郭大卫
现代艺术博物馆雄姿 The front fa.ade of Museum of Modern Art
纽约时装周
纽约与伦敦、米兰和巴黎并列为世界四大时装之都。这四大时装之都在每年的二月和九月各举办一次时装周,展示形形色色的潮流和时装未来。
纽约名列榜首,应该是实至名归。纽约大约有16.5万人从事时装工作,每年除纽约时装周之外还举办75个左右的大型时装展。纽约全城共有5千个时装产品展示室。纽约市的时装业年产出为550亿美元,整个时装业支付的年工资总额为90亿美元,创税收将近20亿美元。
纽约时装周,实际持续时间往往为8天。每天安排10场左右的时装秀。一次时装周的展示总数,常常与经济走势有关。有时候总共才有80多场秀,有时候多达116场。另外有统计数字显示,包括与纽约时装周同时举行的其他秀在内,纽约城在8天内共有300场时装秀,250位设计师会展出他们的最新灵感。这么多秀,总共需要三千至四千模特儿。每台演出大约相隔1至2个小时。一般人通过电视节目看到模特儿走台,只见灯光绚烂,音乐华彩,丽人鱼贯出入。其实每台走秀持续时间平均只有17分钟,成败在此一举。
在纽约时装周举办一场秀,费用为75万至100万美元,用业翘楚的辉煌经历。
现代艺术博物馆
博物馆位于纽约,建于1929年12月。现代艺术博物馆馆收藏的现代和当代艺术品是无与伦比的,因此经常被称为世界上最有名的现代艺术博物馆。收藏品包括建筑设计、画稿和画、雕塑、摄影、木刻、插图书、写真集、电影和电子多媒体。藏品起点为19世纪末,终点则是今天。博物馆的图书馆和档案馆藏有30万本书。博物馆馆藏有15万件艺术品、大约2.2万部电影和400万张电影剧照。馆藏艺术品中不乏塞尚、梵高、高更、毕加索、马蒂斯等现代艺术史上大名鼎鼎的艺术家的力作。
现代艺术博物馆现在每年有300万人访问。入场券为20美元。是纽约收费最贵的博物馆之一。接待日开放时间为上午10点半到下午8点半。每周五下午4点之后,因商家赞助,可免费入场。纽约市立大学的学生可免费入场。2010年创纪录的展览有,《莫奈的睡莲》展览共吸引85万多访问者。美国电影导演蒂姆•波顿的展览有81万人到访。塞尔维亚表演艺术家玛丽娜 •阿布拉莫维奇的回顾展展出3个月,共吸引56万多访问者。在3个月展出期间,她一直坐在展览区的一张椅子上,面对观众,一言不发,阐述的主题是“此时此刻的艺术家”。
让现代艺术博物馆名扬四海的,并非仅仅是其丰富藏品。博物馆制定的一系列方针和策略,保证了其世界领先地位。该博物馆名称不冠以美国或者纽约,从而体现并保证了其艺术超越国界的取向。其藏品旨在全面反映现代和当代艺术的发展,因此博物馆包容不同藏品表现出的相互抵触的艺术思想。博物馆具有一支强大的专业人员队伍,定期评估自己,不断吸收最新思想,不断开创,鼓励开放,鼓励发展和变化,寻求已经成气候的艺术和尚处在摸索阶段的艺术之间进行创造性对话。现代艺术博物馆举办的各种展览面向最为广泛的观众,不仅面向专业学者,而且还面向少年儿童。
国际间谍博物馆
位于美国首都华盛顿哥伦比亚特区的国际间谍博物馆,是美国唯一一座私有私营间谍博物馆,也是华盛顿为数不多的收费博物馆之一。博物馆总面积将近6000平方米,其中永久展出区域面积约为1,900平方米,共展出600多件展品,讲述国际间谍历史和现实世界中的间谍,以及小说和电影等大众文化中虚构的间谍。博物馆展示形形色色的间谍手段以及来自希腊和罗马帝国时期的间谍物品,英国、美国独立战争、内战、世界大战和冷战期间使用的各种间谍用品,比如隐形墨水和各种照相机。各展区都有观众互动展台。在出口处,放映一部时长8分钟的电影,描述现代技术如何改变了战争和恐怖主义。
国际间谍博物馆举办的各种活动中,颇为吸引人的就是各种逼真游戏。访问博物馆的游客,可以在16个间谍模板中随意选择一个虚构身份,记住自己的名字、年龄、出生地、目的地等等,然后进入博物馆参观。每个有虚构身份的游客都会被分配一项任务。不过,不完成任务也没关系。在参观过程中,这些临时间谍可以在互动区域回答问题,测试自己是否完整记得自己的虚构身份细节。博物馆导游偶尔会扮演警察,拦住这些虚构间谍,询问他们的身份。
国际间谍博物馆有一个单独区域,专门用来玩“间谍在行动”的游戏。游客必须另外购买门票才能进入。
国际间谍博物馆每个月都举行一次晚会,所有参加的游客都成为潜伏特工。游戏包括各种亲历活动、主题环境和特效。任务完成后所有特工都必须提交口头报告,然后就是酒会。
纽约时装周 A model walks in New York Fashion Week.
