Toronto Royal Ontario Museum | ?m | ?s | Daniel Libeskind

... in fact, finally seeing the interior space has moved me to finally acquire a ROM membership. I want to be able to use the ROM as a place to spend time in at my leisure when I feel like it.

I don't want to lead this discussion into something other than construction updates so if you have some advice on which membership I should be looking at, please offer it on this thread.
 
I will make it my personal mission to ensure no right angles are involved in this structure.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
This project is truly audacious - comparable to the New City Hall. Let it be over-budget - it's clearly worth it.

re: Swarovski chandelier

There is a small, highly stylized rendering available on the ROM website:

http://www.rom.on.ca/news/releases/public.php?mediakey=zkme3175nz

AoD
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Has Liebskind commissioned special pieces of furniture and lighting for his other projects too? If not, this could become known as one of his more interesting projects overall.

I have to admit...the different shades of cladding area really starting to grow on me...really adds some texture.
 
The exterior, IMO, is a lost cause, but I'm far, far, far more concerned about the interior...that's where the important stuff is. I won't know until it's open to the public...I'm certainly not relying on press articles and the opinion of cultural yesmen like babel.
 
Mongo: Don't forget that renovations to the existing buildings have already given us several new galleries - and more exhibits - even before the Crystal opens.

And exhibits in the Crystal and those other galleries will be rotated, bringing more artifacts out of storage, so the benefits of more display space are greater than might be immediately apparent.

....................

Quite a lot has been published about the ROM's various collections over the years. Books and exhibition catalogues can be picked up in local bookstores, or bought on eBay. Although there hasn't been a Textile Gallery at the museum for decades, for instance, any member of the public with a genuine interest in the subject matter and an enquiring mind can get a pretty good idea what to expect when it re-opens without having to be spoonfed.
 
Sorry, urban shocker, what I said came out much harsher than I wanted it to...I just want to experience the final finished interior of the reno'd ROM without the bias of ROM insiders, or stuff published by ROM insiders.
 
Good idea. Get to know the artifacts on display. They belong to all of us, collectively, and we each have an opportunity to interpret them as we wish, deal with them on our own terms, and fit them into the unique mythologies of our lives.

My partner loved the serenity of the Chinese temple frescoes in the Bishop White Gallery, so when I sit there and look at them I see what he saw. But they might leave other people cold. Rocks and crystals, on the other hand, do little for me, but many visitors love them. Everyone can mine the museum's collections for something of meaning. I think that by concentrating on displaying the objects themselves, rather than setting up Disneyfied interpretations of them, the museum is trying to create a sense of wonder that you can only get from the real thing.
 
The bottom line for me is that as much of the ROM's collections should be displayed as possible, consistent with modern display standards. There are very significant collections that have not been displayed in decades, due to lack of exhibit space. One example out of many is the ROM's collection of precambrian fossils, probably the second most important collection of its type in the world (after the one owned by the American Museum of Natural History), which was last seen in public in the 1970s.

Are there any numbers on the percent increase in exhibit space this expension will provide?

Bill
 
The Canadian Indian collection was in storage for decades until the new gallery opened a year and a half ago; I came here in 1970 and can barely remember having seen any of it it before. Same thing with the new textile gallery that will open in the Crystal - I'm not sure if I've ever seen any of it.

They recently bought some beautiful trilobites from Russia, specifically for display purposes. They're awesome little critters, goodness knows how many millions of years old ...
 
Mongo:

One example out of many is the ROM's collection of precambrian fossils, probably the second most important collection of its type in the world (after the one owned by the American Museum of Natural History), which was last seen in public in the 1970s.
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Quibble - the collection of Burgess Shale specimens are from the Cambrian period, not pre-Cambrian, and that a small portion of them were actually on display at two display cases in front of the dinosaur gallery prior to its' closure for renovation; also, the world largest collection of the said fossils are at Smithsonian's, not AMNH in New York.

babel:

The ROM have been shopping for triolbytes from Morocco as well - and they are amazing. Apparently there will be an entire section of the new life galleries devoted to them.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Quibble - the collection of Burgess Shale specimens are from the Cambrian period, not pre-Cambrian, and that a small portion of them were actually on display at two display cases in front of the dinosaur gallery prior to its' closure for renovation; also, the world largest collection of the said fossils are at Smithsonian's, not AMNH in New York.
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D'oh! I know they are, I don't know what I was thinking when I posted earlier. I was just not paying attention to what I was typing, I guess.

Still, the point stands. The ROM is a treasurehouse of important collections, much of which has been out of view for far too long.

Bill

edit The ROM actually does have a small but important Ediacaran collection too -- I recall seeing it in the mid-70's, but it has not been publicly displayed since, to my knowledge.
 
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