Jewish Museum and MCA

i heard about the Sydney Jewish museum & Museum of Contemporary Art MCA from jacq. finally, i manage to go to the 2 places that i always wanted to go to during the hols on the 15 jan 08. i dated Ping and we headed on to these 2 places

we stayed at the Jewish Museum at Darlinghurst till after lunch and went to have lunch at my usual thai place at Darlinghurst.


it was indeed an eye opener. entrance fee is 7 dollars for student - totally worth it. it is very nicely presented. and we join a guided tour with a holocaust survivor. she spent very little time on the culture and settlement of Jewish people in OZ.

their wedding under the symbolic canopy

the special dinner on one of their special day which i can't remember what it's called
Early Jewish settlement In George St sydney

instead, she talked most about her holocaust experience with the support of the display in the museum. all her most terror moment was in Aushwitz- the Nazi concentration and extermination camp. where one side is the gas chamber another side is factory where the workable people worked in. on arrival, the people were divided into 2 group. one will go to the gas chamber, another will go to work. She mentioned that her biggest mistake is that she didn't hold on to her mom during the division.... and thus her mom went to the gas chamber. every day working, the girls can smell the charred smell of human flesh from the incinerator. well... she's pretty luck otherwise as she reunited with her dad and bro in the end.

one part of the museum that is nicely done is the part about Millions of tears for the Jewish young kids who sufffered from the holocaust- THe Chilren's Memorial. they actually has a glass bowl full of water with droplets of water dropping from the top signifying the millions of tears shed. the colorful boxes contain the pictures of the kids.
during the time, the young, old and the weak (handicapped) were killed unquestionably. leaving the workable ones

the torture camps as red dots all over europe

this trip has definitely enriched me with more historical knowledge which i wasn't really interested during the 2nd decade of my life. surprisingly, i find myself more interested in these on my 3rd decade of life...out of my own pace instead of under the pressure of history textbk and exams. ( i think it's an age thing). at home, i went on to research more about jewish and why the race faced so much hostility since long long time ago. well, i found out that all these is becuz of the biblical teachings ( that's wat i read fr wiki. that jewish pple somehow caused the death of Jesus....thus leading the thousand years of ongoin hatred against jewish from the christian including during the Crusade.

well....i'm not sure about how the bible actually influence people or the people are juz using it as a rightful disguise for their crime...... well...if it's really the bible that affects the pple to commit those act of killing.....i seriously think that it's very sadistic & saddening......for such a sophisticated religion to culture such naive believers......

pardon if any information i stated is wrong...cuz i juz googled them so may have some fallacy.

actually i'm not allowed to take photos in the museum. but i secretly took some. and we were caught red handed by the security guard. while complimenting how nicely done the displays are that we couldn't resist taking photos :P when i ask him why.... then he said it's for security reason....well, then i think it's alright for me to take photos cuz i'm not a terrorist or neonazis or something lidat and i'm definitely not taking photos of the emergency exit and strategic location to place bomb.

the artsy pic at darlingurst i took when waiting for bus to go to circulay quay

the street performance by the aborigines which i found very interesting
the fusion of aborigine instrument and techno music
i have always wanted to post this up.

after that i went on to MCA!!!!- Musuem of Contemporary Art


in fact the weather was so hot that me and Ping bot icecream and sat at the ferry terminal to eat while watching the Mathilda cruise came and went.

again we can't take pics in the MCA & the supervision is really strict. (entrance is FREE!)

the exhibition tat left the deepest impression on me was by Shahzia Sikander- pakistani female artist. her artwork is at the groundfloor main hall -her artwork has the fusion of culture(animal, people), contemporary, girly bits of flowers, butterflies and birds and other detailed stuff such as those complicated pattern which is quite " in" now - that i think i would be really surprised if a man can do that. she actually painted the big wall at the main hall by her self

she oso made those abstract animation(which i can't really appreciate, personally i don't think it's nicely done mayb it's not her forte) as well as a video of her dancing slow contemporary move on her art piece- which captures every visitor's attention.
click here to see snippets at MCA
Shahzia Sikander homepage



Below are the closest i can found that resembles those displayed in MCA

my favorite piece is something like the above two pieces except that it's rounder in shape and more pinkish. i would like to hang it in my house....mayb next time when i became a rich woman i'll go to those art gallery or auction house to hunt for this piece :P

Pleasure Pillars , 2001
Vegetable color, dry pigment, watercolor,
ink and tea on wasli paper
12x10"
Collection of Amitta and Purnendu Chatterjee, New York

another striking one is Julie Rapp- Body Double
who uses her and other women's bodies to create an exhibition depicting her empowerment of being a woman. the most publicised piece which we can see all over sydney's bustop is the one with woman's feet growing out fleshy heels...
Overstepping 2001
MCA website

after that we went to kevin's bday dinner at Ubud restaurant (indonesian cuisine), Maroubra.
the attendee were: kevin, angel (kev's "sis"), john, jacq, imel, me
juz happen on the day, i oso received the postcard fr bro all the way fr bali, tellin me about his adventure in Ubud.
Ubud is a town on Bali island