And since we’re already here, we’ll just stay here…
We were allowed to drive to downtown San Antonio for Matthias’ naturalization ceremony, which we haven’t done in quite a while. Since Celina still needs “Gallery – Cultural Credits” for her art class “Foundation in Arts and Design,” we combined business with pleasure and visited two completely different art exhibitions. And our biggest concern, that we would be completely alone in the exhibitions, turned out to be surprisingly unfounded.
The HOPSCOTCH
This exhibition is an unusual and unique interactive art gallery in downtown San Antonio, TX. The 20,000-square-foot gallery opened on October 2, 2020, and offers an experience for all ages that is definitely different! The gallery features interactive installations by various artists from around the world.
This “gallery” is not an art gallery in the traditional sense, as there are almost no paintings or sculptures on display. It is more of an interactive playground where people can not only “view” art, but also experience it, feel it, and merge with it. A glass sculpture invites visitors to immerse themselves in something that is actually possible in a large, colorful, illuminated “ball pool.” The “Infinity Boxes” use light and mirrors to create illusions of human perception. The “Light Portal,” a flickering and constantly changing projection, gives the feeling of stepping into a kaleidoscope, while in ‘Happyness’ you can control the light and music of the cheerful wall design via a touch-pad. One of our favorites was “Laser Graffiti,” where you can spray walls with your own designs using laser light. Another inspiring room was “RGB,” where the images on the walls changed with shifting colors. Another cool feature was a changing matrix of over 11,000 light bulbs called “Unknown Atmospheres.” The lights moved like electrons to sounds, and it felt dimensionless. Next up was “The GAZE,” a labyrinth of glass walls and mirrors in changing lights. It is a work created as part of a human rights campaign to visualize a world in which all people are equal and form a community. Another room was dedicated to the “Psychology of Secrets,” where you could hear phone calls from people revealing a secret. The “Rainbow Cave” was designed as a grotto made of white plastic garbage bags, with changing lights creating the illusion of an ice cave. And just as the tour began with movement, it was to end with it, in the “Quantum Trampoline,” an installation in which points of light moved along the walls with your own movements. It was like painting by simply moving your arms, jumping, or running. We thought this interactive way of presenting unusual installations and illusions as a new and modern art form was great and had a lot of fun.
The next day, a visit to a “real” art gallery was on the agenda (this allowed Celina to complete 2 of the 4 credits she needed).
The MC NAY
The McNay in San Antonio is the first modern art museum in Texas. Founded in 1954 by American painter and art collector Marion Koogler, the museum brings together art from the 12th century to the present day – paintings, sculptures, and installations in a Colonial Revival-style mansion, a modern building, and the surrounding park. The museum had a pretty cool main exhibition that Celina had already heard about in art history, so off we went:
“Enchanting Nature“
Sandy Skoglund’s current main exhibition is an unconventional mix of sculptures and installations, which are presented as scenarios for the photos created in them.
Three of her most famous installations and the final images of her art are on display.
The first installation, “Fresh Hybrid,” is an artificial landscape with figures that are half human at the bottom and half tree at the top. The materials used were grass made from pipe cleaners and bark made from wool fibers. Small yellow chenille chicks serve as flowers or leaves.
In the second installation, “Radioactive Cats,” neon green cats take over an otherwise gray kitchen. In the accompanying photo, the artist placed two people who appear to be overrun by the cats.
The third and most famous installation is “Revenge of the Goldfish,” in which orange ceramic goldfish are placed and hung as if they were underwater in an otherwise turquoise bedroom. According to the description, this represents the now often strange relationships between animals and the human environment.
The sculpture and art collections
The McNay Museum also has permanent and temporary exhibitions featuring sculptures and paintings in various categories. These currently include an exhibition of a high school art competition, old historical paintings, paintings by famous artists such as Picasso, Matisse, etc., objects by regional artists, and new contemporary art (the latter is not really our thing because… well, because we don’t really understand it).
The building, with its beautiful architecture, exudes the charm of Spanish colonial style, as do the patio garden and the surrounding park with its sculptures and beautiful nature.
We would definitely buy the place. The courtyard in particular reminded us of Italy and Spain and would be exactly to our taste.
All in all, both museums were really worth visiting (even considering the admission price). We all learned something and had a lot of fun, and we might do it again sometime.
… and if you’re wondering why these texts don’t quite match our usual writing style… well, we were just lazy and copied most of it from Celina’s reflective texts for her credits. That’s why this is written in a somewhat more “sober” style, but we couldn’t resist adding a few comments here and there.