Newseum: In Words and Pictures
When Anand was here with his friend Snuggy, we spent
a few hours in the Newseum before the Pearl Jam
concert. I have been itching to write about it, and
relive the whole adrenaline rush I felt as I walked
through certain sections, especially the Pulitzer
Prize Photography Exhibit, which was emotionally
overpowering, in a way that was disturbing and
humbling at the same time.
There was a small exhibit displaying the oldest to the newest editorial cartoons and comics in a timeline fashion, which I was thrilled to see. I took a picture with the original copies for the first Yellow Kid and The Katzenjammer Kids, and saw so many of the comics that I had only read about in books about the history of comics. I am glad the newseum thought it worthwhile to dedicate a section to this art form, even though I secretly wish it were bigger.
There was a whole floor with newspapers all through time, reminding us of how far we have come in this literary genre and profession of gathering news and exposing and influencing belief systems all over the world.
We spotted the Telugu "Eenadu" newspaper on a wall that lists all the newspapers of the world. I never thought of it as a paper worth mentioning in a museum outside the country. Hey, why the heck not!
I learnt a few things about the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall in a way that I will remember for a very long time. Seeing the visuals of people escaping to west berlin from the east, of brave reporters, of photographers and fighters was moving. Here's an online exhibit on the newseum site The wall itself looked colorful. I'm told all good art comes out of bad circumstances. This could very well be an example of it.
As I felt about the Berlin Exhibit, I felt even as I walked through the 9/11 gallery, which focussed on the challenges the media faced in reporting news about the horrifying event that shook the world. Many lost their lives or live with permanent injuries.
Aside from the galleries and exhibits, we saw a collection of articles, unlike anything you will see in other museums. There was Time Magazines truck lined with bullet holes in every inch of it's body, protecting journalists as they reported news in the Balkans; there was the laptop and passport of the Wall Street Reporter Daniel Pearl who was murdered in Pakistan; there was the door that burglers taped after they broke into the watergate complex, leading to Pres.Nixon's resignation, among many others and they all felt very REAL serving as a reminder that these things REALLY happened, like they were not fictional, faraway things that don't affect us. These are real people risking their lives to report terrible events all over the world. They shape and reflect our future. By the time you walk from floor to floor, it hits you - the remarkable work, the sacrifices, the tragic events, the struggles, the humanness, the REALness of it all.
But, in all this, I feel like I only passed through the exhibits and didn't get a chance to take everything in. I am eager to go back soon, and spend a good half day, if I can just find an unhurried weekend to do it.
ps: the new NEWseum is impressive looking and worth going to just for the architecture. A $400M, 250,000-square-foot contemporary structure smack in the center of downtown DC (near the US capitol).
There was a small exhibit displaying the oldest to the newest editorial cartoons and comics in a timeline fashion, which I was thrilled to see. I took a picture with the original copies for the first Yellow Kid and The Katzenjammer Kids, and saw so many of the comics that I had only read about in books about the history of comics. I am glad the newseum thought it worthwhile to dedicate a section to this art form, even though I secretly wish it were bigger.
There was a whole floor with newspapers all through time, reminding us of how far we have come in this literary genre and profession of gathering news and exposing and influencing belief systems all over the world.
We spotted the Telugu "Eenadu" newspaper on a wall that lists all the newspapers of the world. I never thought of it as a paper worth mentioning in a museum outside the country. Hey, why the heck not!
I learnt a few things about the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall in a way that I will remember for a very long time. Seeing the visuals of people escaping to west berlin from the east, of brave reporters, of photographers and fighters was moving. Here's an online exhibit on the newseum site The wall itself looked colorful. I'm told all good art comes out of bad circumstances. This could very well be an example of it.
As I felt about the Berlin Exhibit, I felt even as I walked through the 9/11 gallery, which focussed on the challenges the media faced in reporting news about the horrifying event that shook the world. Many lost their lives or live with permanent injuries.
Aside from the galleries and exhibits, we saw a collection of articles, unlike anything you will see in other museums. There was Time Magazines truck lined with bullet holes in every inch of it's body, protecting journalists as they reported news in the Balkans; there was the laptop and passport of the Wall Street Reporter Daniel Pearl who was murdered in Pakistan; there was the door that burglers taped after they broke into the watergate complex, leading to Pres.Nixon's resignation, among many others and they all felt very REAL serving as a reminder that these things REALLY happened, like they were not fictional, faraway things that don't affect us. These are real people risking their lives to report terrible events all over the world. They shape and reflect our future. By the time you walk from floor to floor, it hits you - the remarkable work, the sacrifices, the tragic events, the struggles, the humanness, the REALness of it all.
But, in all this, I feel like I only passed through the exhibits and didn't get a chance to take everything in. I am eager to go back soon, and spend a good half day, if I can just find an unhurried weekend to do it.
ps: the new NEWseum is impressive looking and worth going to just for the architecture. A $400M, 250,000-square-foot contemporary structure smack in the center of downtown DC (near the US capitol).
