Outcome

I'd been looking forward to today's visit to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg for several days -- not only because I know from past visits that it is a fantastic and fascinating collection, and not only because the new building (opened 1-11-11) had rave reviews, but because they had a special event on the first Wednesday of the month, "Coffee witha Curator." I've been fascinated by the role of the curator for some time -- well, since I started on my graphic novel -- and here was an opportunity to hear about the work.

WRONG

The curator giving today's talk, a senior person at the museum, read his speech on "Dali's mustache" word for word (except for the umpteen ums throughout), forgot to advance the slides, and never once made eye contact with anyone. No invitation to ask questions; barely a "thank-you" in the same monotone at the end. If he'd been in my undergraduate class he would have been sent for extra coaching -- immediately. What terrible publicity for the museum to the standing room only crowd!

Afterwards we used headsets (free!) for a different sort of curated introduction to selected paintings throughout the collection. What a difference! This was interesting; about the painting, and with insights into Dali and his life provided by with different people with special connections to the particular painting.

No photos of artworks allowed; instead here are some of the posters available in the (extensive) giftshop. And some pictures of the building and staircase.

On reflection, the man giving the talk was an example of an "old-fashioned" (classic?) curator, very scholarly, but with no connection to the people who come to view the works he has selected. I need to find someone else to talk to.