Arte contemporáneo en MARCO

El arte contemporáneo es en general una basura. Tan es así que yo mismo me tomé la libertad de hacer una “obra maestra:”

Esta es una obra que igual podría haber sido una cáscara de plátano embarrada en la pared o un cubo verde. Estando acostumbrado a ver este tipo de obras al haber ido con mi familia a MARCO estando chico, en al menos un viaje escolar de la escuela y un trabajo en la clase de redacción avanzada en carrera, no creí ser una persona a la que le gustaran los museos (todo cambió cuando mis papás me invitaron a Nueva York y descubrimos el MET). 

Por casualidad vi que alguien publicó en Facebook unas fotos de una exposición temporal en MARCO y me llamaron la atención. Dan Flavin es un artista que trabajó con la luz. Puedo decir subjetivamente que es de los pocos que han hecho que valga la pena ir a ver los museos de arte contemporáneo, como esta exposición temporal en MARCO:

Otras obras de este artista pueden encontrarse en museos de arte en Fort Worth, San Francisco, Houston y Baltimore respectivamente:

Otros artistas de arte contemporáneo que sobresalen son Yayoi Kusama con sus cuartos de espejos y luces, Dale Chihully con su arte hecho a base de vidrio soplado y por supuesto, el equipo de Teamlab (en el museo de Teamlab Planets) con su arte de alta tecnología (queda pendiente ver el Teamlab Borderless en noviembre):

Traveling through Parts of the Northeast Corridor: The New York City Area, Boston, and Hartford

This idea started when I was trying to find dates where either one of the flights (going to New York or coming back from New York) was a flight that I could pay with Southwest Points. The problem was that those dates that coincided with a three-day weekend were hard to find, and spending around 300 dollars per night in Manhattan would mean more than $1,000 dollars without adding the cost of transportation, meals, and museums within the city. I've been there twice, so there was no urgent need to go and take better pictures of some of the places that I have seen as well as exploring some undiscovered hidden jewels. 

Fortunately, Best Western had a deal that offered a free night after staying in their hotels twice during spring. I was able to get a free night in Manhattan because of that. Southwest had a deal and I paid for the return flight with points. Also, after getting a few American Airline miles posted to my account after visiting Prague for Spring Break I was able to fly for $11.20 ($5.60 each way for each flight), get a free Best Western Hotel stay in Manhattan (which cost more than the three Sure Stays that I paid for in late March and early April). After that, paying for two nights at a Hampton Inn near Times Square, a night in Boston, and a night in Hartford made the whole price of the trip much more reasonable. I ended up paying less for this five-night trip than what I would've paid for a long weekend trip without the free flights and a free night stay.

There were only enough miles to redeem a flight to New York with a connection in Chicago, as booking a nonstop flight would've cost more miles than what I had. Due to a line of storms that was approaching from the west the plane flew all the way up to Minneapolis before landing in Chicago. The line of storms that had just moved out of Dallas was on its way to Chicago. The flight from Chicago to New York had been delayed for about five hours. I was lucky to be the last to get on a plane that flew less than an hour later than what I was supposed to. Instead of arriving at JFK airport, I made it to LaGuardia. This airport looked like a Greyhound bus station, but it's been remodeled and now looks nice:

I found out about the Brooklyn Museum and decided to visit this place for the first time before eating dinner:

Some of the rooms like the ones shown above were closed for restoration, so I might come back. There were no free rooms available at a Best Western near Times Square, but there was at least one available at the Best Western Soho hotel, so that's where I stayed the first night. Unlike the other Best Western hotel, this one did include breakfast:

The first thing I did the next day was to go to a Hampton Inn near Times Square where I left my backpack (I did not bring any large bags), as the MET might not have lockers. This hotel was a little cheaper than the one where I stayed for free the night before, and was also closer to a lot of places. Then I went to the MET and for the first time, the MET Cloisters. I had already been to the MET twice, but why visit this place for the third time? The first time that I visited in June 2014 I had a terrible camera. Pictures were so bad that I did not publish most of them on this blog. The second time that I visited in November 2018 the European Gallery was closed for restoration. A Pixel phone takes better pictures than any affordable camera, so I had another reason for visiting. This museum is also a special one, as the French baroque rooms made me realize that fairy tale rooms were not imaginary places that you see in movies, but that these actually exist in real life. 

