Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The building is already a 3-D logo.
CanadianNational
Senior Member
A picture from the webcam tonight (Feb 6, 2008)
The building looks like a building model.
Actually I went into the building tonight before closing. I was pleased to see no plunging icicles, snow chunks or the like coming off the addition.
Glad to see that the finishes inside - as well as the lighting - continue to improve. It was a quick tour, so I didn't get to examine things in detail. But - I noticed better lighting within the Spirit House, especially. Less clangourous walkways within it, as well. More surfaces had better paint jobs covering them than before, which was an improvement on the dry, 'single coat of primer on drywall' look that the place gave previously.
Edges around windows and doors, tile work, spotlighting and more careful illumination of the interior...all good stuff to see getting better.
The building looks like a building model.
Actually I went into the building tonight before closing. I was pleased to see no plunging icicles, snow chunks or the like coming off the addition.
Glad to see that the finishes inside - as well as the lighting - continue to improve. It was a quick tour, so I didn't get to examine things in detail. But - I noticed better lighting within the Spirit House, especially. Less clangourous walkways within it, as well. More surfaces had better paint jobs covering them than before, which was an improvement on the dry, 'single coat of primer on drywall' look that the place gave previously.
Edges around windows and doors, tile work, spotlighting and more careful illumination of the interior...all good stuff to see getting better.
smuncky
Senior Member
that picture reminds me of some of the scenes from the day after tomorrow where everything was covered in snow.
really amazing shot.
really amazing shot.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Wow, it really looks amazing in the snow!
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Sugar-coated.
Very sweet.
Very sweet.
Quite the delight.
42
42
Irishmonk
Senior Member
Impressive snapshot: for once it actually looks like a crystal. Also, the snow dusting makes it painfully obvious what a deleterious effect the cladding has on the overall appearance.
adma
Superstar
As opposed to those who'd call it a turkey?
Big Daddy
Senior Member
...in fact the more you cover it up, the better it looks!!
3Dementia
Senior Member
What happened to the turkey joke.... that was a real turkey.
Venti de Milo
Banned
Ya, what happened to my turkey picture? I spent alot of time making that! I know it has nothing to do with this topic, but come on, lots of messages on this board are OFF TOPIC anyway. Besides, the picture was just a joke.
The moderators on this board are taking things WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOO SERIOUS. Grumpy old men, dare I say? Sheesh.
The moderators on this board are taking things WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOO SERIOUS. Grumpy old men, dare I say? Sheesh.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Oh, now I want to see the turkey joke!
Was in there the other night too. The dinosaus were nice, but the presentation was underwhelming... they seemed cramped, and the Bariosaur lacked any majesty, appearing squished into a corner. I couldn't help but wish they'd built the Bing Thom addition instead. If the Crystal has done and opened and I'm still thinking wistfully about the plans they didn't build, it can't be a great sign.
Was in there the other night too. The dinosaus were nice, but the presentation was underwhelming... they seemed cramped, and the Bariosaur lacked any majesty, appearing squished into a corner. I couldn't help but wish they'd built the Bing Thom addition instead. If the Crystal has done and opened and I'm still thinking wistfully about the plans they didn't build, it can't be a great sign.
CDL.TO
Moderator
It seems as if some mods are a little trigger-happy with the delete button.
I think a fair approach would be, if it doesn't call for censorship... don't delete it. If it's off-topic, by all means request that the topic gets taken on-topic again or move the posts to a new thread. Don't just wipe out people's posts.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Star:
ROM gallery a South Asian treasure trove
Feb 13, 2008 04:30 AM
Prithi Yelaja
Staff Reporter
A massive 4th-century Buddha head and a miniature painting of life in the Sikh diaspora, circa 1997, are just two of the treasures housed in the new Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum, which opens this Saturday.
Showcasing a 400-piece collection, the 4,000-square-foot gallery – the latest jewel to be unwrapped in the ROM's renaissance – is unique in North America because it displays the entire span of the Indian subcontinent's art and culture, from the Indus Valley civilization of 3500 B.C. to contemporary times, says curator Deepali Dewan. The most recent piece is a video work dated 2006.
