aga

"You're a bad lever!  BAAD!"

~ Paul responds to the sign "Depress lever to exit" (in his Marvin voice)

"The grid-like beams echo Edmonton's grid roadway system, and the fluid band the North Saskatchewan river..."

I looked, and all I could think of was "Spaceship".  A purple light* shining from the inside only enhanced this (reactor core?).  And at any point when I looked up or down I felt like I was floating. 

The fish bones of the from over a year ago have been covered and covered by steel and glass.  The AGA was officially opened!  Paul and I were among the 10,000 lucky people to get a free grand opening ticket. 

It was extremely busy but orderly too.  I had originally thought the ticket was going to only get us a brief viewing of the building, but instead, there were exhibits in place, and we were allowed to visit. 

The first on the tour (on the third floor) was The Murder of Crows.  Chairs were set up in a semi-circle surrounding one megaphone, with 97 other speakers placed at different points in the room.  Each speaker was supposedly playing a different track.  The effect was haunting - we had stepped into the exhibit just when a classical chorale piece played.  A different voice came out from each speaker - as we wandered through it was like walking among a singing choir. 

We next visited the Storm Room (by the same artists of The Murder Crows) which simulated a room in Japan during a rain storm.  Inside the wooden box one really felt like we were somewhere else.  There were sounds of rain (water pumps in the walls), buckets catching drips from the ceiling, and crashes of thunder (which made me start). 

Our hour visit was up, but they didn't kick us out.  We blended into another group and saw the Karsh** photo exhibit (lots of portrait photography for me to learn), the Edgar Degas: Figures in Motion, paintings and sculptures of horses and dancers, and finally the Goya (which I knew nothing about). 

I'm sure we could have spent even more time there examining the pieces, but we'd already been greedy and taken 2 hours.  And my feet hurt. 

Will definitely have to go back.  Maybe someone will hold a special event there? 

* The guide also mentioned this light could be changed to almost any colour (to match a wedding or party colour scheme no doubt).

** Paul commented that Karsh seemed to have taken photos of everyone.  I was surprised that iconic images of Churchill and Audrey Hepburn were his too.