I noticed that some parts of the museum look almost the same, while some others have changed. These are a few of the pictures from June 2014:

I did not find the places that are shown on the 4th and 5th pictures above in 2018, but last month I did. I realized that some decorations might be moved, and some objects can be taken to a different room. These are pictures from May 2024:

These are the Cloisters, which are included with the entrance to the MET, as long as you visit both places on the same day. Unfortunately, you no longer have three days to visit the museums (in 2018, you had unlimited entrances for three days):

The next planned stop was at the Church of St. John the Divine. I will not get into details, but the interior decoration was modified (hopefully temporarily), so I decided that it was not worth paying to go inside at that time. I walked to an Orthodox church near Central Park, followed by the Guggenheim (which is not worth visiting, but it might be OK to pay a dollar or so during the last hour), and the Neues Museum. I would've probably taken about five pictures or so inside the Neues Museum, but I was told that no pictures were allowed after I had just paid, so it's not worth paying 14 dollars just to see three rooms where at least one security guard is watching you at all times. These are the pictures from the Guggenheim and the Orthodox church:

I was not as excited about visiting the American Museum of Natural History as the MET, but there were some hidden jewels that I wanted to rediscover, along with the best oreo cheesecake that I've ever tried. Except for the space rooms and the mammal galleries, there were lots of changes, including the mineral galleries. These are some of the pictures from June 2014:

And these are pictures from May 2024 (unfortunately, I could not find that delicious cheesecake):

I thought that I was not a museum person, as I generally did not enjoy visiting them except for a few hidden jewels, but visiting this museum along with the MET made me want to visit as many museums as possible, especially those with baroque or rococo European art and mineral galleries. There is a church and a small free museum near the northwest corner of Central Park:

The Morgan Library is a somewhat hidden jewel that I discovered during my second trip to New York in November 2018. I had already ditched the camera, but a Pixel 8 Pro takes better pictures than a Pixel 2 phone. These ar pictures from 2018:

And these are pictures from last month:

There's a public library that is free and worth visiting:

The Summit One Vanderbilt is a new observatory. While I visited this during the day, it might be worth visiting at night as well:

The views and the cool wind that blows in the Empire State are priceless:

Before showing the pictures of the next few days, I'd like to compare old pictures from 2014 and new pictures that were taken at different times at the beginning and the end of this trip. A few things have changed. For instance, the Hershey's Chocolate store is now on Times Square instead of a block or so north of there. This store does not look that nice from the outside as it used to. Also, it appears that a golden statue that was located east of the Plaza Hote was moved a few yards to the north. These are some of the pictures from 2014:

And these are pictures from last month:

It's hard to imagine traveling by train in the US, but for somewhat short distances it's not just possible, but convenient. I took an Amtrak train to Boston. I only stayed there for one night, so I decided to get there early.  Not much has changed since the last time that I visited in 2019, when I still had a Pixel 2. These are pictures from May 2019:

These are pictures from 2024, where few new places were discovered:

I might come back, but pictures with a Pixel 8 Pro were good enough to not have to visit these places again. The last night was spent in Hartford, so I got there early enough to see everything that could be worth seeing while visiting my 37th US state for the first time:

The flight back to Dallas did not leave until the evening of May 31st, so I decided to visit a museum and some churches in and around Newark before visiting the Statue of Liberty, possibly for the last time:

By the way, there may be little to no line to go through security and board the cruise from Jersey City. I remember that it took a long time when I visited the Statue of Liberty when I was departing from Battery Park in Manhattan.

Paying $11.20 for a round trip to the Northeast, getting a free night in Manhattan, and paying only for four out of the five nights that I stayed made the trip somewhat affordable. There are some places that I missed. If I decide to go back, I'll probably stay in Staten Island, as I just learned about the free ferry that takes you to Manhattan.

I had the best school year in North Texas, this trip was somewhat like a last-minute planned celebration. As an educator, I'm always looking forward to better years to come, and hoping to inspire more students to travel and work harder at school to have more financial security.