Museum: the nest of cultural journeys. A place to view. A place to interpret. A place where reality assumes a different image. An image that is ultimately up to us to read and understand with our personal interpretations, associations and rememberances. But yet, the museum, it is also a world of consumption. After I go through the museum spaces, no matter in what city I find myself in, I end up first at the museum café and then inside the museum store and/or bookstore. The "psychological-trip" inside a musuem is very tiring. You wander through spaces and images / objects / sculptures trying to interpret and define whatever message the artist is trying to express. A message about screwed up society, about history, about politics, about nothing at all! Sometimes the the dual realationship between actor and spectator becomes a blurred entity. And I start thinking about who is in fact the real actor??? The piece of art stealing our curiosity or us, the viewers, trying to make sense all we see??? I need coffee really bad! And also a cigarette! But no smoking anywhere!!! Well, I just drink my tiny espresso and write down my thoughts. I ultimately end up at the store. The place where art becomes consumerism. Books, watches, t-shirts, mugs, rings, notebooks and even artsy shoes become the missing piece of the "culture-momentum-day" puzzle. People buy. No matter what. And they all go back to their hotel happy. With their museum bag, which is, for some, as fascinating as the Bloomingdale's small brown bag!
