The Museum of Australia opened in 2001. Its website describes it as a "post-modern structure reflecting the diversity of the Museum's collection". My description would be an amorphous maze presenting a random sampling of the Museum's collection because it isn't big enough to display everything properly, and as I recall there were complaints about its inadequacy before it was even built. I'm sorry, I just don't like it. There are parts I like, but I always come away with the feeling that it could have been done better.
There's a huge forecourt that serves little purpose. I believe this is where a fair or festival was held a while back but otherwise it's just a great expanse to be traversed on the way from the car to the entrance. There's a roof/sculpture thing snaking across the expanse, you might think it'll protect you from the rain but it doesn't because it has gaps, very drippy gaps, as I found out on a previous visit. The entrance hall is huge and it is actually quite an attractive space, though the cafe looks a little incongruous over in one corner, as if they forgot to plan for a real one in the original design and just added it where they could. They're fixing that now, the new cafe extension is due to open later this year. Moving towards the exhibition spaces there's a door out to the Garden of Australian Dreams. It's sort of a huge map/water feature, I probably would have appreciated the symbolism more if I had read the description on the website first, but for a gardener the garden is a disappointment. Returning to the building you enter a cave-like maze of galleries. I certainly found some interesting items and fascinating information, but it felt like a lucky dip rather than a logical progression through Australia's history, I learned some interesting trivia but couldn't see the big picture. Here and there are stairs and elevators but it's easy to get disoriented and it doesn't help when you reach the far end just as the announcement is made that the museum will be closing soon. I imagine it's a frustrating building for anyone with mobility issues. We tried to return to the entrance hall via a different level so we could quickly see a little more on the way out but I later wondered if we'd missed a section, or have there been some minor renovations? We'd previously seen a temporary exhibition somewhere in the main part of the building (as opposed to the main temporary exhibition gallery on the other side of the entrance hall) and I didn't see any space that resembled it. I've probably been to the museum half a dozen times and I still don't really get it, I don't feel about it the way I feel about so many other places in my city.
There's a huge forecourt that serves little purpose. I believe this is where a fair or festival was held a while back but otherwise it's just a great expanse to be traversed on the way from the car to the entrance. There's a roof/sculpture thing snaking across the expanse, you might think it'll protect you from the rain but it doesn't because it has gaps, very drippy gaps, as I found out on a previous visit. The entrance hall is huge and it is actually quite an attractive space, though the cafe looks a little incongruous over in one corner, as if they forgot to plan for a real one in the original design and just added it where they could. They're fixing that now, the new cafe extension is due to open later this year. Moving towards the exhibition spaces there's a door out to the Garden of Australian Dreams. It's sort of a huge map/water feature, I probably would have appreciated the symbolism more if I had read the description on the website first, but for a gardener the garden is a disappointment. Returning to the building you enter a cave-like maze of galleries. I certainly found some interesting items and fascinating information, but it felt like a lucky dip rather than a logical progression through Australia's history, I learned some interesting trivia but couldn't see the big picture. Here and there are stairs and elevators but it's easy to get disoriented and it doesn't help when you reach the far end just as the announcement is made that the museum will be closing soon. I imagine it's a frustrating building for anyone with mobility issues. We tried to return to the entrance hall via a different level so we could quickly see a little more on the way out but I later wondered if we'd missed a section, or have there been some minor renovations? We'd previously seen a temporary exhibition somewhere in the main part of the building (as opposed to the main temporary exhibition gallery on the other side of the entrance hall) and I didn't see any space that resembled it. I've probably been to the museum half a dozen times and I still don't really get it, I don't feel about it the way I feel about so many other places in my city.
No comments:
Post a Comment