Friday, May 02, 2008

First Friday

I am quite tipsy as I type so this will be short and sweet. I have been out with the wonderful Sarah and Simon S 2 tonight to two events. ‘Art After Five’ at the Museum of Art and ‘First Friday’ in the streets of Old City.

‘Art After Five’ is a new concept in the city where you go and watch jazz acts, singers, musicians and dancers in ‘The Great Staircase’. Sadly tonight we were treated to what was part mime, part art, part modern interpretation dance based on the life of the artist Frieda. This would have been fine had it not been so odd. A woman who took off most of her clothes threw herself round in some flowers and then wailed. I was glad of my 12% Philadelphian Beer frankly. We also kept getting vile looks as we were all talking!

We then had a very tipsy tour of some of the Museum of Art and it is fantastic. Not like in the UK where everything is behind alarms, ropes and the like. You can touch some of the old relics and get as close as you could wish to the paintings. There are also rooms that have been literally transported from halls in Derbyshire, hotels in Paris, temples in India and placed in rooms here. The highlight being a small Chinese village just sat in one of the galleries that you can then explore.

After this we were driven to old city (via the gamma, delta buildings of the frat population that looked like another set from an American movie) to first Friday. An event where all the private galleries open up to the public with wine, beer and nibbles and you can peruse and buy to your hearts content. I did much perusing and drinking but not purchasing. If only we had something like this in the UK it’s such a community thing, everyone getting together and buying and appreciating the local art scene. Genius.

No comments: