The Politics of Art & Authenticity

You know when a great time to go to the Museum of Natural History is? Swing by at 4:45pm on a weekday. This is a magical time at the museum. Most people have gone. And by most people I mean the security guards. At 4:45pm the museum is empty and free. I walked around that place like I owned it, and it was serene.

Some might say that a map of such an extensive museum would be helpful. Not for me. Perhaps the coolest thing I have ever done was roam the empty halls of that place without a map. I was totally immersed in everything I was seeing, unlike any other time I had visited the museum. There were no children being load and obnoxious. There was no idiot tourist walking directly in-front of me to take a picture of the stuffed turkey behind the glass with his flash on, only to continue to stand in-front of me while trying to figure out how to turn his flash off (rather unsuccessfully). There was none of that.

I scooted through the Hall of Asian Mammals and North American birds. I wandered through the foreign chimes of the Asian Peoples exhibit. I wound up cutting back again through the Hall of Asian Mammals. I wound up one floor above the Hall of Asian Mammals. I wound up back again on the other side of the Hall of Asian Mammals, and then somehow I stumbled upon the dinosaur exhibit.

I love the dinosaur exhibit, almost as much as Brian does. Did I mention there were no kids there? Have you ever been to that exhibit in the absence of children. It is truly fantastic.

Never have I ever experienced such peace, excitement, and confusion as I did wandering the halls of the Museum of Natural history at 4:45 pm on a weeknight… Holy crap, did I break into The Museum of Natural History?

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