We are spoilt for choice in Britain with so many museums and art galleries providing free entrace to everything but some special exhibits. Hence, balking at the idea of paying to go to the Mususem of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. However my sister convinced me to go and (despite not being the biggest fan of most modern art displays).

At least, if anything, the MOMA is pretty good value also including entrance to their PS1 extension found in Long Island City, Queens. The MOMA contains about four or five floors of exhibits with plenty of rooms to walk around in. Just like most art places, unless you’re a huge fan of it, I think it’s best to go for the guided tour.

My sister found out about the very cool lecture tours conducted by a proper graduate student who talks about each of the pieces. They equipped us with modern listening devices, allowing the lecturer to speak with ease into their clip-on mike and hear her on our earpieces which we carried around. Given how popular the MOMA is and how many people somehow move in the way I really enjoyed this modern and particularly convenient touch. Our lecture took us on a “Changing Faces” tour of sculpture where we looked at pieces from multiple ages to see the progression. I liked the way that our lecturer/guide asked us on our thoughts even though she realised we didn’t really know that much about the artists or times. I liked the way that she was fine with our interpretations and comments on what we noticed most about each piece.

After the tour lasting about an hour, we walked around the rest of the exhibits. One of the “live” art pieces was a piano played from the inside as they crawl around the floor. Not quite sure what it was really trying to send as a message but entertaining when watching the crowds move with the piano from a bird’s eye view on the upper floors. I also realised walking around that I noticed many exhibits I’d seen in both London’s Tate Modern and Paris’ Pompidou Centre.