Experience Reading (without actually having to read) By Ebie Quinn

            The MASS MoCA is my favorite museum experience to date. It is completely modern and features absolutely no historic pictures. MASS MoCA’s history spans for over two hundred years. It has been around through economic, industrial, and architectural development that has been a part of industrialism in New England. It is approximately 13 acres and it is made up of 19th century factory buildings. MASS MoCA is located in North Adams, Massachusetts.

            MASS MoCA is unique and interactive, there is no potential for boredom. Each exhibit is in a different medium and fills up the space differently. Some exhibits include Bibliothecaphilia, Plastic Fantastic, Paper Chorus, It’s only Human, and The Octagon Room. Each exhibit attempts to convey different ideas about humans, society, and nature. Many exhibits contain 3d works of art. I found the exhibits to be fantastic, although I had difficulty following the flow of the museum. It might have just been the way I walked through, but there didn’t appear to be an obvious traceable pattern. But as I said, that could have just been me. Despite the lack of fluidity overall, there was a lot of fluidity in each exhibit. The messages were usually pretty clear, and when they weren’t, the labels helped to explain things.

            I really appreciated a piece in Bibliothecaphilia in particular. The goal of bibliothecaphilia was to explore whether or not the physical and philosophical spaces of libraries remain relevant. It asked questions l

ike, what qualities define a library, and can libraries exist online, or be made up of things other than books? I liked a 3d “scene” or installation created by Jena Priebe. It explored the relationship between the reader, the place they are reading in, and the book itself.  It consisted of a blue arm chair, a foot rest, a lamp, a rug and a book. The blue chair with the foot rest is set up on top of the rug and next to the brightly colored lamp. It looks like an average room. On the foot rest a book sits lying open. Out of it, the pages erupt everywhere, unfurling in all directions. There are long strings of pages that seen to defy the laws of physics, curling up in the air and back down. The entire scene is encapsulated by the pages. Her work blurs the boundary between the physical book i.e. the pages, and the reader’s mental experience of the text. When reading, the contents of the story literally take over your mind, becoming larger than life. This piece portrayed books as an escape from reality, the stories overflowing out of the books filled with ideas. This exhibit spoke to my personal love of reading, and was a testament to my experience as a reader. I’m sure it resonated with many other people’s experiences as well.

            I found that this museum was very visually interesting and thought provoking and I highly recommend it to people of all ages. Even children can appreciate the colors and textures and some of the less complex ideas that Mass MoCa has to offer. If given the chance, defiantly make sure to check it out.