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04/07/2002 Entry: "The price of art is eternal vigilence"
Today I found the secret bonus piece at the current Hishhorn H.C. Westermann exhibit. The exhibit is a lot of fun of its own right, even if you don't get to see the secret bonus piece, so trek on down to the Mall and take it in. The bag search lines at the Hirshhorn are way shorter than the Air and Space Museum....
Now there are "do not touch" signs plastered all over the Westermann exhibit. There are probably as many "do not touch" signs as there are signs explaining the pieces. And then there are signs explaining why there are "do not touch" signs. But the real kicker is that there are motion detectors that start beeping if you get too close to some of the pieces.
Now a lot of the pieces have fine details, so you have to really close to really get the full effect . For instance, you can't see inside the windows of the 'house' pieces otherwise. So people are constantly peering at the pieces, setting off the alarms. Now the beeping isn't annoying enough to actually force anyone to move away. Some people look around and wonder what's causing the noise, but then they go right back to their peering. The beeping seems to be purely for the guard's benefit. There is just one guard for the entire exhibit. He is running all over the place, asking people to please step away. Then he dashes off to the next beeping piece.
The poor guard is overweight, overheated, and obviously exhausted. I should feel his pain, but I don't. Damn, I should be annoyed by the incessent beeping going on, but I'm not. I stick around a little longer after taking in the exhibit just to watch his plight some more. I suspect he knew I was watching him. I almost took his picture at one point, when he was catching his breath and flirting with some young hottie, but I it seemed inappropriate somehow. It would've looked too much like I was taking the hottie's picture. Oh well. I wish I'd gone for it. Then I could have posted it here.
Anyway, that is the secret bonus piece - a little bit of unexpected performance art carried out by an unwitting actor. I've titled the piece, "The price of art is eternal vigilance". I think Westermann would approve.
