Dancing in the Streets
After lunch today we walked over to the Salzburg Museum of Modern Art. Though we only had an hour and a half, it was more than enough time to wander through the small building. There were two exhibits – a fabulous photography show, “The Europeans”, featuring the work of Tina Barney, and “Reflections”, a smaller exhibit contrasting the work of photographers and artists using “traditional” mediums. The Barney exhibit consisted of very large format color prints capturing moments in the lives of the elite upper class from several European countries. We both really enjoyed the photographs; the colors were brilliant, and you could see her effort to incorporate art history, her other passion, into the composition of her photographs. The “Reflections” display juxtaposed photographs with paintings, drawing, etc. of a similar subject matter, with the intent of showing the artistic value of the photographs. The reasoning behind the show is that photography, video, and film have become commonplace within the consumption of mass media; therefore they have lost the element of artistic emphasis. Instead of consuming these images as expressions of art, with the viewer examining the work and pondering its meaning, the images are scanned and rapidly forgotten. Intending to get visitors to revisit the idea of photography as art, the museum hoped pairing photographs with more traditional mediums would reinforce their artistic value. I am not sure they were entirely successful, yet as someone who truly loves photography, I already value it as a legitimate art form.
Kendra had one more class to go, so we left the museum and met up again when she was done for the day. We had another picnic by the river with Jen, Jen, and Bill. Stopping on the way to pick up Kepabs (think Gyros) and fries, we enjoyed eating, drinking wine, and watching the sun set over Salzburg. The night continued at a local outdoor bar, and included a little bit of dancing on the part of Bill, Jen, and Kendra. Amused by the three of them shaking it to the American tunes so often heard in Austrian bars, I couldn’t resist taking pictures.
Tomorrow should be a fun day – until then, I am off to bed!
