A CULTURAL WEEKEND

It is the school holidays. There was a wedding reception to attend on Sunday in Kay-El. So the parents decided to bring the young ones to a special exhibition at the National Science Centre, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Killing two birds with a stone, so to speak. Of course this not-so-young one followed too. It turned out to be a really cultured weekend for all.

"Da Vinci, The Genius" was the special exhibition at the Science Centre. The admission charge was RM70 for family (2 adults + 2 children), Adult only RM25, RM20 for a child and RM13 for senior citizen (55 +). However, free admission for senior citizen with pension card. At that moment I thanked my pension card cause I get to enter free!

The pamphlet reads "Direct from Italy, this world acclaimed exhibition from the II Genio de Leonardo da Vinci Museo brings to life Leonardo's genius as an inventor, artist, scientist, anatomist, engineer and architect. . . . . . . . . Also including the new and revealing Secrets of the Mona Lisa . . . . . " All said and done, I find the exhibition really inspiring. I had 'known' Leonardo through my studies of the Italian Renaissance period in my early years - the many Madonnas he did, his Last Supper, his peers Michaelangelo and Raphael, and of course the famed Mona Lisa. In fact I specially visited The Louvres in Paris just to see the lady. Now here in my own land, Da Vinci's genius, more than an artist, was exposed. His many drawings done in tiny booklets (so very small!), were translated to 3D life size and some even interactive. His genius could be seen in all the areas mentioned earlier. The many wooden structures were highly crafted and I would say can be called 'Sculptures' too. I've never seen them before. And what about the Mona Lisa? I had never seen such large exposures (and there were many of them) revealing the many layers of secrets exposed by one Pascal Cotte through his revolutionary photographic technology. Her famous smile, the eyebrows, her eyes, her hands, her veil, the landscape background were 'peeled' one after another. Wow! I left the show exhilarated. That was time well spent.

From there we visited the Islamic Arts Museum with its special exhibiton "En Route To Mecca : Pilgrims' Voices Throughout The Centuries". Since the family had seen the western exhibition of Da Vinci, I thought it proper to counter it with some eastern perspective. Here too we had to pay admission fees - RM12 for Adults and RM6 for children and Senior Citizens. It is not common for Malaysians to pay for admission to exhibitons. Thus I noticed the few attendance here. I was not impressed with the exhibition mainly because of the scarse exhibits. Huge panels of write-ups were framed on the walls - which could easily be read from books. But some facts I was ignorant of - like as early as the 1920's one English lady from the nobility did perform her Haj then. Also people from unknown lands in Africa doing the Haj way back in 1900. I did enjoy seeing the very old photos of camel caravans, old jalopies, various costumes worn by the early pilgrims. However, what the family enjoyed best of all was the Museum's well-laiden Bookshop and Sovenier shop nearby. Well . . . . more shopping.