The Wonder of Modern Art

It felt good to, after a very long week, be able to relax and just sleep a bit longer than I would normally be able to. I awoke feeling completely refreshed and rejuvenated. I had no official plans for the morning so I decided to take this time to do some research for my essay. I managed to do a sizable amount in the little time before my suitemates began to wake up. The biggest plan for today was the trip to MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art).

I, along with one of my suitemates, met the other members of the excursion at the meeting point and headed off for the museum. After a long subway ride and a few blocks of walking, we were standing in front of the doors to MoMA. We were then allowed to disperse and purchase our tickets from the counter. When my suitemate and I, reached the clerk, she informed us that because we were current students of Columbia, we were allowed to enter free of charge. At first we were both frazzled, but that emotion soon transformed itself into excitement as we made our way to the art that lied in the upper levels. 

 

We began at the with the bottom and made our way up from there. Each new level was packed with incredible and unique pieces of art. I had trouble understanding the deeper meaning to numerous of the pieces, but I still found them all very interesting and astonishing. The art ranged from sculpture, paintings, sketches etc. Every new room I entered baffled me with something more unique and wondrous than the room before it. I particularly enjoyed the multitude of colors and the clever ways the artists used them to send a message through their artworks. Another great aspect were the sculptures. Many had intricate designs and were created from the most weirdest of materials I had ever seen. Each sculpture was distinct from the previous, however, I was awed by ever single one. After I had walked around for a while, my legs were beginning to plead for a bit of rest. I found my suitemate and together we headed out to the plaza at the back of the museum. We grabbed lunch and basked at the tranquility of the plaza.

 

After we had finished eating, we still had about a half hour before we had to leave. Out of pure curiosity, we decided to go and check the line for the "Rain Room", one of the exhibitions at the museum. According to the associate who was working there, the wait was an unbelievable three to four hours. We decided that the wait was absolutely not worth it, as the exhibit closed in less than an hour and we only had a half-hour before we had to head back to Columbia. As an alternative, we went into the gift shop to check out what was for sale. There were countless of unique products being sold, however I noticed that the prices were incredibly steep and therefore opted not to buy anything. Once we had finished viewing, we met with one of the RAs who then guided us back to campus.

 

After the trip, my roommate and I were pretty tiered out, so we chose to get our homework done instead. When the rest of suitemates arrived back from their own personal adventures, we all gathered in the lounge area and set up one of our laptops to play a movie. Luckily someone had bought some popcorn earlier and we were able to really enjoy a movie night as a suite.

The MoMA plaza

Overall the day was incredible. I very much enjoyed my trip to the Museum of Modern Art today. I was able to see numerous pieces of art work that I normally would never have been able to see. While some of them really left me confused at their meaning, some really made me think about the artistic beauty that lied in the deeper message. I really feel that I learned that even the most simplistic of things might have a more complex deeper meaning. However, this deeper meaning might be very obscure and therefore requires both patience and the ability to change perspective.