各式各样的会展
泰迪熊是举世闻名的毛绒玩具,缘起于第26任美国总统罗斯福拒绝射杀一只小熊的故事。后来人们就制作可爱的泰迪熊来纪念这次义举。现在世界上有几百万人收集各种泰迪熊毛绒玩具。位于韩国济州岛的泰迪熊博物馆于2004年4月24日开馆,尤其欢迎欧洲泰迪熊收藏者。
美国新墨西哥州的罗斯维尔有一座国际U F O博物馆和研究中心。这是世界上该领域的首席博物馆。游客可以探究各类UFO目睹事件和被UFO迷质疑的各种隐瞒行为。一个有趣的事实是,来UFO博物馆访问的游客往往比展品更为离奇。
提起美国得克萨斯州的圣安东尼奥,美国职业篮球赛的球迷都知道这是马刺队主场所在地。但很少有人知道,该市有一座抽水马桶盖艺术博物馆。博物馆的创始人是退休管道工史密斯。他将普通的卫生间抽水马桶盖改造成艺术品,灵感来自于他在世界各地的旅行。这个家庭博物馆共展出600多个抽水马桶盖,颇为壮观,但均为非卖品。参观者即使喜欢,也无法买一个回家安装在卫生间里。
位于日本东京的爱思箱包博物馆,虽然名字听起来很乏味,但展品却很有特色。爱思箱包株式会社是世界上第一个生产尼龙箱包的制造商。该博物馆收集展出的各种箱包,却并非用尼龙制作,而是用各种动物皮制作。这些动物皮包括羚羊
国际间谍博物馆外景
An external view of International Spy Museum in Washington DC
梵蒂冈博物馆内景
Murals inside one of Vatican Museums
皮、斑马皮、大象皮、鲨鱼皮、海豹皮,甚至非洲土狼皮等。有些人甚至把这个展览看作是濒危动物展。
位于西班牙首都马德里的普拉多博物馆,是世界上最好的博物馆之一。该博物馆前身为自然博物馆,于1819年改建成为现在的博物馆,专门收藏和展示西班牙皇室收藏的艺术品。目前馆藏7000多件艺术品,其中最为震撼的是17和18世纪西班牙艺术大师戈雅、贝拉斯科斯、利贝拉的传世杰作。很多游客访问马德里的目的就是参观这个博物馆。
梵蒂冈博物馆,虽然在中国不太有名,却是世界上能够与伦敦大英博物馆和巴黎卢浮宫媲美的博物馆之一。梵蒂冈博物馆实际上是一个博物馆群,总面积有5.5万平方米,共有12个陈列馆和5条艺术长廊,汇集了古希腊罗马时期的遗物和文艺复兴时期的艺术精品。最为有名的藏品是拉斐尔和米开朗基罗的作品。这些作品是宫廷建筑装饰艺术品,分布在梵蒂冈各处。千百年以来,金碧辉煌,都无法移动,无法拿到外地去巡回展出。参观梵蒂冈博物馆群,据说需要勇气和耐力,因为需要漫长的排队等待,需要能承受辉煌灿烂的视觉和美学冲击。□
By David Guo
New York Fashion Week
New York, London, Milan and Paris are the four major fashion capital of the world. A fashion week is held in the four cities in Feb-ruary and September and New York is always the first to hold the weeklong fashion gala. This reflects the position of New York as the biggest fashion city in the world.
