I love it when a classic, older museum injects a little something new into its space- which is just what Sir John Soane’s museum in London has done. There’s a small but cool exhibit on portals taking place in the museum. And Dear Husband and I had a chance to kill two birds with one stone during our recent visit. Old + new on a warm London morning- what could be better??
Regular readers will know that I do love something a little “out there”, and I planned for a few such outings during our Europe trip last month. Dear Husband can be a little skeptical. But this exhibit on portals was compact and so well-embedded in the Sir John Soane’s museum that even Dear Husband couldn’t complain that it wasn’t worth it.
The Soane museum itself is very interesting, and its back story is worth a read. I must admit that it was a warm day in London, and we didn’t really spend a proper amount of time reading up on all the art in the space. As one can do after seeing a lot of museums, it can be easy to just walk through the space, looking everything up and down. And not properly examining each piece. Guilty as charged!
I wanted to use the VR headsets in the exhibit on portals before the lines queued up. After all, there had been an article that very morning on the exhibit- incredible timing!
I am intrigued by the metaverse- but not entirely convinced that it’s how I want to live my life. Apparently, the concept of portals has existed in human thinking and culture for ages. (And yep, that’s a portal Claire goes through.) Wearing the VR headset, I saw that humans have been exploring the concept of portals for decades. We are fascinated by the idea of moving from one world to another. This will only become more evident in our every day lives as technology (sometimes sadly) becomes more embedded.
Still, there’s something thrilling about the idea of portals. And I will be on the lookout for the presence of portals in movies, TV and other spaces.
Space Popular: The Portal Galleries, at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London until September 25, 2200
