A Taste of Culture in Brisbane

DAY: 13
LOCATION: Brisbane

Pop quiz! Amy has one full day to spend in Brisbane. What does she do?
A) Chill at the pool and order take-out. She’s tired of all that sightseeing, yo.
B) The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. GF needs some one-on-one with a kanga.
C) Yoga, biking, museums, and vegan food, obvs.

If you guessed C, you’re right, and I’m becoming far too predictable. But in cities, those are the things that most interest me. Sorry not sorry. To be fair, I did consider B, because I did want to see kangaroos and koalas (who doesn’t?), but I still couldn’t figure out if it was ethical or not. I know they’re rescued, and sanctuaries can do a lot to help the animals, but something about paying to hold a koala felt a bit… escort-y.

Anyway, I started the day with a short boat taxi from Teneriffe to Bulimba to experience Inna Bliss. This yoga studio’s name is no joke – I felt glorious through the whole practice. Maybe it was the teacher, or maybe my Travel State of Mind, but I was definitely tapping into the good stuff.

After a shower and quick breakfast, I got back on the city bike and crossed the river again to the West End. I docked it along the South Bank and strolled through the public gardens and past the Streets Beach. Now this looked more like Vegas: a crowded man-made, inner-city “beach.” I passed on taking a swim, although I did dig the price of admission – free.

Happily, the museums cost the same thing. This was something I really appreciated about Australia (and also in London). Lots of cultural activities to do around the city on little or no budget.* I visited the Gallery of Modern Art first, because that was Brittany’s top rec.

I could see why. I know I said I didn’t care for modern art, but a girl can change her mind. I kind of loved everything that was happening here. From the very first room, the works on display triggered brain expansion on par with the massive neural-like clusters of Tomas Saraceno’s Biospheres.

Here’s a short run-down of my faves:

• Anthony McCall’s Crossing: with only haze, a projector, and sound, it manages to transport you into another dimension. It made me question how light and space work together to form our perceptions.
• Timo Nasseri’s Epistrophy VI: a stainless steel ode to muqarnas, the Islamic decorative devices that baffled mathematicians until the 1970s with their complexity. Another indicator that the past is not necessarily what it seems, and an argument for progress being a myth (cyclical version of time, loss of ancient wisdom, etc).
• Shoppy’s Mirror Mirror: this children’s exhibit horrified me, with it’s Gordon Gecko-like proclamation that “vanity is good.” It straight up looked like Alice in Wonderland in there. I fear for Generation Selfie.
• Anish Kapoor’s Void: I stared at this dark blue curved sculpture until my mind played tricks on me. Who need drugs when you’ve got art? Reminded me of some Zen paintings I’d studied in school whose whole purpose is to get you to ponder the unsolvable until BOOM! You’ve got enlightenment!

Anyway, I could go on and on, with the dinosaur bones strapped to office furniture, the breast bean bag chairs meant to reconnect you to the maternal, the poor dying elephant and seal balancing a piano (not real, PETA activists). But I’ll just describe one last one, my absolute favorite from all of the museums I’d been to so far.

-Angelica Mesiti’s Citizens Band: a collection of four videos, played alternately on four different screens in a square, each featuring a migrant performing their traditional music in their new setting. By the time I’d finished watching each of these unique individuals delivering their soul through their instruments, I was a puddle on the floor. It yanked me right out of the cerebral and blasted open my heart. It was one of the most beautiful displays of humanity I’d ever seen captured on film. So raw and vulnerable. Right to the core of displacement and resilience.

“Astounding, isn’t it?” The woman next to me offered out a tissue. I nodded, not able to summon words quite yet. She got up and followed the others out of the room. I wanted to tell her to come back, to call out to the others “Wait!!” – but then what would I say? It was one piece in a museum, there was more to see, more to do, more texts to send and meals to eat. The truth of impermanence seized me once again. I dried my eyes and continued with the exhibit.

But it stayed with me the rest of the day. I felt it in the West End, while eating cannelloni at Vege Rama, and chatting with the Irish ice cream vendor at a vegan street market. I felt it while visiting the Queenland Art Gallery, and seeing the work of the aboriginals. I felt it sitting at the Nepal Peace Pagoda, and eating curry at Taj Mahal Indian Cuisine. I saw it everywhere I looked – the uniqueness of the individual, and the universal of the human condition. For the first time in awhile, I felt nothing but tenderness for all the people of the world.

• The more I think about this, though, the more I wonder if it’s to enforce the dominant cultural belief system. Here, come to this free exhibit so we can condition you even more! And with all of the looted treasures on display? Might as well be saying Hey look! We won! Hahaha! Especially since parts of the non-western world don’t even have a word for art, because for them it’s all sacred, it doesn’t have to be behind glass to have elevated value and meaning. And can you imagine what some of those uber religious masters would think of their holy works being greeted with selfie sticks?? Sacre bleu! But then, I still believe in the role of art and the artist in critiquing society. It’s pretty much what I’ve devoted my whole life to, these forms of storytelling. I believe that symbols and story can help us access greater truths about ourselves and the world (also greater fictions). And Lord knows I’d much rather have the creations of humanity visible and public for everyone to see rather than shut off in some bazillionaire’s private collection. Anyway, it’s complicated up here in Amy’s brain.