September 29, 2007
The Centraal museum, Utrecht, is one of the more unusual museums I've been to recently. It spans an unusually wide timespan, for a start. From the Roman Jerkin and ancient cargo ship in the basement to cutting edge video installations; there are very few places where you turn your back on a bog oak ship, walk up a flight of stairs, and into a one man show about the bleakness and alienation experienced in hospitals in 2007. Depending on your personal perspective, this is either dizzying or a Very Good Thing, especially as it is quite hard to navigate the building. It isn't huge, but it seems to have a lot of corners. Personally, I loved it.
The ship was a favorite, and I will be going back with a sketchbook at some point to spend a happy afternoon failing to draw it. And my absolute favorite piece was Strings by Sam Taylor-Wood in the temporary Suspended Moment exhibition; a video of a ballet dancer suspended above a string quartet playing Tchaikovsky, and quite beautiful in a really weird way. I was less taken with the Utrecht Carravagaists, but then I don't tend to like Carravagio either.
I thought that the museum offered very good value for money, although as I've bought the Museumkaart (a discount card costing 35 Euros that means that I can go to 400 museums across the Netherlands this year - if you're going to be in the country for more than five museum trips I think it's well worth it) it's hard to be cross about value for money. But if you don't like contemporary art you might be a bit disapointed. The cafe is great - 5 Euros bought me a nice coffee and one of the best bits of cake I've had for ages.
In summary, I think everyone should go; good value, amazing breadth, and good cake.
The ship was a favorite, and I will be going back with a sketchbook at some point to spend a happy afternoon failing to draw it. And my absolute favorite piece was Strings by Sam Taylor-Wood in the temporary Suspended Moment exhibition; a video of a ballet dancer suspended above a string quartet playing Tchaikovsky, and quite beautiful in a really weird way. I was less taken with the Utrecht Carravagaists, but then I don't tend to like Carravagio either.
I thought that the museum offered very good value for money, although as I've bought the Museumkaart (a discount card costing 35 Euros that means that I can go to 400 museums across the Netherlands this year - if you're going to be in the country for more than five museum trips I think it's well worth it) it's hard to be cross about value for money. But if you don't like contemporary art you might be a bit disapointed. The cafe is great - 5 Euros bought me a nice coffee and one of the best bits of cake I've had for ages.
In summary, I think everyone should go; good value, amazing breadth, and good cake.
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