"All the other galleries stop at the 18th or 19th century. Sometimes there is bias toward older things, that they are of more value. But I think contemporary art is what people can feel some familiarity with. They can see their own life experience in it.
"By showing the whole history of South Asian culture to modern day in one space, I want people to leave with the idea that it is not only a thing of the past but very much a vibrant, contemporary, living culture today – to emphasize the continuity of the culture and tradition."
Housed in the Michael Lee Chin Crystal addition, the first permanent gallery in Canada to highlight South Asian culture includes items that cut across historic socio-economic lines, says Dewan.
"What we tried to do is include not only things that were commissioned by queens or kings or big wealthy temples, but what was used in daily life by the average person."
Deities typically used in Hindu home shrines are displayed, along with luxury art such as kundan jewellery made of gold and gemstones.
Pieces such as a massive textile highlight cultural exchanges between South Asia and the rest of the world, particularly Europe – Portuguese and Dutch influences in the 18th century, and the British colonial period in the 19th century.
"They were produced by Indian artists for a tourist audience. It brings up all the problems with colonialism – unequal power, racism," says Dewan.
"The romantic notion of South Asia as the land of maharajas and the exotic still endures today, particularly in the tourist market, but the subcontinent is so much more than that. Hopefully this will inspire people to think about where these ideas came from and what else is part of South Asian culture."
The most powerful aspect of the gallery is how it will validate South Asian culture in Canada, says Dewan, adding that designing a permanent gallery is a once-in-lifetime opportunity for a curator.
"Now a whole new generation of kids in the GTA coming through the museum will be exposed to South Asian culture in a way that their parents never were. For them to grow up having a familiarity with this culture is a huge achievement.
"The ROM is Canada's museum, so it's also a sense of pride for South Asians from the diaspora who may not have much contact with the subcontinent."
Dewan took the Star on a private tour. Here are some highlights in her own words:
AoD
ROM gallery a South Asian treasure trove
Feb 13, 2008 04:30 AM
Prithi Yelaja
Staff Reporter
A massive 4th-century Buddha head and a miniature painting of life in the Sikh diaspora, circa 1997, are just two of the treasures housed in the new Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum, which opens this Saturday.
Showcasing a 400-piece collection, the 4,000-square-foot gallery – the latest jewel to be unwrapped in the ROM's renaissance – is unique in North America because it displays the entire span of the Indian subcontinent's art and culture, from the Indus Valley civilization of 3500 B.C. to contemporary times, says curator Deepali Dewan. The most recent piece is a video work dated 2006.
"All the other galleries stop at the 18th or 19th century. Sometimes there is bias toward older things, that they are of more value. But I think contemporary art is what people can feel some familiarity with. They can see their own life experience in it.
"By showing the whole history of South Asian culture to modern day in one space, I want people to leave with the idea that it is not only a thing of the past but very much a vibrant, contemporary, living culture today – to emphasize the continuity of the culture and tradition."
Housed in the Michael Lee Chin Crystal addition, the first permanent gallery in Canada to highlight South Asian culture includes items that cut across historic socio-economic lines, says Dewan.
"What we tried to do is include not only things that were commissioned by queens or kings or big wealthy temples, but what was used in daily life by the average person."
Deities typically used in Hindu home shrines are displayed, along with luxury art such as kundan jewellery made of gold and gemstones.
Pieces such as a massive textile highlight cultural exchanges between South Asia and the rest of the world, particularly Europe – Portuguese and Dutch influences in the 18th century, and the British colonial period in the 19th century.
"They were produced by Indian artists for a tourist audience. It brings up all the problems with colonialism – unequal power, racism," says Dewan.
"The romantic notion of South Asia as the land of maharajas and the exotic still endures today, particularly in the tourist market, but the subcontinent is so much more than that. Hopefully this will inspire people to think about where these ideas came from and what else is part of South Asian culture."
The most powerful aspect of the gallery is how it will validate South Asian culture in Canada, says Dewan, adding that designing a permanent gallery is a once-in-lifetime opportunity for a curator.
"Now a whole new generation of kids in the GTA coming through the museum will be exposed to South Asian culture in a way that their parents never were. For them to grow up having a familiarity with this culture is a huge achievement.
