Museum Junkie: Smithsonian offers real “Night at the Museum”

by Sean McLachlan on

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is offering a special weekend tour to coincide with the sure-to-be-hit movie “Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian”.

Visitors will learn the real story behind the sites and artifacts featured in the film during the Smithsonian’s “Family Weekend in Washington, D.C.”, on July 24-26. The weekend starts with a dinner with Amelia Earhart at the National Air and Space Museum, followed the next day by a viewing of the film at the the museum’s Imax theater and a special tour of the museum. The second day of the tour includes visits to sites in Washington, D.C. that feature in the movie such as the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial.

The weekend is part of the Smithsonian Journeys series that takes people on informative trips around the world, whether it’s the early Christian sites of Greece and Turkey or the coastal wilderness of Alaska. For those wanting to stay closer to home, “Celebrate Smithsonian!” offers a behind-the-scenes tour of America’s greatest museum, including the newly reopened National Museum of American History. The tour is on September 9-12, but it’s best to book ahead.

Museum Junkie: Manchester exhibit on life as a POW

by Sean McLachlan on

A fascinating exhibit on life as a POW has opened at The Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England.

The exhibition, called “Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War”, combines pictures, artifacts, and real-life anecdotes to give a glimpse into the experiences of prisoners of war from all armies during the Second World War (1939-45). It also features the only known film of German POWs in Britain.

While the exhibition focuses on the daily endurance test POWs had to live through, it also examines some of the famous escapes from notorious German prisons such as Colditz. This castle near Dresden housed Allied POWs who had tried to escape from other prisons. The Nazis considered it impossible to escape from. Several POWs saw it as a challenge and proved the Nazis wrong.

This museum junkie has been to many of The Imperial War Museum’s special exhibitions and has always been impressed. They’re always easy to follow and full of surprises and leave you knowing a lot more than when you arrived. At the permanent exhibition in the museum’s London branch, there’s a recording of an interview with a British soldier who survived a Japanese POW camp. He got terrible sores on his legs and didn’t have any medicine to treat them. Knowing that tea is a disinfectant, he pressed tea bags against the sores. This bit of trivia saved his legs and probably his life.

This latest exhibition is one of a series of events marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War Two. A list of upcoming events at the museum’s five branches is online here,

“Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War” runs until January 3rd, 2010.

Finding Grace Kelly in Paris

by Josh Lew on

Those looking for a taste of the glamorous side of the 1950s can find it in Paris. The City of Lights and snobby waiters was a hot spot for the Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolies of yesteryear.

Grace Kelly is probably the ultimate example of 50s fame. An exhibit at the Hotel de Ville showcases the life and times of the American movie star who the French embraced after she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess Grace.

The exhibit is no mere collection of black and white snapshots. Kelly’s Oscar is on display alongside ball gowns and other articles of clothing. Also of interest are a collection of Kelly’s letters. I suppose it might be interesting to learn that people actually wrote letters once upon a time, but Kelly’s letters where to the who’s who of the day. The collection includes correspondences with Alfred Hitchcock and Jackie Kennedy.

So this exhibit might be a bit over the top, but perhaps a bit refreshing. After all, Grace Kelly defined glamor before glamor became all silicone and botox. I doubt there will be a similar exhibit featuring any of today’s starlets in 50 years.

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Virtual exhibition: Calling all Paolo Coelho fans

by Abha Malpani on

If you’ve read the The Alchemist and want to be a subject of a virtual art exhibition hosted by the man himself — Paolo Coelho — the process couldn’t be easier. Send a picture of you reading the book, and voila, you will forever be part of virtual art history!

The exhibition is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Alchemist, that has till date sold a 100 million copies. Holy gonzoly. So far, 38 people have sent in some cool photos of them reading the book; the photos will be uploaded for the rest of the year.

Coelho is quite the tech-savvy writer dude. He keeps a regular blog, and has the occasional vlog. Obviously, he understands the importance of connecting with his readers, and enjoys the process too.

So take that picture and send it in to: paulocoelhocovers[at]gmail.com, perhaps you will be displayed in a gallery somewhere someday! If you don’t have the Alchemist on hand, any of his books will do. Coelho wants to see your face, so be careful not to cover it with his book, and don’t stress about quality.

(In the image, I’m holding his book Eleven Minutes, one I enjoyed way more than The Alchemist. I haven’t read any others. Urrr…yup, I’m going to send it in.Cheap thrills.)

Indian excrement on display in London

by Abha Malpani on

14 anthropometric blocks of human excrement from Indian cities New Delhi and Jaipur are on display at London’s Lisson Gallery. The modular blocks were collected by Sulabh International Social Service Organization under a sanitary initiative and have been formalized in this exhibition by provocative and often scandalous Madrileño artist Santiago Sierra.

The human waste was collected by many Indians who were obliged to do so under some karmic belief that would redeem them from their sins of their past life. The collection was eventually mixed with mud and exported to England.

This exhibition has been interpreted as an original Santiago tactic on shedding light onto the most inhumane situations in the world.

Sierra has a history of jaw-dropping “live” exhibitions: he has paid people to masturbate in public; he once invited Germans to wear gas masks and walk through what used to be a synagogue, smoked with fumes from the exhaust pipes of cars.

I enjoy this type of live art — although concocted rather simply, they have a strong and disturbing impact; the type that keeps you thinking way after you have left the exhibition.

(Via English Version of El Pais / IHT)