JOSH SNIEGOWSKI (film + video major) writes:
Today we did a vast array of different things, starting with a trip to the Shanghai Museum. The museum was huge and shaped to look like an ancient Bronze. The main hall of the museum a huge square, while above was a gigantic circular skylight. I thought it was very interesting when we were told that the reason for this was because in some Chinese beliefs the Earth is square while heaven is circular.
The first area of the museum that we looked at was the bronze section. There were many amazing pieces in this collection. I personally liked to see the contrast of how different animals were portrayed on bronze throughout different periods of Chinese history. On some pieces, many animals were even blended together to form a new creature. We also got to see one of the largest collections of bronze bells in this section as well. After this we were allowed to explore the rest of the museum. Everything was amazing, but if I talked about it all this would go on forever.
Next we took another long bus ride to the Zendai Museum in Pudong. Here we saw many different pieces of art that also took different forms. Some were normal paintings, some were cracked ceramic bowls that were painted and assembled to look like the artist's wife, and some were in a league of their own. On example of this kind of work would be the video of a naked woman who was covered with Braille dots. Then multiple blind men continued to feel them. I am not sure what the deeper meaning of this was, but it was definitely interesting.
Also while at the museum, we got the chance to hear from a museum head, Biliana Ciric. From her, we got to hear many different things on many different subjects. The most interesting, however, was her talk about the censorship of art in Shanghai. We were told that sometimes paintings were just taken with nothing left but a note. I did not know that censorship was this severe in some cases, but I guess it can get far worse than this.
After dinner, we got the privilege of attending a private concert. We heard the playing of a Gu-Zheng, which was an amazing opportunity. The music was beautiful and the musician was incredibly skilled. I felt very lucky to be able to attend this and it instantly became one of my favorite parts of the trip.
To finish the night off, everyone went out to a nightclub that our guide Shin Yu got us into. Bacardi sponsored it and we even got our own private table. The party was insane and had everything from people dancing in full glow suits to people appearing out of lights. It was awesome and everyone got a chance to have good time and just relax with each other. By the time we left the party everyone desperately needed sleep and headed straight for a bed.
Josh Sniegowski is a sophomore in the film + video department.
