Last week I took my son to the AGO to see the Anthropocene exhibition. There were other things I wanted to see as well--mainly the famous staircase.
The Anthropocene Project is about reclassifying our current geological age as one dominated by human activity--at least on and around the Earth's surface. An important goal of the project is to be "revelatory rather than accusatory", and the pictures certainly are a revelation.
The gallery was well attended, mainly by families, and with some of the enriched content (encoded digital goodies that could be seen on your smart phone, or with supplied ipads), the kids that were there remained interested.
I was struck by the printing of some of the images, which almost seemed three-dimensional to my eye.
Unfortunately, there was something of a sour note at the end of the exhibit. At the exit, there was a small exhibit which was only superficially connected to the main exhibition. In fact, I thought it struck a bit of a sour note.
The image shows the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the same room, there was a survey, where you were permitted to choose one word to summarize your feelings about this display. Of course, it isn't clear if it is about the non-accusatory Anthropocene exhibition, or the short CO2 exhibition. Most of the words you were allowed to select (there were seven) were synonyms for alarmed. There was also one for relaxed and one for suspicious, in case you were a Trump supporter or a conspiracy theorist.
The goal of the Anthropocene project is informing, not alarming. But someone, presumably at the AGO wants you to be alarmed.
There were plenty of other exhibits at the gallery, but we didn't stay much longer. We climbed the staircase.
The top of the staircase ended in a gallery which was closed. Partway down, we entered the modern art exhibit.
The Anthropocene Project is about reclassifying our current geological age as one dominated by human activity--at least on and around the Earth's surface. An important goal of the project is to be "revelatory rather than accusatory", and the pictures certainly are a revelation.
The gallery was well attended, mainly by families, and with some of the enriched content (encoded digital goodies that could be seen on your smart phone, or with supplied ipads), the kids that were there remained interested.
I was struck by the printing of some of the images, which almost seemed three-dimensional to my eye.
Unfortunately, there was something of a sour note at the end of the exhibit. At the exit, there was a small exhibit which was only superficially connected to the main exhibition. In fact, I thought it struck a bit of a sour note.
The image shows the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the same room, there was a survey, where you were permitted to choose one word to summarize your feelings about this display. Of course, it isn't clear if it is about the non-accusatory Anthropocene exhibition, or the short CO2 exhibition. Most of the words you were allowed to select (there were seven) were synonyms for alarmed. There was also one for relaxed and one for suspicious, in case you were a Trump supporter or a conspiracy theorist.
The goal of the Anthropocene project is informing, not alarming. But someone, presumably at the AGO wants you to be alarmed.
There were plenty of other exhibits at the gallery, but we didn't stay much longer. We climbed the staircase.
The top of the staircase ended in a gallery which was closed. Partway down, we entered the modern art exhibit.
A plaque tells us the artist is sealed in the cocoon on the floor.