Day 148 (November 17): An unpredictable success

We aimed for a restorative weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) we let the kids spend as much time as they wanted on their screens, which was pretty much all day. We left the apartment at about 7 for a recommended steakhouse, expecting to beat the crowds. It didn't happen (90 minute wait). We regrouped and walked about half a mile for another steakhouse but the line was visible from a block away. We retreated to a casual joint we had just passed. Surprisingly, "Henri Bar" was not French but Italian so our kids got butter noodles, just as they hoped.

It was a lesson in accepting the failure of Plan A, which we did with aplomb. We were rewarded after dinner with an ice cream shop that had popsicles decorated as characters (batman, wonder woman) and emoji's. Huge win.

The Emoji Popsicles on display at Arkyn Helados

The dinner plan failed but the night ended happily (a lesson)

This picture disgusts me, I cannot lie.

Today, we took some advice and headed to a venue called Centro Cultural Kirchner, which is a palace converted to an arts venue. The visual arts exhibition is an Argentinian artist, Julio Le Parc. His art is vibrant and sometimes kinetic and we were advised that the kids would enjoy it.

Centro Cultural Kirchner

In the main atrium of CCK

The same, from below.

Immediately, we found the fourth floor of the palace had been designed by the artist to provide children with an interactive experience. A video I watched before going told me that Le Parc believes in breaking down the wall between artist and viewer and here it was manifest. The kids were immediately hooked.

I didn't note the title of the work but I'll call it "punching bags"

Seats on springs. The kids were in love.

In this installation, you throw nerf balls at various shapes. Uncle Sam is the most conspicuous (to me).

A large soft rubber ball on a tether above tilting tiles.

Seriously, Henry was encouraged to punch the art.

When we arrived in the traditional galleries on the sixth floor, we had to wait in line for 10 or maybe 15 minutes and I thought we were going to have to leave. Naturally, the children were listless and there was really nothing to offer them.

The first gallery provided exactly the experience you might expect: we shushed the children and scolded them for getting too close to the art. But who can blame them? It's colorful and so tactile, with the depth of oil paint, that it definitely calls for close inspection or more.

But the second gallery gave us our opportunity. Here were sculptures, including one called "Towards the light" that immediately captivated the kids. Ali and Cate reacted by dancing in the spotlights to create silhouettes, which I think the artists might actually like. Then out come the sketch pads, pencils and markers. They were enthralled!

Julio Le Parc's "Towards the Light." Ali Makler's ballet.

Cate and Ali at work in the gallery. The staff were surprisingly supportive of them taking over the floor space.

But the third gallery was the centerpiece with several installations of passive kinetic sculpture.

Ali drawing the "reflectiveness"

Here is Lily walking behind a series of mirrors hung like Venetian blinds in front of a red diamond.

We though we were done but the fourth gallery had some striking installations, this time actively kinetic (generally with simple motorized arms manipulating ribbons of thin metal).

And, finally, the fifth gallery had Le Parc's most recognizable brightly colored paintings. They were dynamic enough to engage our kids, who were seemingly done with the art thing several rooms earlier. Truly, these painting seem to be in motion. The oil is thick: you can see the peak of each dollop. The kids had marvelous explanations for some of them, too. And they wanted pictures so that they could try to draw them later. I've never wanted a gift shop more to buy the catalog but alas!

If you read about Le Parc, you'll learn of his fascination with the convergence of math, physics and art.

Ali loved this wall.

Henry and Lily explained that this represented how their energy was square and sad on one side, being sucked up in to the machine, and colorful and excited, as it came out of the machine on the other side. That I saw it the opposite seems fascinating, at least to me.

Henry wanted to stay longer to draw this one. I agreed to photograph it so he could draw it later.

As an afterthought, I was in a car on the way back to the apartment with Henry, Ali and Cate when we stopped at a traffic signal. "Dad, there's the same scuplture, 'Towards the Light'!" Henry was right. A copy of the same sculpture is on display on the grounds of another art museum in the city and Henry recognized it in a flash.

There's just no way we could have predicted that a trip to an art exhibit was going to be so engaging for the kids, especially as tired as they are.