Climbing the belfry was an add-on to our ticket to see the In Flanders Fields Museum, which is also housed in Ypres’ Cloth Hall. We smartly visited the museum before setting out on a guided tour to help us contextualize what we were going to see around Ypres the next day.
The museum used video, animation, and computer technology to bring the material culture of war to life in a setting which had the solemn feel of a cathedral. We received RFID-chipped poppy bracelets which, by clicking them various computer stations throughout the exhibits, would provide personal stories of individuals involved in the war or more detailed information about the objects you selected. Video stations showed actors representing all different nationalities talking about their experiences in English, French, Dutch, or German. A digital map animated the changes of the front lines from 1914-1918, colour-coded to show whose army was where. But the high-tech displays were intermixed with objects and photographs that couldn’t help but make you wonder about the people who once owned or used them.
Several pennants hung over the exit, printed with the names of all the wars of the twentieth century. It is very hard to understand how humanity keeps making the same mistakes over and over.
The purpose of leaving Belgium the day after we arrived was business: Eric and Stefan wanted to meet their developer who happens to live in Germany, a mere two hours from Brussels. And the reason I tagged along was to glimpse a bit of a second European country, if mostly through the train window. Had I known that the tickets would cost 82 Euro per person each way and that I would not get a “Germany” stamp in my passport, I might have stayed in Brussels and visited a couple museums there instead.
I’m happy I didn’t realize the price until we were headed home. Watching landscapes float by through train windows is one of my favourite things. The overcast sky that day made the green fields look greener. There is no “Welcome to Germany” billboard, so I didn’t notice we’d changed countries until we had to transfer in Köln (Cologne). By ducking a bit you could see the Cologne Cathedral right from the train platform.
In Düsseldorf, we were slightly confused by the subway system– you had to buy your tickets on the subway train itself. It was a bit of a rush to figure this out and buy three tickets before our very near stop, but we made it to Altstadt (Old Town) intact. Once the boys found each other and picked a restaurant, I had a perfect little grainy bread sandwich and rushed off down the street to see some art.
First, I went to the Kunstverein (contemporary art museum). The Harry Flynt exhibit was entertaining, but I found the rest of the stuff absurdly crappy. I left within 30 minutes, crossed the street to the K20 (Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen) and filled the remainder of my afternoon seeing a special exhibit on Gillian Wearing (whom I’d never heard of before), plus several Picassos, a Matisse, a Pollock, Léger, Magritte, Miró, Andy Warhol and so and and so forth.
Founded in Düsseldorf 50 years ago was a museum which today features a singular selection of 20th and 21st century art. Among the undisputed highlights are key German Expressionist works, paintings by Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, and Jackson Pollock, and installations by Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik. Found alongside these well-known icons of advanced art are numerous outstanding examples of classical modernism, of American art after 1945, as well as major installations and photographic, filmic, and video works by contemporary artists.
After strolling back to meet the boys, we got a brief tour of the Altstadt and then drank some mulled wine before heading back to Brussels.
Just before the civic holiday we had the chance to meet up with old friends from Daejeon who were passing through Toronto on holiday. We played around the Science Centre for a few hours.
A rather elaborate mobile.
Stereoscope
Eric trying the automatic voting machine.
Caption near the voice synthesizer that said “Coffee”.
After a day trip to Tobermory, we stopped in at this lightstation, north of Dyer’s Bay. The lighthouse itself is now solar powered and runs itself. The building has been converted into a museum which, along with the gift shop, is run by volunteers. I bought locally made sweetgrass soap.
Welcome sign.
This lightstation now houses a museum collection.
Side view of lightstation.
The Shipwreck Gallery.
The gallery has paintings and crafts by local artisans.
I wandered for six hours around the Art Gallery of Ontario last Thursday (inside, I mean). I went to see the Goya exhibit, but I think I stayed longer at the Russian posters and books, among the big Henry Moore plasters, before the Rubens, and at the Abel Boulineau photographs… So much cool stuff– two (different) tours and six hours didn’t cut it. I will hopefully be back soon and with Eric.
Blue titanium wall of the AGO building seen from Grange Park.
Because I had forgotten my camera the first time, I visited Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko at the Musée des beaux-arts twice: once when Paula was in town and then again with Renata last Wednesday.
I didn’t know that John Lennon was born during an air raid in 1940 or anything about the international War is Over! campaign. In this exhibit I especially liked the handwritten song pages and the interactive stamping room which had gotten a little out of control…
30th anniversary of John & Yoko’s bed-in for peace in Montreal.
