I got back from a fantastic weekend in DC last Tuesday and I never wrote about it like I meant to. Along with spending time with people I love, seeing crappy Irish dancers, eating at Busboys & Poets, I also ran out in the freezing rain to go to the National Portrait Gallery, which was closed the whole time I had lived there. I have also been a huge critic of the Smithsonias musuems, but if you have a chance, GO THERE. If you appreciate art, go there. If you appreciate history, go there. If you appreciate civil rights and social movements, go there. It’s so much more than the collection of presidential portraits. They have a whole range of contemporary portraits, from Tom Wolfe to Brett Farvre to Philip Glass.
Connected to the Portrait Gallery is the newly opened Musuem of American Art. A great collection of contemporary art, included two large installations by Nam June Paik. The best was the Megatron Matrix, which I sat in front of for over an hour. It’s hard to explain, and I wouldn’t do it justice. There’s a clip here and here.
I know my artiste friends probably think his stuff is not that great, but with my six undergraduate credits in modern art, I was pretty impressed.
The other crazy thing about DC is the incredible amount of condos going up. When I first moved there, people claimed I would get shot if I lived east of 16th street. Now I will never be able to afford something on 10th street. Plus, I can’t even go by the Columbia Heights metro station without being ill from the construction of a the new Target. Down with gentrification!