The fashion industry of New York employs about 165,000 peo-ple. In addition to New York Fashion Week, the city holds about 75 large fashion shows a year. The city has 5,000 fashion showrooms. The industrys annual output is about $55 billion, paying 9 billion as wages and salaries and paying nearly 2 billion in tax.
Though called fashion week, the fashion gala lasts about 8 days. During the week, there are about 10 shows a day. The number of shows during a fashion week varies in response to economic vicissi-tudes, ranging from 80 some to 116. Statistics show that 300 shows can happen during an 8-day week, giving 250 designers opportuni-ties to present their latest inspirations. These shows need 3,000 to 4,000 models. Shows follow each other with a hiatus about 1 to 2 hours. People who have watched a show at New York Fashion Week see models dressed in eye-catching fashion sashaying past in bright limelight and vibrant music, but they have slightest idea that shows average about 17 minutes long.
A show at New York Fashion Week costs about $750,000 to 1 million, which goes to lighting, music, models, backstage staff, guests and other expenses. Renowned designers need prominent guests to appear at their shows and therefore need to spend a lot to make sure that they are there.
New York Fashion Week injects vitality into citys economy. About 1,800 guests attend a show and about 14,000 people attend shows per day. For a gala week, there are about 110,000 profession-als and celebrities attending various shows. Nearly 2,000 registered journalists come to cover the event. They are from more than 500 news media from 30 countries and regions. It is estimated that a fashion week injects about $20 million into the citys economy.
抽水马桶盖博物馆
A view of toilet seat art museum in Austin, USA
International Spy Museum
Situated in District of Columbia, Washington, International Spy Museum is the only private spy museum and one of the few muse-ums in Washington that charges admission fees. The museums area is about 6,000 square meters, including a permanent exhibition area of 1,900 square meters.
The over 600 exhibits relate the history of espionage and spies in real world and in popular culture. The museum boasts a large amount of exhibits on espionage methods and materials dating from the Greek and Roman empires, the British Empire, the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, the World Wars and the Cold War years.
A unique feature of the museum is that visitors can play under-cover agents and spy games while paying a visit to the museum and looking around. For example, visitors are given 5 minutes to memo-rize details of one of 16 spy profiles before they assume the chosen identity and step into the exhibition area. The mission is for fun. Visitors dont have to complete it. While touring the museum, visi-tors who take a cover may test themselves at an interactive display on how well they remember the details of their selected spy identi-ties. Museum guides acting as police may occasionally stop these visitors and question about their assumed identity.
Visitors can engage themselves in more complicated games. The museum has a separate area where visitors assume the roles of covert agents and participate in a one-hour spy simulation. This exhibition has a separate admission fee and separate entrance from the museums permanent exhibition area. Another game called Spy in the City started in 2009. Visitors are given a GPS-type advice and given a task of finding clues near various landmarks in the area surrounding the museum, for the purpose of fulfilling a mission of obtaining the password for a secret weapon.
Museum of Modern Art
Founded in December 1929 in New York City, Museum of Modern Art (generally known as MoMA as shown on its fa.ade) has a peerless reputation in holding a large collection of artworks of modern and contemporary arts and staging very good exhibitions. Its collections are quite unique and extensive: works of architecture and design, drawings, painting, sculp-ture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artists
books, film, and electronic media. Its library and archives hold over
300,000 books, artist books and periodicals, as well as individual files on more than 70,000 artists. The archives contain primary source material related the history of modern and contemporary art. MoMA holds presumably the best collection of modern Western masterpieces in the world. Its holdings include more than 150,000
individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films and 4 million film stills. The collection houses some of the greatest art-works by van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse, Chagall, and Picasso.
MoMA receives about 3 million visitors annually. The museum charges $20 for admission, making it one of the most expensive museums in the city. However, it has free entry Friday after four oclock in the afternoon. All CUNY college students receive free admission.
What makes MoMA so unique is more than its extensive hold-ings. The museum follows a series of policies and rules to make sure it remains the worlds best museum. Museum of Modern Art does not have New York or America in its title, making its interna-tional features stand out. It has a good team that seeks creativity, openness, change and development. It encourages creative dialogue between established art and experimental art. MoMA holds exhibi-tions targeting the largest possible audience: experts as well as chil-dren. □
纽约时装周模特儿
A model in a show of New York Fashion Week