Art and Museums

We attended an exhibit at the UC Berkeley Art Museum, an installation by artist Ahmet Öğüt. Unfortunately, Exploded City is closing shortly and is not traveling to other cities. What follows is from the exhibition brochure:

This city is from the future. It’s called The Exploded City. Those who live there have emigrated from faraway lands, with dreams of traveling to the future. When they realized that there was no finding the future, they decided to build this city. It is said that hundreds of different languages, such as Otesian, Bosnian, Albanian, Kurdish, Castilian, Irish, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Anglo-Frisian, and other Saami, Altaic, and Slavic languages are spoken in this city. These people who don’t speak each other’s language, instead of creating a lingua franca, have learned to communicate through looking into one another’s eyes. Not before long, they taught me this eye language as well. In this city, all the other remaining languages are like a constant background noise. They actually resemble the besieging of the city by various types of birds. — Ahmet Öğüt

The Exploded City is made up of the following buildings:

“Exploded City”s Buildings and Vehicles: 
Madimak Hotel, Sivas, July 2 1993 
Europa Hotel, Belfast, 1972-1994 
HSBC Bank, Istanbul, November 20 2003 
Ferhadija Mosque, Banja Luca, May 7 1993 
Mostar Bridge, Mostar, November 9 1993 
Water Tower, Vukovar, August-November 1991 
Future TV station building, Beirut, May10 2008 
National Library, Sarajevo, August 25-26 1992 
Post office, Prishtina, April 8 1999 
Tikrit Museum, Tikrit, March 27 2003 
Beslan School, North Osetya-Alania, September 1-2-3 2004 
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma, April 19 1995 
Paddy’s Pub, Bali, October 12 2002 
Maxim Restaurant, Hayfa, September 4 2003 
Palestine Authority Foreign Ministry, Gaza, July 16 2006 
Al Mamoon Exchange and Telecommunications Center, Baghdad, July 2006 
Club El Nogal, Bogota, February 7 2003 
Trident-Oberoi Hotel, Mumbai, November 27 2008 
United Nations Building, Algiers, December 11 2007 
Wedding house, Kakaral July 1st 2002; Kandahar, November 6 2008 
Islamic University of Gaza, December 29 2008 
Clinic Center Dragisa Misovic, Belgrade, May 20 1999 
Stagecoach Bus 30, London, July 7 2005 
Commuter Train, Madrid, March 11 2004 
Renault 19, Semdinli, November 9 2005 
Truck Ford D1210, Susurluk, November 3 1996

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Through the availability of Netflix, we watched The Hurt Locker last night and understood its prominence in the list of the Oscar nominees for 'Best Picture of 2009.'

Illustrations from an exhibition at  Oxford's Museum of the History of Science, The Geometry of War, although not exactly comparable to the scenes used in Kathryn Bigelow's film, are elemental enough to illustrate the use of weaponry:

"The mathematicians of the Renaissance applied their geometry to all manner of practical disciplines - from navigation and surveying to cartography and perspective. They aimed to demonstrate the usefulness of geometry as well as its ingenuity and certainty, and to associate it with action, achievement and progress. Many new instruments were designed in this context, as the collections of this museum amply demonstrate."

"Developments in the art of warfare in the late 15th and 16th centuries provided another outlet for geometry, and the mathematicians were quick to respond by devising techniques, designing instruments and writing books. Heavy guns manufactured in single metal castings were longer, capable of more accurate fire, and were adjustable in elevation. Consequently, gunners needed instruments to measure both the inclination of the barrel and the distance to the target, together with a means of relating these two measurements. Geometers offered a variety of solutions to these problems, as well as designs for fortifications to withstand attack from the new artillery."

"The ingenuity and precision of many instruments, and in some cases their elegance, poise and delicacy, contrasts with the harsh conditions of the battlefield. How usable would they really have been in practice? They were supposed to be employed in battle but it is clear that their purported military value also had other functions, in justifying textbook geometrical problems, for example, or in attracting patronage."

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The National Gallery in London is presenting a painting by Paul Delaroche (1787-1856), The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (1833), part of an exhibition of his paintings and one of a number subjects who met a brutal end:

"Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for just 9 days until she was driven from the throne and sent to the Tower of London to be executed."

"Jane became queen after the death of her cousin, Edward VI in 1553. As a Protestant, Jane was crowned queen in a bid to shore up Protestantism and keep Catholic influence at bay."

"The plan didn't work. Jane's claim to the crown was much weaker than Edward VI's half sister Mary. Mary, a Catholic, had popular support and soon replaced Jane as queen."

"Lady Jane Grey was executed at Tower Green on 12 February 1554. She was just 16 years old."

"In this painting, she is guided towards the execution block by Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of the Tower. The straw on which the block rests was intended to soak up the victim's blood. The executioner stands impassive to the right and two ladies in attendance are shown grieving to the left."

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The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles conducts an 18th century  'grand tour' of  Italy using its art collections to illustrate the artistic and cultural side of the celebrated event. Princeton's Wordnet defines the term, Grand Tour, as:

"an extended cultural tour of Europe taken by wealthy young Englishmen (especially in the 18th century) as part of their education"

The online site poses and answers the question, Why Italy?

"The primary destination of the Grand Tour was Italy, with its heritage of ancient Roman monuments. 18th-century taste revered the art and culture of the ancients. The British, in particular, were lured to Italy by their admiration of antiquity and their desire to see firsthand such monuments of ancient civilization as the Colosseum in Rome, and such wonders of nature as the volcanic eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, near Naples."

"Display and spectacle were all important in the 18th century. Cities such as Rome, Venice, and Florence put on elaborate religious and civic festivals that involved public processions and lavish temporary architecture. The greatest artists and architects of the day, Filippo Juvara, Giuseppe Vasi, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, were also stage designers. Even such academic pursuits as archaeological excavation had their theatrical side; 'discoveries' were sometimes staged for the delight of eminent visitors. Performance could take place at home as well as in public, as in Lady Emma Hamilton’s 'Attitudes,' a series of poses based on ancient subjects."

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