Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

That's us! Looking at ourselves, reflected and refracted, in a stainless steel sculpture (Untitled 2012) by Anish Kapoor at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

His work does not translate well to two-dimensional photos partly because it plays with subtle differences of color and light and partly because how his art looks depends so much upon where you are standing. Much of his sculpture seems very tactile and begs to be touched. And, in fact, people do. (Interestingly, it was the grown-ups who touched; not the kids). The many guards were very busy, and these signs were everywhere:

When I look at a picture book, one of the main questions I ask is "Does it change the reader/listeners/viewer's emotional temperature?" I think the same question could be asked about other visual art. The work in this exhibit definitely changed emotional temperatures. There were lots of animated, interesting conversations around us.

(Sylvia and Rick with Laboratory for a New Model of the Universe 2006, acrylic)

One of the guards gave Sylvia a pencil and pamphlet for answering questions and mostly drawing about Anish Kapoor's work. Sylvia was extremely engaged by this.

About half the works were created from stainless steel and played with illusion and perception. They were rather like a thoughtful, intellectual funhouse of mirrors.

In front of the museum is a stainless steel sculpture by Kapoor called Sky Mirror (2006).

Don't you think it's gorgeous? It's a concave mirror that reflects the sky, so what's visible is constantly changing. And believe me, the sky of Sydney never approaches stasis. The clouds are big, dramatic, and constantly shifting.

Here's the back of Sky Mirror. It reflects the museum, lawn, walkways, and the café. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that Sylvia and I are reflected in it. (Sylvia is happily chatting away with her grandparents).

After experiencing the exhibit, we went up to the outdoor sculpture terrace (which has exactly one sculpture - the restaurant has taken over!). From there you can see harbor scenes like this one:

That's a cruise ship on steroids, the opera house, a flotilla of sail boats, and Fort Denison (the island).

We also looked down at the walkway and saw that a crowd had gathered, so I zoomed in to see what they were looking at. And fittingly enough, after an exhibit about space, perception, and illusion, we saw. . .

a street performer who had just squeezed herself into a small glass and metal box. (The bloke behind her in the striped shirt is an audience volunteer). How does one think of doing that? And then decide it's a good way to raise money? She had all the props - including a soundtrack. Sylvia wondered if maybe she was in circus school.