2008-02-17 The Christchurch Art Gallery

The Christchurch Art Gallery. Where do I start? Ah, I know: pictures!

From the outside, looking in:

From the inside, looking out:


At first I didn't find it. Of course. Silly old Marc went north, instead of east. I took some nice pictures on the detour, though (#36-41). I'm not an art person, really. In fact, I like to think of myself as an typical mathlete. So anyway, there I was, inside an art gallery. They have all kinds of stuff there. Moving objects, sculptures, artsy-fartsy movies, things you can actually touch, oil paintings and even one interactive computer thingy. I didn't understand most of it. And I'm gonna have to go there more often to give everything a fair chance. So far, my favorites are the photo realistic oil paintings. I mean, come on. Everybody can spill color on a canvas, walk over it and call it modern art. To paint things as they really are, now that's tricky!
Then again, maybe painting things as they really are isn't art at all, but mere replication. Maybe it's the job of artist to paint things the way they see things, or the way they should be. Maybe that's art. Maybe not.
In spite of the "no photos" sign, I had to take a hasty picture of my favorite painting.
It's not so much what it shows, but rather how. The light is downright brilliant, and you can almost smell the rain. My photo is crappy and doesn't show the effect, sorry.

To make a long story short, I know nothing whatsoever about art. It didn't keep me from having a good time, though. Going to an art gallery can be a very inspiring experience.

Someone wrote this about Robert Falcon Scott's diary.

Scarcely a word needed crossing out.
One, inside the cover of his diary:
'Send this diary to my wife.'
Correction: 'widow'.

The words were used in a collage on the first floor.

PS: Kristine, I hope you know that it's all your fault that I hang out in a gallery!

***

Linux is a whole new world and I spent the most part of the weekend exploring it. So far, so good. My sound card still doesn't work, though. The Intel 82801G chipset (ICH7 family, if you must know) sucks. On the bright side, I learned a lot about kernel compilation, modules, Unix in general and the way the Ubuntu community handles things. And I managed to use my microphone to record stuff. I just cannot play it. The equalizer bars keep jumping, but the speakers remain mute. And NO, they're not just muted. I checked that. Twice.
I guess I'll have to get myself one of these fancy USB sound cards. Not being able to listen to music makes me sick.