Wandering Limerick
Oct. 5th, 2008 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose99My planned adventure for the trip was to go to the (free!) Limerick City Gallery of Art. It sounded cool. Plus, it was the only thing open on a Sunday that I had not already seen.
To my delight, my hotel front desk was not only prompt in giving me directions, but it was an easy walk from the hotel. She explained that the museum is in a park. "Inside the park," she told me carefully, even pointing out the entrance to the park.
The weather in Limerick today is cold (60s), clear, sunny. I could see the locals practically doing handstands on the sidewalk as they all rushed to get outside. I found the park. Rolling mowed green lawns broken up by occasional landscaped trees and flowers. There was some sort of game involving a ball at one end and an extremely popular child playscape at the other. I enjoyed the walk around the park, but I Could Not Find The Museum. I was pretty bewildered, as the park wasn't that big! Perhaps a 10 minute walk around? I finally discovered a building inside the grounds. No entrance, though.
I had to go outside the park to find the entrance. *roll eyes* Crazy Irish people and their directions.
And can I mention how low-key all Irish signs are? I had to study the actual entrance for a good 3 minutes to find a sign that I was in the right place. And this was after I had completely eliminated all possibilities that the Gallery was somewhere else.
The museum itself was two floors. It had the regular show, which seemed to be one large room with a large number of paintings and sculpture from every era imaginable crammed together in the smallest space possible. There were no labels of any sort. Then the Gallery had two special showings. You know, ART-art. One piece was a bicycle, leaning against a rock. Then there was an office chair on a pedestal. There was no explanation. The other floor used DVDs and projectors to depict a bingo night (no people, just the bingo balls and tables) and a dart game (just a video of the dart board being played, with muffled Irish accents in the background).
I know life is art, but this art was kind of boring. I am sure that there was a deeper meaning that I was uninterested in understanding.
My favorite part of the Gallery was on the stairs. At the landing in the middle were two windows. I looked out and there were stone windowsills outside. Outside each window (though I had to stand in just the right place to see them) was a small figure, about 6 inches tall, made of metal or concrete (aged and weathered, it was hard to tell). One seemed to be wearing some sort of sport jersey. Obviously small statues DOING something. They were both facing outward. But... where they were was so high off the ground (and small) that it was unlikely that anyone standing on ground level would notice them. I felt like I saw a secret.
To my delight, my hotel front desk was not only prompt in giving me directions, but it was an easy walk from the hotel. She explained that the museum is in a park. "Inside the park," she told me carefully, even pointing out the entrance to the park.
The weather in Limerick today is cold (60s), clear, sunny. I could see the locals practically doing handstands on the sidewalk as they all rushed to get outside. I found the park. Rolling mowed green lawns broken up by occasional landscaped trees and flowers. There was some sort of game involving a ball at one end and an extremely popular child playscape at the other. I enjoyed the walk around the park, but I Could Not Find The Museum. I was pretty bewildered, as the park wasn't that big! Perhaps a 10 minute walk around? I finally discovered a building inside the grounds. No entrance, though.
I had to go outside the park to find the entrance. *roll eyes* Crazy Irish people and their directions.
And can I mention how low-key all Irish signs are? I had to study the actual entrance for a good 3 minutes to find a sign that I was in the right place. And this was after I had completely eliminated all possibilities that the Gallery was somewhere else.
The museum itself was two floors. It had the regular show, which seemed to be one large room with a large number of paintings and sculpture from every era imaginable crammed together in the smallest space possible. There were no labels of any sort. Then the Gallery had two special showings. You know, ART-art. One piece was a bicycle, leaning against a rock. Then there was an office chair on a pedestal. There was no explanation. The other floor used DVDs and projectors to depict a bingo night (no people, just the bingo balls and tables) and a dart game (just a video of the dart board being played, with muffled Irish accents in the background).
I know life is art, but this art was kind of boring. I am sure that there was a deeper meaning that I was uninterested in understanding.
My favorite part of the Gallery was on the stairs. At the landing in the middle were two windows. I looked out and there were stone windowsills outside. Outside each window (though I had to stand in just the right place to see them) was a small figure, about 6 inches tall, made of metal or concrete (aged and weathered, it was hard to tell). One seemed to be wearing some sort of sport jersey. Obviously small statues DOING something. They were both facing outward. But... where they were was so high off the ground (and small) that it was unlikely that anyone standing on ground level would notice them. I felt like I saw a secret.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 12:31 am (UTC)That's wonderful!