The Victoria and Albert Museum

This is the current installation piece outside the front door

The Victoria and Albert Museum, named for Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, calls itself the world's greatest museum of art and design and that could very well be true. It is the largest and it's certainly the most eclectic of all the world's museums and, quite frankly, I've never been quite so overwhelmed by a collection of art. The art in the V&A, as it's more commonly called, spans about 5,000 years worth of craftsmanship in every imaginable medium and from every continent on the globe. Its permanent collection contains 4.5 MILLION pieces in its 145 galleries, housed in a building that takes up 12.5 acres. If that's not an overwhelming amount of art I don't know what is. 

This was one of my favorites. Thankfully their "No Photography" policy isn't enforced.

In fact, as I was telling my mom about this place during one of our weekly Skype sessions I compared it to a warehouse. Some....no, almost ALL.....the rooms are so tightly packed with art you have to navigate very carefully to avoid collisions with both animate (humans and/or tourists) and inanimate (the art) objects. This room is my favorite example of the “clutter” among the galleries:

This room was just full to bursting, the Cast Court in the sculpture wing, comprising two large, skylighted rooms two stories high housing hundreds of plaster casts of sculptures, friezes and tombs.

Interestingly, though, despite the fact most of the art in this museum is the traditional/classical type – you know, marble statues, oil paintings, silver candlesticks, etc. – the featured exhibit was a display of modern creations.

The Power of Making “is a cabinet of curiosities showing works by both amateurs and leading makers from around the world to present a snapshot of making in our time.”

The exhibition showcases works made using a diverse range of skills and explores how materials can be used in imaginative and spectacular ways, whether for medical innovation, entertainment, social networking or artistic endeavor. Making is the most powerful way that we solve problems, express ideas and shape our world. What and how we make defines who we are, and communicates who we want to be.

Guitar shoe

The pencil creation above was my favorite piece from the Power of Making exhibition. But here are few more interesting ones:

A fake baby. Which is supposed to look very real, but I didn't think it did. Hello, wax statues anyone?

QR code dress that links you to the celeb's website who wore this. 

You iPhone users get it, right?

Some plasticy-goo stuff that molds exactly to whatever it touches. This is an exact replica of its inventor's fingertips and, thus, his fingerprints.

Apollo Flaying Marsyas...alive.

But the excitement didn't stop there. As weird as that exhibit was I actually found the rest of the museum's collection to be even more puzzling. And by puzzling I mean ironic and possibly contradictory...I think. And  at the time I felt like I was the only one who noticed it. The tourists - who, I realize, I often refer to collectively (because, well, they DO congregate in tightly packed clusters that cause congestion and they are, more often than not, much like absent-minded sheep) - did not. But I, the intellectual that I am, pay attention to my surroundings. Specifically the Marble Hall, in this case.

Theseus slaying the Minotaur

Do you see what I see? The theme?

Truth and Falsehood (Truth is tearing out Falsehood's tongue)

Samson wielding a jawbone to kill a Philistine who taunted him.

How about now? Yeah, this hall is overrun with violence. Violence cast in stone. (Also, I can't NOT address the words on the wall behind this...gorgeous.........statue [above]. Click on the photo for a closer look but the words read, again ironically "Do not  ouch" because, perfectly, the 'T' is missing...right on wall behind the bashed baby. It's OK to laugh now.)

Can you feel the insane amount of tension between these two statues? I know I do. And all because they were intentionally positioned to face one another in this aggressive manner.

Not that these aren't all beautifully crafted pieces. Obviously they are. What I have a hard time understanding is the artists' motivation behind them. Ok, likely they were motivated by money...as in they were paid to create a very specific form in marble...but the question is digressive; why would the patron want that type of sculpture?



Other than sculpture, there this too. An unusual selection to hang inside the main atrium, I'd say. Clearly continuity of style was not the goal here.










And this:

Was showcased in here:

And then amid the chaos of crowded rooms was a single room that was completely empty:

Rooms that were miniature:

And then there are miniature rooms where children swing over pits in their floors.

But all in good fun. And what's more fun than wearing costumes?

Not much, that's what.

Certainly not crime scenes...........

Or tapestries in a dark, temp-controlled room ;)

But out of control parties?

Possibly.