Event 1: Provocation

 Earlier today I attended the Hammer Museum and saw the exhibit "Provocation" in Gallery 1.  I had no idea what to expect going into the event, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  I began reading about the exhibit  and the artist behind it, and I was taken aback upon reading brands like Longchamps attributed to this artist.  I then turned around and saw a really tall structure which looked like a spool or press of some kind.  But what really caught my eye about this piece was all the various questions that were covering it.  Questions like "How do we light a fire under the lazy customer to walk up a flight of stairs?"

 The next piece I noticed was these two bus seats.  I thought this was weird at first, so I read the snippet beneath the work and read about how the artist worked to create brand new double-decker buses in London that would be nicer, cleaner, better engineered, and better for the environment.  I really like that the artist chose to use two seats to represent this great achievement in his career.  He could've used a big huge picture of the bus, but I like the simplicity of the seats.  They are much more subtle, and I think that's why I enjoy them so much.

Next, I saw a diorama of a building somewhere in Asia, with the question under it: "How do we build a building to represent a city?"  I thought just the fact that the artist was asking this question was amazing.   But I really like the aesthetics behind the structure as well.  The gold represents prosper for the city, and it's also very modern and almost futuristic, showing that the city is well-equipped and prepared for the future.  Above all, the building is a gem compared to its surroundings.  And I think the city is the same for its inhabitants.  

 This structure here is actually a series of large blocks, with trees planted on top of them.  However, the blocks are varying heights, so some tress stand taller than others, creating a "forest village" of a park.  The amount of time and effort these people are putting into a park just baffles me.  But at the same time, I can really appreciate the attention to detail, and the uniqueness of this idea.  This will be really awesome once it gets built, and I think the fact that it is being built within a city makes it that much cooler.

 This final work is another park, but it is a "park made out of desert."  They are planning on building large, desert colored coverings over the park to provide shade for the pool and park below.  These people are literally building an oasis in the desert, the most modern and beautiful oasis that I've ever seen.








Overall, I was fascinated by this exhibit.  I actually learned a lot about architecture, and the process behind the designing of these structures and parks. A lot of this relates back to our Art + Science section, along with Art + Math.  Both of these combinations are at play, creating a cornucopia of brilliant designs and ideas.   I would highly recommend this exhibit to anyone considering going.  The Hammer Museum is a really cool place.