Audio Tour

This one comes from touring the Guggenheim- with a little bit of MoMA thrown in.  As I wandered through the Impressionist and Kandinsky exhibits, I began to wonder what an audio tour of things other than the artworks might sound like.  Here's a first try.  I'm not sure it has enough curator language yet or actually arrives anywhere.

                                                                  

                                                   Audio Tour

                                                            1.

                        #205   Woman Looking at “Woman Looking at Mirror”

                                    Notice the woman closely inspecting Manet’s

                                    brushwork or, perhaps checking the subject’s

                                    bare back for blemishes.  No matter what angle

                                    she takes, she can’t see the blue-gowned woman’s

                                    face- and, in turn, we can’t see hers.

                                                            2.

                        #263    First Impressionists by the Degas Statues.

                                    This couple seems to be on a first date. Note how

                                    the man appears obligated to comment comically

                                    on each statue, adopting the pose of a ballerina

                                    and then a woman emerging from her bath.

                                    His date giggles but then looks at her watch.

                                    Observe the tension that remains unresolved

                                    as we move to the next room.

                                                            3.

                                     #312     Bench

                                    An exceedingly rare object in this collection

                                    and a much-coveted find.  A truly interactive

                                    piece on which some sit to contemplate a painting

                                    more fully, others to do nothing more than rest.

                                    People circle it slowly, politely- savoring its

                                    three dimensionality and waiting for a place to perch.

                                                            4.

                        #342   Later Impressionists by a Kandinsky Painting

                                    Note the strained dynamics of the older couple

                                    as the woman comments on the cosmology

                                    of “Several Circles: while the man is lost

                                    in space, praying to some deity in the ceiling.

                                                            5.

                        #412  People with Notebooks

                                    Here and there we see people jotting things down

                                    in large spiral notebooks and small leather journals.,

                                    From this distance, it is hard to tell if they are writing down

                                    analytical insights, a grocery list, or notes for a poem.