"The ROM is Canada's museum, so it's also a sense of pride for South Asians from the diaspora who may not have much contact with the subcontinent."
Dewan took the Star on a private tour. Here are some highlights in her own words:
AoD
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
And the Globe:
Potential crystallizes
Two new galleries in the ROM's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal mirror a cross-cultural connection
MICHAEL POSNER
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
February 13, 2008 at 5:24 AM EST
Piece by ancient piece, gallery by state-of-the-art gallery, the Royal Ontario Museum is moving to realize the exhibition potential of its new addition - the Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.
Late last year, it opened its first exhibits in the new wing, featuring its collections of dinosaurs and mammals. Attendance at the Toronto museum has more than doubled in the weeks since.
Yesterday, for invited guests and the press, it unveiled two new galleries, devoted respectively to South Asian and Middle Eastern culture. They seem destined to keep the crowds coming.
Modest in size, manageable in terms of viewing time required, the new Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery and the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East temporarily occupy the same third-floor space, a physical linkage that mirrors their cross-cultural connections. Their creation allows the ROM to display many priceless items too long confined to the building's storage areas.
As the ROM's CEO William Thorsell reminded yesterday's audience, it was only six years ago that the institution had approached financier Christopher Ondaatje to contribute $1-million to fund a predecessor South Asian space. He had agreed, subject to matching donations from the South Asian community and the ROM itself.
"Within a year, I had to turn around and say, 'Christopher, we want to take your gallery apart and rebuild it in a new building that has yet to be designed.' But he kept the faith."
On hand for the opening, Ondaatje, the Sri Lankan-born businessman, adventurer, writer and philanthropist (brother of author Michael Ondaatje), said the galleries were evidence of the success of Canada's multicultural experiment. "Canada is the great united-nations experiment and it works. People are not fighting here. People come here, they start again and you can do anything here, absolutely anything."
The 4,052 square-foot Wirth Gallery is named for philanthropist Alfred Wirth, founder of investment counsellors Wirth Associates, who also sits on the museum's board of governors. He donated $2.5-million. "I like everything that's old," Wirth said with a laugh.
The Middle Eastern gallery, which includes artifacts from the Paleolithic age to the 20th century, is organized by themes. Perhaps the oldest object on display is a quartzite tool used in Egypt at least 1.4 million years ago, used for chopping. But the exhibit, curated by Warsaw-born and trained Krzysztof Ciuk, also features an extraordinary Iraqi Torah dating from about 100 years ago and a Babylonian glazed-brick wall relief that once adorned the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, about 600 years before the birth of Christ.
Ciuk said his favourite piece is an 18th-century Turkish musket from the sultan's armoury but with a French-designed and manufactured lock and barrel. "Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make this. But it's a gentleman's piece, used as a hunting weapon, not in warfare."
Not yet hung are two huge maps of the region, based on GPS projections.
Does the gallery meet all of Ciuk's ambitions? "Well, one is never fully satisfied, but I would call it a small pearl."
The Ondaatje Gallery includes dozens of stunning pieces, including an untitled modern life-size carving by Mumbai-based artist Navjot Altaf of a seated "goddess" woman, made from teakwood and painted blue, the traditional colour of the East Indian gods.
"The whole piece seems to be having a dialogue between East and West, between what is modern and what is traditional, between the hand-crafted and the industrial," explained Deepali Dewan, who curated the South Asian space. New Delhi-born and of mixed East Indian and American origins, Dewan did her undergraduate work at Montreal's McGill University, "so I kind of feel Canada keeps calling me back. And I came because I knew the renovation project was going on and that I'd have the opportunity to curate the gallery."
The Altaf sculpture was one of several purchased by Dewan from a $1-million acquisitions budget catalyzed by the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust.
About 400 of the gallery's 6,000 South Asian objects are on display, "a better proportion than most museums," she explained. "But not all objects need to be seen. You have redundancies or things not in great condition. And on-line service and published catalogues can get the rest of it out."
