This photograph showcases a painting on the Berlin Wall titled “My God, Help me To Survive this Deadly Love” and it is a famous piece of graffiti by Dmitri Vrubel. The mural depicts a real-life moment from 1979 when the two Soviet leaders (USSR, & East Germany) kissed, which was a customary greeting to show a strong bond and affection between the communist leaders. This artist wanted to reflect the oppressive and strained nature of the Soviet-East German relationship, diguished as a partnership. This painting was painted shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, symbolizing the end of the cold war; however, more modernly it captures the deep contradictions in political relationships, where the surface-level unity often hides the deeper forms of oppression and control. This artwork remains one of the most iconic symbols of Berlin and the reunification of Germany which, draws thousands of vistors today.

Introduction:

This recent Saturday on 09/07/24 I had the pleasure of visiting the Rubin along with my friends Brendan, Danil, and Krystian. This was my first museum visit in a couple of years and so going into it I was influenced heavily by my predetermined notions from my previous museum visits. To me, or at least before this recent visit, I thought museums just contained ancient artifacts of art to gaze at and then leave shortly after having gathered enough information for the upcoming school project. But, my visit to the Rubin completely changed my perspective on museums and art (with a capital A as Lisa would say it) entirely.

Picture of Vast Bhutan by Asha Kama Wangdi

This was one of my favorite exhibits not necessarily because of its visual appeal but because of the meaning behind this piece. This piece is titled “Asha Kama Wangdi, Vast Bhutan” or the “Windhorse (Lungta)” and it is made of a collection of 40 years of littered polyester prayer mats that the artist had gathered to display in the Rubin; this massive piece extended from the first floor all the way to the sixth floor. For people that don’t know, polyester is a material that doesn’t dissolve naturally in nature, and so it harms the ecosystems where it is thrown out. The artist used this as inspiration and created this piece of fallen and faded prayer flags envisioned as the five “mad horses” because of the horrible environmental impact left by people.

I think that this piece perfectly demonstrates the idea that “art isn’t really Art without meaning” that we spoke of in class. For me personally at first, this wasn’t exactly visually appealing and I thought the piece was just a decoration in the middle of a spiraling staircase. But, when one of the workers explained the artists vision/intention behind the art piece I was intrigued by the deeper meaning that it possessed. So I think this helped, for me at least, to determine my own answer to what is Art? Additionally, it changed my perspective entirely on Art so it ended up becoming one of my favorite pieces in the museum.

EXHIBIT #2:

Scent created by Christophe Laudamiel
Joanin Temple for Mandala Lab, 2021

This is a part of an interactive art piece in the Mandala Lab in Rubin. This was another one of my favorite exhibits featured in the Rubin, because it extends the definition of Art itself. Within this piece you view a video of the featured piece, and then you can press on the red button to release the smell gathered from that specific place. In this case when I pressed on the red button it released the smell of the temple, which was my favorite out of I believe the five pieces that were there. I think this extends the definition of Art itself because it doesn’t just appeal to your visuals but also your sense of smell which inadvertently made me reimagine the possibilities that Art can have. What if art appealed to not only your eyes but also to each of the five senses that you have? Within this piece it also has a questionnaire before you view the actual place where the scent comes from, and then it gives you information as to how you “see” smell. So overall this was one of my favorite exhibits just because of how interactive it was and how you can also learn more about yourself as well.

EXHIBIT  #3

Picture of Muted Expressions 2022

Initially, I thought this art piece was just something nice to glance at and so I took this picture before knowing the true meaning behind it. Once I read the blurb which was hidden off to the side of the piece I was surprised by all the little details that I had missed. This piece was originally created in response to the devastating 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. Disembodied human hands and feet are put together in this piece, representing the inescapable nature of the earthquake in 2015. In the blurb I read I also found out that this sculpture also represents Buddhist concepts such as compassion, argument, prayer, and witnessing through the hand signals such as the “peace” and “rock on” signs. I didn’t think much of this piece until I saw the meaning behind it and so I think that connects, once again, to the notion that art isn’t really Art without an underlying message behind it.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the Rubin as it changed my perspective on what Art is and what Art can be. My visit was a lot more interactive than I thought it would be, and I was surprised by the messages behind some of the pieces featured there. Unfortunately this place is closing sometime in October, but I am glad I was able to have the Art featured here. It’s also crazy to think that their location in New York only features 3% of their entire collection featured throughout the world, and so I am intrigued to research some of the other pieces featured at some of the other spots internationally. Honestly going into it I expected to be bored by the pieces there since I am not a “Museum” or an “Art” person but, I was genuinely intrigued by the Artwork at the Rubin. So, the next time I visit a museum I think I will be a lot more open minded and try to find the meaning behind the artwork before judging the quality based on appearances.