Seeing (endless) spots
I visited the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh with my Design I class early this morning. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's an art museum that specializes in installation art, works of art that typically take up an entire room.
I didn't know what to expect, and I was delighted. I've never seen anything like it.
My favorite piece was Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Dots Mirrored Room, a room with "Twister"-esque dots scattered all over the floor and mirrors in every direction; the dots looked like they went on forever as far as I could see. I walked up to one of the corners of the room and shared a brief greeting with 4 clones of myself (one on the ceiling, one to either side, and one that was split down the middle at the point where the walls met). My instructor, Brian Ferrell, suggested that we try lying down on the floor and looking up at the ceiling, which was another mind-bending experience.
Another interesting piece was James Turrell's Danaë, a room in which one wall was illuminated by what appeared to be a blue overhead projector screen at first glance. But after approaching the "screen" and reaching out to touch it, we discovered that it was actually an illusion of a solid flat surface that disguised the wide open space behind it.
If you haven't experienced this museum yet, I definitely recommend it. Regular admission is $6 for students, $9 for adults, and free for kids under 6 (and Thursdays like today are half-price days for everybody).