The National Museum of Scotland has
been a long time favourite of mine, from before it was even called this and had
fish in a huge pond in the atrium (I miss the fish!). It is rare when I am in Edinburgh that I don’t
walk up the hill and over the bridge to spend a little bit of time there and
each time I find something different.
This visit, I ended up exploring the
early history of Scotland and got rather excited by some of the shapes and
patterns of the items on display, particularly the carved stones and
pottery.
Some of the metalwork was incredibly
impressive too.
I’m sure I’ve wandered through this
part of the museum before, but I had never noticed the Andy Goldsworthy
installations in the galleries. A
lovely, helpful guard took me round all of them when he saw I was interested
and as they have been there since this part of the museum opened I must have
seen them on another visit, but they hadn’t caught my eye before. Perhaps it was because they just fitted in so
perfectly with the early history items on display; they complemented them so
well. It is a fantastic idea juxtaposing
the ancient and modern in the same space in a museum. It makes you reconsider both the old and the
new.
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I do like Andy Goldsworthy’s work;
his fantastic use of basic materials, often highlighting the fleeting nature of
life and its beautiful moments. I love
how these installations don’t fight with the museum artefacts; they don’t shout
for attention because they are new, but blend into the gallery, adding to the
ambience. This doesn’t make them
unimportant though as they really enhance the viewing experience, which is perhaps
what art should be about?
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