Tuesday, September 28, 2010

News flash: Culture rots the brain

This year sees Essen and its surrounding sprawl as the Cultural Capital of Europe and amongst everything going on they've renovated the Folkwang Museum, since it's rebirth at the beginning of the year I've been 4 times. I know, 4 times to the same art museum, I can hardly believe it myself (and I shall be going again before the year's out as there's a lovely French Impressionists exhibition coming next - I wonder if they do a season ticket?) but all this culture isn't good for me you know...

The 1st trip to the Folkwang we only made it as far as the café, we (Rebecca & I) were meeting a friend and there was just so much gossip and catching up to be done that before we knew it we'd run out of time to actually look around the museum. We'd sat for a while in the café before realising that unlike most German cafés this one was self service...

The 2nd trip was a bit more successful than the 1st, we made it round the displays of art, however the full museum was not yet opened (a fact we hadn't realised before deciding to go) and so rather than getting to feast our eyes on passionate Picassos and romantic Rubens we got the modern stuff...now I have nothing against modern art but some of it is s***e, it was a little disappointing as we knew what the museum had stored in its warehouses ready to put on display.

The 3rd trip and finally we got to see the old masters as well as the modern twaddle, a great visit, marred only by the café experience. We strode in and up to the coffee machine, about to hit the button marked 'cappucino' only to find waiting staff converging on us like cops to a crime scene, no longer self service now the museum was fully opened, we were told to go and sit and be waited upon - so we did, and we waited and waited (clearly being punished for our cheekiness) we finally had to catch the eye of the waitress in order to get served!

My 4th trip was just this morning, there's a great photographic exhibition on called 'A Star is Born' the display is wonderful (although it would have been more enjoyable with the accompanying sound guide that Rebecca got last week when she went, but apparently this week they're kapputt) although there was a bit too much wrinkly Iggy Pop on view for my liking, some fab Bowie, Jagger & Presley stuff though. After the exhibition we strolled along to the café, smug in the knowledge that it's not self service and looking forward to coffee and cake. However it was not to be, at least not where we thought it should be, what was the café is now just the upper end restaurant and we were directed to the back of the museum, we had to ask directions 2 or 3 times until we finally found the right place for coffee (it was self service as well, and just to add insult to injury there was no appetising looking cake) To make matters even more humiliating we then struggled to find our way out, it's a lovely new building, beautiful big windows letting as much natural light flood in as possible but there are no signs anywhere, in any language.

Next time I shall take a ball of wool with me or a bag of bread crumbs...

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