BEIJING 2010.13

Here comes to the end of the series. Visually, this set may not be the most appealing. But this place was peculiar to me.

北京自然博物館 Beijing Natural history Museum

I always love natural history museum. The vitality of our Earth, the diversity of life forms, the wonder of creation and the mysterious evolution of life ... Amazed me. I'm obsessed with the beauty of skeletons, the structures that give shapes to different vertebrates. They are the most sophisticated sculptures.

But, visiting museums in China is quite a different experience to me. I am always distracted by the architecture of the museums, ESPECIALLY those in Communist Architectures. The scale and volume of space, the lighting, the colors, patterns and materials, even to the smallest details like conduits layout, locations of switches, window opening devices, the old heating systems ... sidetracked me. I love these details. Even every piece of "softwares", like museum staffs, layouts and presentations of each exhibit, written descriptions and the unique audio "effects" ... tells a story. It's about the history and culture of the country.

This time. My experience stretched. It's the first time I could never forget the smell of a museum. The end wall of the hall displaying dinosaur eggs was toilets. The smell of the toilets filled up the whole space ... How "casually" these precious dinosaur eggs were "strategically" located and how "casually" were the toilets (or museum) maintained. The "toilet culture" constituted and extended the unique experience of this exhibition. I never doubt our mother country has a rich collection on dinosaurs and fossils, but, the whole "package" aroused my curiosity on what're displaying in front of me ... Once, this started. It could hardly end. Then, you would suddenly find wings of some butterflies smooth like a piece of photocopy ... and more digging and gigging ... Maybe, they are genuine. But, I was bewildered.

Dinosaur eggs

首都博物館 Capital Museum

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