V&A

Today, I took a little trip to the Victoria & Albert museum with Jon and Andrew (Jesse's roommates). I knew the museum was big but I had no idea that it had such a diverse range of exhibits. There were artifacts from every part of the world, new and classic art, textiles, a huge hallway of sculptures, the list goes on. 

There is also an extensive collection of cast replicas at the V&A. These casts serve as a means of documentation and distribution, bringing famous immoveable sculptures and objects from around the world to visitors here at the museum.

There was also a great, albeit small, photography area which showcased work from some of the great photographers of the 20th Century. The work of Gary Winogrand, Walker Evans, Julia Margaret Cameron, Harry Callahan, Man Ray and even Weegee covered the walls. It was a flash back to History of Photo this past semester. Here they were, these images that I had studied, real and in the...fiber. It was great to see the original prints.

While we were there, we also checked out an extensive exhibit on theater set/costume design. Included in this exhibit were some of the most detailed scale models of sets that I have ever seen. The potential for trickery was high with these images but I decided, in the interest of storytelling, to come clean. These are models, very very detailed models.

To top it all off, the V&A had an enormous chandelier designed by Dale Chihuly hanging over the information desk in the lobby area. Crafted from blown glass and steel in Chihuly's Seattle workshop, the chandelier was designed specifically for the space and is 27 feet high, weighing 3800 pounds.

It was a great trip to the museum, to be followed by a great night out for Jesse's birthday party...or so we thought. A group of about 15 of us set out on the tube destined for "Sin," a nightclub a few miles away that had a bunch of sweet DJ's performing. We find the place and get in line, waiting in the cold for about 20 minutes before we are told at the door that they only accept passports as ID. 

WOMP. We headed home. 

It was a fun night though, considering the fact that we spent it on the train/walking/yelling "AMERICA!!!"(Andrew) at the bouncers as we left.