Why Didn't The Skeleton Visit The Museum?

I've been expanding my intellect of recent weeks. A boy figures that if Jerison's Encephalisation Quotient works between species, it doesn't hurt to try and notch up within his own species.

The Museum of Modern Art, next to the Imperial Palace is free on the first Sunday of each month. I'm not one for portrait galleries - that just bores me. So shoot me. What I do love is contemporary art; not the ridiculous Turner pieces, but those works that have something to say about life today. (It's a fine line, haven't quite figured out where to lay it yet).

The Museum was manageable, only a couple of floors, with a special exhibition concerning 'The Self and I'. The piece that left the biggest mark on me was Bill Viola's 'The Quintet of Remembrance'. In a darkened room, a portrait of, you guessed it, five people stare off to the side with troubled expressions. It's a vivid emotion, brought even more so when your eyes start playing tricks on you and the people take motion. In fact, they are; the film which lasts for 60 seconds real time, spans the course of 16 minutes our playing time. Each frame is hypnotic, each emotion/movemement adds to the story.


Last Sunday, I went down to the National Museum of Science and Nature, in Ueno Park. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the vastness of the building (actually, buildings - we didn't even make it to the others!) so I'll be going back very soon. Most of the time was spent in the special Darwin exhibition (as Alan Partridge would suitably say, "Jurassic Park!"), which featured a history of his life and work, with live exhibits (Galapagos turtles and iguanas, only stuffed finches alas). I didn't think the Japanese were particularly interested in this, not studying it at school and being a quite apathetic nation for religion and the creation/evolution debate. However, there wasn't room to swing a turtle let alone one from the Galapagos Islands. For a fascinating read, check out The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage To The Dawn Of Evolution by Richard Dawkins. (or borrow my copy!)


The permanent exhibitions I explored included geology, animals of the earth (a cow's intestines, and a giraffe's tongue and throat), and everyones' favourite: dinosaurs!



I even saw (it was exciting for me!) a reconstruction of 'Lucy', one of the world's oldest hominid fossils at around 3.2million years, somewhere between human and a common chimpanzee.


Will return either this weekend or next.