A few weeks ago on a rainy day we went to the Ashmolean with my fiance to look around a bit. We used to pop in there during lunch breaks with a philosopher friend for a 30 minutes walk&talk session where we would pick a topic - say why teaching poetry makes sense - and debate that. The surroundings are really conducive to good conversation as well as for admiration or thinking about something alone.
This time we had a look at the section of old musical instruments, among them a Stradivarius. There was also an ongoing exhibition - a specially commissioned work that responds to the collection held by the Ashmolean - by Elizabeth Price. The piece is a video installation: it points out wonderful parallels between the core areas that were of importance and interest for people both in ages long ago and today. The video follows wonderfully both how the Cretan city of Knossos was constructed, and how it was discovered and restored thousands of years later. The video is well cut, accompanied by dramatic music and captivating narration.
I especially liked the bits which focused on the needs of the people who designed Knossos: how they built the buildings with the need for water, for sleeping places, for keeping everyday object and keeping festive objects in place, and how they had the need to decorate their bedrooms with soothing, beautiful paintings. There is a picture of an animal calmly sleeping next to a pond. The vulnerability of the being in the painting laying there, relaxed, at peace echoed the need we all have sometimes to see something calming, beautiful, or cheerful - be that a child, the sunshine, our house, a friend, or a landscape.
All in all, it is an excellent installation. I can only recommend it. We were happy that we went and paid our regular visit to the Ashmolean.
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