My only criticism is the same one that applies to many museums - insufficient labelling. I To maximize the experience, museum-goers need much more information about the history, provenance and meaning of the works on display, both via audio and print technologies.
The ROM's two new galleries open to the public on Saturday.
AoD
Potential crystallizes
Two new galleries in the ROM's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal mirror a cross-cultural connection
MICHAEL POSNER
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
February 13, 2008 at 5:24 AM EST
Piece by ancient piece, gallery by state-of-the-art gallery, the Royal Ontario Museum is moving to realize the exhibition potential of its new addition - the Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.
Late last year, it opened its first exhibits in the new wing, featuring its collections of dinosaurs and mammals. Attendance at the Toronto museum has more than doubled in the weeks since.
Yesterday, for invited guests and the press, it unveiled two new galleries, devoted respectively to South Asian and Middle Eastern culture. They seem destined to keep the crowds coming.
Modest in size, manageable in terms of viewing time required, the new Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery and the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East temporarily occupy the same third-floor space, a physical linkage that mirrors their cross-cultural connections. Their creation allows the ROM to display many priceless items too long confined to the building's storage areas.
As the ROM's CEO William Thorsell reminded yesterday's audience, it was only six years ago that the institution had approached financier Christopher Ondaatje to contribute $1-million to fund a predecessor South Asian space. He had agreed, subject to matching donations from the South Asian community and the ROM itself.
"Within a year, I had to turn around and say, 'Christopher, we want to take your gallery apart and rebuild it in a new building that has yet to be designed.' But he kept the faith."
On hand for the opening, Ondaatje, the Sri Lankan-born businessman, adventurer, writer and philanthropist (brother of author Michael Ondaatje), said the galleries were evidence of the success of Canada's multicultural experiment. "Canada is the great united-nations experiment and it works. People are not fighting here. People come here, they start again and you can do anything here, absolutely anything."
The 4,052 square-foot Wirth Gallery is named for philanthropist Alfred Wirth, founder of investment counsellors Wirth Associates, who also sits on the museum's board of governors. He donated $2.5-million. "I like everything that's old," Wirth said with a laugh.
The Middle Eastern gallery, which includes artifacts from the Paleolithic age to the 20th century, is organized by themes. Perhaps the oldest object on display is a quartzite tool used in Egypt at least 1.4 million years ago, used for chopping. But the exhibit, curated by Warsaw-born and trained Krzysztof Ciuk, also features an extraordinary Iraqi Torah dating from about 100 years ago and a Babylonian glazed-brick wall relief that once adorned the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, about 600 years before the birth of Christ.
Ciuk said his favourite piece is an 18th-century Turkish musket from the sultan's armoury but with a French-designed and manufactured lock and barrel. "Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make this. But it's a gentleman's piece, used as a hunting weapon, not in warfare."
Not yet hung are two huge maps of the region, based on GPS projections.
Does the gallery meet all of Ciuk's ambitions? "Well, one is never fully satisfied, but I would call it a small pearl."
The Ondaatje Gallery includes dozens of stunning pieces, including an untitled modern life-size carving by Mumbai-based artist Navjot Altaf of a seated "goddess" woman, made from teakwood and painted blue, the traditional colour of the East Indian gods.
"The whole piece seems to be having a dialogue between East and West, between what is modern and what is traditional, between the hand-crafted and the industrial," explained Deepali Dewan, who curated the South Asian space. New Delhi-born and of mixed East Indian and American origins, Dewan did her undergraduate work at Montreal's McGill University, "so I kind of feel Canada keeps calling me back. And I came because I knew the renovation project was going on and that I'd have the opportunity to curate the gallery."
The Altaf sculpture was one of several purchased by Dewan from a $1-million acquisitions budget catalyzed by the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust.
About 400 of the gallery's 6,000 South Asian objects are on display, "a better proportion than most museums," she explained. "But not all objects need to be seen. You have redundancies or things not in great condition. And on-line service and published catalogues can get the rest of it out."
My only criticism is the same one that applies to many museums - insufficient labelling. I To maximize the experience, museum-goers need much more information about the history, provenance and meaning of the works on display, both via audio and print technologies.
The ROM's two new galleries open to the public on Saturday.
AoD