Today we stayed in Glasgow, sticking to the same streets and general area as yesterday. Fortunately, Glasgow is large enough, and jam-packed-with-cultural-things-to-do enough, that this didn’t pose us any issues at all.
We took some time first thing to visit the two closest train stations to learn more about the ScotRail system and determine the best way to get to Edinburgh. The staff at both stations we visited were incredibly helpful, and we now know that our best option is to just buy a day pass when we need it.
Fact-finding complete, we visited our first major venue of the day, the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. This is the home of a very venerable landmark: a statue of the Duke of Wellington atop a horse, with a traffic pylon on top of his head. Apparently it was a constant prank that city officials got tired of fixing, so now he sits, permanently be-pyloned. You can even get souvenirs of the statue, pylon and all.
The gallery itself took maybe an hour to tour. We spent a good portion of that time watching Mimesis: African Soldier, a film installation interrogating the experience of soldiers of colour in WWI. The other exhibits were a bit muted in contrast, though I did have some favourites: a series of embroidery samplers with revolutionary messages, and a painting by Ciara Phillips in bright pink, where the striations of paint made me think of cut stones.
We had lunch at a tea room a short walk away from the gallery, for which I am grateful for Mr. BooksandTea’s indulgence. I would be remiss if, as someone who started this blog as a tea review site, I did not have some sort of dainty tea service while I was here, and now I can cross that off the to-do list.
Now it’s time for me to talk about the most remarkable, unsettling part of the day: Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre.
Imagine a series of figurines made of carved wood and scrap metal, connected to gears and cranks and bells and wires, all connected to other figurines. Imagine these same creations – part puppet show, part Rube Goldberg machine, part German Expressionist fever dream – sitting under multicoloured lights, moving in time to pre-recorded music.
The result is truly odd. These things look janky as shit, but the jankiness somehow swings right around from offputting back towards being compelling. Mr. BooksandTea recently finished watching the original run of the old anthology TV show The Outer Limits, and the feeling I get from both properties is the same – like the silly special effects of a 60s sci-fi TV show, these sculptures are charmingly retro because they are handmade and feel full of pluck.