Sunday, August 24, 2014

The Weekend: Extraordinary Chairs

It was just one of those weekends when going to a museum seemed the best option.

Benefits:
1.  Air-conditioned
2.  There is an indoor cafe
3.  It's fun to see new exhibits
4.  The gift shop is always a fun final destination

When I first saw this exhibition title, I thought that it was probably not going to be as interesting as it was.  This exhibition is called (inhale):  The Extraordinary in the Ordinary:  Chairs for Viewing the World through Time (exhale)... 

Exhibit Info:
1 Man Lam Road, Shatin
Runs until September 15, 2014

This exhibit was pretty interesting because there were a bunch of chairs that were innovative for their time.  There were chairs that were meant for enhancing socialization during the Victorian Era.  There were chairs for birthing babies.  There were chairs for taking siestas in the height of the afternoon sun.  

Being the law abiding citizen that I am, I didn't take photos within the exhibit. 



Some side exhibits that went along with the (inhale) Extraordinary in the Ordinary:  Chairs for Viewing the World through Time exhibit (exhale) were (see below):


It's so great to see young people using the theme of chairs as inspiration for art.  I thought that sticking the photographs on the walls of the museum was a great idea.




There was also a large chair in the courtyard of the museum.  This, I feel, was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa for a lot of people.  Because we couldn't go so close and sit on it, people were photographing themselves doing all sorts of things with this chair.


And lastly, on the grand staircase of the museum, the mini exhibition on student chairs was displayed.  The last time I was here, I didn't take the time to really check them out.  But, here are a number of my favorites.






I had one of those I HEART HK moments after seeing these chairs.

And, as a ending note:
I really enjoyed my afternoon at the museum.  I also was given a positive push to keep up with my Cantonese lessons when my husband translated some of the visitor notes in the museum.


(Left)  A multi-purpose chair to remove monsters.


(Right)  Why wasn't Andy Lau's OSIM chair in the exhibit?

Such humor!