Ever notice all the things that we consider to be invaluable for their
symbolic importance or perhaps hold dearly because they may represent the
apex of some art or craft and how many of them are flawed or broken? Our
Liberty Bell comes to mind. Poor workmanship. Ironic how that should represent
Freedom. What good is a bell that can't be rung? I don't get it. There's
an enormous bell in Russia with an even worse crack, in fact it has a hole
in it big enough to walk through. The Constitution of the United States
is a rotting piece of paper housed in a gas filled hermetically sealed display
container that is actually a safe that lowers into the floor at night. If
it weren't treated thusly it would turn to dust. It simply can't be handled,
at least by anyone who happens to be in Washington DC.. It's as if by some
magic if the document were to disappear our rights and freedom would go
with it.
In the art world Venus De Milo comes next to mind. What is considered by
some to be the most beautiful rendering of the female form has no arms.
Again, I find it ironic. Perhaps it says more about men than it does women.
How many other dismembered statues are displayed in our museums. Lots of
heads with no noses. So desirable is defaced art that there are those who
are bent on damaging what isn't damaged already. So now, after physical
attacks and subsequent restoration, the Mona Lisa and the Michelangelo's
Pieta are safely behind barriers.
The Dead Sea Scrolls. They are scrapes of parchment that can barely be
read but to those of the Jewish faith they are some of the most important
writings in the world. Those who possess the scrolls, however, won't let
anybody else read them, which doesn't make any sense. If they are the most
important writings in the world everybody should read be able to read them,
right?
Even in the world of music. There's Schubert's symphony #8, the "Unfinished
Symphony". What are we saying; It's just fine the way it is? The composer
wrote it six years before he died but he died before it was finished - he
wasn't done with it! Who are we to presume it wouldn't have been better?
What about all the other symphonies that weren't completed before the artists
died? Bach's "Art of the Fugue" was never completed but it stands
as perhaps the apex of the art form.
Architecturally speaking, the Coliseum in Rome and the Parthenon in Athens
are clearly candidates for urban renewal. Heck, you could fit both of them
in the Super Dome in New Orleans. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a monument
to inept engineering living a charmed life. All over the world there are
places set aside and preserved called Ruins. These are not restored to their
former glory, no, their state of decay is preserved so that we may marvel
at the crumbling walls in awe. The only reason the Pyramids are still standing
is because they can't fall down.
Museums are warehouses where we keep old broken stuff and lots of it. Extremely
valuable or even priceless old broken stuff. A lot of it brought there by
what amounts to looting and grave-robbery. We'll never get to see most of
what museums own. It's crated away in one of their rented storage spaces.
Think about it for a minute. How would you like it if say, some Indians
or Egyptians came over here and dug up your Grandmother, numbered and cataloged
her bones, performed a battery of scientific tests, took photographs of
everything, published it in National Geographic, then crated her up and
took her back to their place and put her on a shelf in a warehouse. And
maybe you'd spot one of her heirlooms in a display case in a museum.
If you lived long enough you might see some of your garbage in a museum
of the future. As some archeologist goes digging layer by layer through
some ancient county landfill, perhaps he'll send shards of plastic back
to the museum to be reassembled.