Thursday, September 4, 2008

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden

This is one of the sculptures currently on display at the ever-popular Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. 
About the sculpture garden from the MOMA website:
On one end of the spectrum, art is the center of attention. On the other end, art is a backdrop to social activity. In between are spaces both bustling and contemplative where people and art interact in delightful ways. There's a lot more than passive viewing going on.
The re-design by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi was completed in 2004 and nearly doubled the museum's gallery space. It also introduced a circulation system that heightens your awareness of fellow museum-goers as you move between galleries. As critic Arthur C. Danto put it in The Nation, "The consciousness of others moving from stage to stage and space to space is so much a part of the experience that one feels one is always part of a constantly changing work of art." The effect is that going to the museum feels much more like a shared experience than it did before the re-design.
In addition to the galleries, every floor furnishes visitors with spaces to relax or have a quiet conversation, often with terrific views onto the sculpture garden below. The sculpture garden remains the social heart of the museum, full of people discussing what they've seen, enjoying something to eat from one of the museum's two cafés, and sitting in moveable chairs among works by Rodin, Picasso, Calder, and other masters.

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