More art, more food

Friday the group set off for the Guggenheim. I was really excited to go because it's the host for the Huge Boss Prize, an art competition I researched extensively last summer when I worked for ArtPrize. I didn't know anything about the museum before arriving, so I was pretty taken aback when the building looked like this:


The beehive appearance is a result of a spiral ramp inside that architect Frank Lloyd Wright intended patrons of the museum to walk down (by taking the elevator to the top, first) and around, viewing exhibits in a continuous motion downwards, guided by gravity. It revolutionized the way museums displayed art and how audiences viewed it. Here's a picture of the ramp.

We learned a lot about the building and concepts behind this method of interacting with art from a tour guide, who then took us to view some works by Kandinsky, which was exciting. Next up, we were instructed to sketch some ideas about the building. I snapped this picture of the group from below:


The ramp and idea behind it were really cool, but honestly, I felt queasy the entire time we were up on the ramp. You can never quite tell what is level ground, and seeing the spiral at varying angles was really disorienting for me. Eh. After escaping the white vortex, we got to do a workshop with one of the Guggenheim's curators focusing on form and function. My group ended up with this beautiful piece of art:

Yes, that's a giant toilet on the far right side. We're mature.

When we left the museum the sky was down pouring torrential rain. We watched the rain turn to marble sized hail while we ran for our lives to the most miserable bus ride of any of our lives. I honestly thought I wouldn't make it off alive. Some of us stuffed our faces at the Mexican restaurant by I-house, and then I passed out until 7 when we met downstairs to head to another night on Broadway.

We say "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" with Daniel Radcliff. It was truly entertaining, and the dance numbers were so impressive! Who knew Harry Potter could sing? Not me.

Saturday I woke up and was so excited to spend the day with my Aunt Pat and Uncle Alan who were driving up (or is it down?) from Rhode Island just to see me! They took me to Zabars, which was an awesome market of gourmet foods I drooled over but couldn't bring home due to not having a fridge (foreshadowing! foreshadowing!). Then we went to the Hells Kitchen flea market, which was super exciting for me (racks and racks of cheap vintage, tables of weird junk like ceramic heads and mismatched dishes, tons of lace, lots of dogs), but also very hot. I found the most gorgeous 40's print gossamer dress of my life, but it was $80 so I walked away (still kind of teary about it).


And then! They took me on a gourmet food tour. Oh my wow. It was done by this woman who calls herself the Enthusiastic Gourmet, which was an understatement. Lady was super excited about everything. I'm planning on writing a full review of the experience for one of my class assignments, so be on the lookout for that.

After getting dropped off by Aunt Pat and Uncle Alan, I passed out for a few (hours), and then met my friends on the rooftop to polish off a nice $10 bottle jug o' wine. We eventually realized we were starving and went to the Italian restaurant down the street for pizza (and more wine). The evening ended with receiving plastic cups from a pimp, stealing a fridge, and taking shots of Vanessa's tequila. So fun.

I can't believe I only have a week and a half left in this crazy, magical, electric place. I honestly wasn't expecting to like the city this much - I was pretty ambivalent about it. But now it feels almost homey, and returning to Lansing is fading in attractiveness by the day.