Computational Linguists Do It Bottom Up (Solomon R Guggenheim Museum)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Solomon R Guggenheim Museum
Date:	16/11/01 (56 review reads)
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... as my lecturer once famously said. True it may be, but sometimes it's not the best solution.

As part of my Computational Linguistics course, I have spent a lot of time discussing the advantages and disadvantages of top down and bottom up processing. There are certain circumstances in which top down is not the way to go - with recursion for example, if you go top down left to right you'll find your program never ends, which is not exactly helpful.... There are many more examples, but I'll stop there since most of you will have no idea what I'm talking about. What I will say is that this applies to the Guggenheim, but in reverse if you see what I mean. Top down is the only way to go. Allow me to explain....

The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum has a slightly unusual structure to say the least. It is basically coil shaped, like an ice cream cone, getting wider as you go up. Note the up - the pathways are slanted slightly so as you go round you also change level so you can go on forever, or at least until the building runs out. This is where the top down approach comes in. Most people go in and pay, and then start walking upwards. By the time they get to the top they begin to regret this, and realise they should have done what I and a few others (who had probably read the same guide book that recommended doing so) did - take the lift to the top floor and start there, letting gravity give you a helping hand on the way down.

Now you know the best way to see the works on display, so all that's left now is to let you know whether or not it's worth bothering going in the first place.

There are two Guggenheims in New York, but he one I, like most people, went to was the main one in the Upper East Side. For details of the SOHO one, and details of those in Spain, Germany, Italy and, erm, Las Vegas, check out the official website : www.guggenheim.org

Opening Hours
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Museum Hours
<
br>SUN–WED, 9 AM–6 PM

Closed THURS

FRI–SAT, 9 AM–8 PM

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Museum Shop Hours

SUN–WED, 9:30 AM–6:30 PM

THURS, 10 AM–6 PM (how can there be demand for the shop to open when the museum doesn't? What sort of people do the shop and not the works themselves???)

FRI–SAT, 9:30 AM–8:30 PM



Entrance Fees (as of November 2001)
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Adults $15

Students and Seniors (with valid ID) $12

Children under 12 Free




Visitors
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Quite a wide range, from art connoisseur types to foreign tourists “doing” New York to families who bring their kids for a little culture and the fun of running up and down spiral walkways.




Displays
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There are two types of displays – permanent ones in the annexes off the Rotunda, and temporary ones in the main entrance hall and on the pathways up the spiral. At the moment they have an exhibition of Brazilian art and jewellery along with their usual collection of Picassos and Manets and Legers. To be honest, the layout of the building was better than anything else – gorgeous wooden floors and sparkling white walls complemented the beautifully designed roof (the work of Frank Lloyd Wright) more than any of the art pieces did.



Getting There
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Situated to the East of Central Park, the museum is easy to get to. The nearest subway is 86th Street which is served by lines 4, 5 and 6. Busses M1, M2, M3 and M4 to Fifth Avenue are also available. If you’re driving, there are a number of carparks in the vicinity, including one on 89th which offers discounts to Guggenheim visitors on production of a validated Guggenheim ticket stub.




Extras
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There
are toilets on every “floor” but these are scarily large – basically whole rooms with just a little loo in the corner. On the ground floor to the left of the ticket office is a quite extensively stocked shop which offers, among other things, notebooks and t-shirts emblazoned with “Guggenheim Bilbao”….. They have items to do with temporary exhibits too, which often museums do not, and I bought my sister a Brazilian Christmas present while I was there. There is a restaurant and a Café, both on the ground floor too, but I didn’t venture inside, preferring instead to grab a Pretzel from one of the vendors outside.


You might have noticed how little I wrote about the displays and this reflects what I though – in other words I wasn’t all that impressed. This place is supposed to have “one of the world’s finest art collections” but if it did then they kept it well hidden…. I’m glad I went but it definitely wouldn’t be a visit I’d wish to repeat again soon - $12 not well spent in my opinion.

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