm - it was People's Day at the Cultural Centre, after the VIP opening of GoMA the night before. I wasn't there when Beattie opened it, but from the coverage last night, he basically said 'it's your's, get to it' or something akin to that, in a grumpy tone - I guess if you open everything every second day, you get sick of doing it all the time.
Wandered in to the museum, asked if I could take photos, the girl said yes, but no flash photography please, and thanked me for asking. I caught up with the Premier's media entourage in front of two giant statues of Chairman Mao (kind of appropriate with Queensland being a one party state), and I got asked by the Sunday Mail girl what I thought of the place, with my photo taken even - it didn't make the article in the paper though. Wasn't expecting it to though - I got some unspoken coverage of me on National Nine News though. Should I be vain and ask the station for the coverage perhaps?
Was very impressed with the gallery though - nice and light and airy, compared to the older part of the Cultural Centre, which seems very concretey, very confined, very, if I dare say it, ugly. And, as one of the artists said on the news last night, is good that they have built a world class thing in Brisbane that is NOT a sports ground, is quite surprising in fact.
The gallery building itself is great, and the exhibits are not what you would expect in the stereotypical cultural backwater. As I think I said earlier in the year, the museum seems to have gone a bit downhill, but the art galleries, both GoMA and the more general, pre-1970 Queensland Art Gallery are for Queenslanders to be proud of.
Was pottering around quite happily in the galleries, and then, as part of People's Day, the state government pulled out a lot of stops. There were tents all over the cultural district, with free water, free sunscreen, free guides, and I think free hats as well, although I didn't pick up one of those. Was a very good idea, and whoever organised it should be congratulated.
Also had the usual food tents, at all the fair type things - I had the German sausage option, frankfurter and kransky - sounds like a detective series on SBS or something - but could also have had Hungarian, French, Dutch, Thai or Aussie type food. And is nice to be able to wander around that part of South Bank, it seems like it has had buildings and or renovations on it since I got back to Oz in 2004.
And the street performers they had hired were fab. The group playing Indonesian or Balinese instruments were good, although when I spoke to one of them afterwards, she said the instruments were totally out of tune - sounded good enough to us plebs I said. Then did my good deed for the day, by getting the woman a coffee while she watched over the equipment.
The acrobats were amazing, whether they were German or just with German accents, the strength was awesome. One of the tricks was the guy holding the girl by the hands and she was doing a hand stand on him, he was on his back, and bit by bit he got up standing without dropping her. The abs on the girl were something awesome as well. Hans and Ule I think they were calling themselves.
They had a 'green bus' around the place as well, which relied on feet power. Very Flintstones and Bedrock vibe, and the performers on that had to work hard to get the public in the thing - no, they didn't get me.
Best street performance I felt though was a bit of aerial ballet, with these dancers on bendy plastic poles about fifteen feet in the air, basically yes doing ballet. Although there was a bit of dance music as well - all very entertaining, and had a great time. We won't mention the fact I was doing it all by myself. Had a bit of a look in the reconfigured 'old' art gallery as well.
Will be down at GoMA again over the next couple of months - it was all a bit much to take in during one visit, and the main Asia Pacific exhibition is only around until early February. And then there is a Warhol one coming along. Yes, to Brisbane, can you believe it?
Today has been watching the cricket and Christmas shopping at Chermside. Christmas shopping for hopefully only the first and only weekend this year - was feeling a bit nauseous in the crowds and all. Not good, but I managed to make it through.
Paul
I didn't manage to get across the river into the city proper until after 4pm - it was People's Day at the Cultural Centre, after the VIP opening of GoMA the night before. I wasn't there when Beattie opened it, but from the coverage last night, he basically said 'it's your's, get to it' or something akin to that, in a grumpy tone - I guess if you open everything every second day, you get sick of doing it all the time.
Wandered in to the museum, asked if I could take photos, the girl said yes, but no flash photography please, and thanked me for asking. I caught up with the Premier's media entourage in front of two giant statues of Chairman Mao (kind of appropriate with Queensland being a one party state), and I got asked by the Sunday Mail girl what I thought of the place, with my photo taken even - it didn't make the article in the paper though. Wasn't expecting it to though - I got some unspoken coverage of me on National Nine News though. Should I be vain and ask the station for the coverage perhaps?
Was very impressed with the gallery though - nice and light and airy, compared to the older part of the Cultural Centre, which seems very concretey, very confined, very, if I dare say it, ugly. And, as one of the artists said on the news last night, is good that they have built a world class thing in Brisbane that is NOT a sports ground, is quite surprising in fact.
The gallery building itself is great, and the exhibits are not what you would expect in the stereotypical cultural backwater. As I think I said earlier in the year, the museum seems to have gone a bit downhill, but the art galleries, both GoMA and the more general, pre-1970 Queensland Art Gallery are for Queenslanders to be proud of.
Was pottering around quite happily in the galleries, and then, as part of People's Day, the state government pulled out a lot of stops. There were tents all over the cultural district, with free water, free sunscreen, free guides, and I think free hats as well, although I didn't pick up one of those. Was a very good idea, and whoever organised it should be congratulated.
Also had the usual food tents, at all the fair type things - I had the German sausage option, frankfurter and kransky - sounds like a detective series on SBS or something - but could also have had Hungarian, French, Dutch, Thai or Aussie type food. And is nice to be able to wander around that part of South Bank, it seems like it has had buildings and or renovations on it since I got back to Oz in 2004.
And the street performers they had hired were fab. The group playing Indonesian or Balinese instruments were good, although when I spoke to one of them afterwards, she said the instruments were totally out of tune - sounded good enough to us plebs I said. Then did my good deed for the day, by getting the woman a coffee while she watched over the equipment.
The acrobats were amazing, whether they were German or just with German accents, the strength was awesome. One of the tricks was the guy holding the girl by the hands and she was doing a hand stand on him, he was on his back, and bit by bit he got up standing without dropping her. The abs on the girl were something awesome as well. Hans and Ule I think they were calling themselves.
They had a 'green bus' around the place as well, which relied on feet power. Very Flintstones and Bedrock vibe, and the performers on that had to work hard to get the public in the thing - no, they didn't get me.
Best street performance I felt though was a bit of aerial ballet, with these dancers on bendy plastic poles about fifteen feet in the air, basically yes doing ballet. Although there was a bit of dance music as well - all very entertaining, and had a great time. We won't mention the fact I was doing it all by myself. Had a bit of a look in the reconfigured 'old' art gallery as well.
Will be down at GoMA again over the next couple of months - it was all a bit much to take in during one visit, and the main Asia Pacific exhibition is only around until early February. And then there is a Warhol one coming along. Yes, to Brisbane, can you believe it?
Today has been watching the cricket and Christmas shopping at Chermside. Christmas shopping for hopefully only the first and only weekend this year - was feeling a bit nauseous in the crowds and all. Not good, but I managed to make it through.
Paul
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