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Buffalo, New York
And they were beautiful some time ago but time keeps rolling us on
I have not been everywhere (nor do I imagine or even desire that I ever will be), but I have been to enough places in the United States that I often feel the need to justify a return trip back to somewhere I have already been. For example, I have already been to Buffalo twice before, and the last time was only five years ago to see a Sabres game during the last gasp of winter, when the lake wasn’t frozen but parts of it certainly were. Since that chilly visit I had been openly planning this return. As to how I plan to justify this return visit, well, more about that later.
We’ll start the Buffalo pictures downtown on Main Street, as good a place to start as any. Buffalo was once the 15th most populous city in the country (thanks, Wikipedia), but since topping off in 1950, almost half of the people have left. It is now 81st on that list, behind Anchorage, Jersey City and Reno but still ahead of Lubbock and St Petersburg (thanks again, Wikipedia). Even on a weekday, downtown had a bit of an abandoned feel to it with a lot of empty storefronts and not all that many people. A real shame, because all around there were lots of really nice buildings, all patiently waiting for all those people to return.
Buffalo has a rail line that starts as a underground subway and ends up downtown as street running light rail. I parked at the last stop (University) and rode almost its entire length specifically to visit this building, Buffalo City Hall. The building is pretty impressive both outside and inside, although its best feature is probably up on top. Buffalo City Hall has a free observation deck with views under a perfect blue sky as far as you can see, everything from towers with Statues of Liberties on top, to the vast expanse of western New York, to the lake and even to Canada, which is just on the other side of the river.
A quick review of this picture might give away the fact that this slideshow is not strictly presented in chronological order. Instead, we’re skipping ahead a day or two and replacing that perfect blue sky with one that is a little more rainy.
Despite the rain (which was off and on and off again), I boarded a tour boat that mostly stayed on Buffalo’s river (which is creatively named the Buffalo River) before briefly peeking out onto Lake Erie. The river was actually quite fascinating- Buffalo’s location led to the need for (and development of) grain elevators, and the river is lined with an impressive collection of them, although many are unfortunately sitting empty waiting for someone to figure out what to do with them next.
The skies have cleared (or I’m messing with the slideshow’s chronological order again, either could be true) and finally, fourteen pictures in, we get to one of the reasons that I went back to Buffalo. On my last visit five years ago, I stopped by the Albright-Knox Gallery, a museum with a surprisingly strong art collection for a smaller city. Since my last visit, the Albright-Knox has rebranded itself as the AKG Art Museum, and added an addition by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA (Rem Koolhaas’ firm), which features a brand new building where the old parking lot once stood.
The new building has a pretty interesting design, something you might already be expecting knowing it was designed by OMA. The galleries are in the middle in a great big box, surrounded by angled glass walls that contain a stair and also periphery double height galleries and a cafe. It certainly was interesting and well done, although my pilgrimage all the way back to Buffalo and all the way back to the AKG Art Museum wasn’t really because of the addition. More about the real reason later.
The new addition is connected to the old one through a sinuous glass bridge that weaves around trees and feels totally unnecessary in the best possible way. It certainly was interesting and well done, although my pilgrimage all the way back to Buffalo and all the way back to the AKG Art Museum wasn’t really because of this awesome glass bridge. More about the real reason later.
This is Common Sky by Olafur Eliasson, installed in a previously open courtyard in the Gordon Bunshaft designed addition at the AKG Art Museum. This is the reason I went back to Buffalo.
If you have read all of the slideshows so far (hey, I guess anything is possible), there is a decent amount of foreshadowing that might have led you to guess that this trip was focused on an Olafur Eliasson art pilgrimage. This is not my first trip to see one of his works. I have travelled to see those walk through color walls in Kanazawa (see Watch your step along the arch of glass), the even more intense walk through color walls in Aarhus (see If there is a dark that we shouldn't doubt, and if there is a light, don't let it go out), his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (see Lately I'm a desperate believer walking in a straight line), the insane indoor riverbed in Louisiana (see Speak to me and don't speak softly), waterfalls in New York Harbor (see Showed no fear, she'd seen the thing at the young men’s wing at Sloan Kettering), a waterfall outside the Tate Modern (see But all of these dreams keep coming back to me slowly, slowly) and a waterfall at Versailles (see Life was leisure, learning French words, staying in white rooms without any style), among others. So when I learned that the (relatively) nearby AKG Art Museum was about to get its own Olafur Eliasson installation, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I found myself back in Buffalo.
As for Common Sky, it was really impressive and, like (just about) everything I have ever seen from Olafur Eliasson, I really enjoyed experiencing it in person. I saw it under that perfect blue sky, and loitered in the courtyard for just about as long as I could. If I lived in Buffalo, I would make it a point to experience this space under as many sky conditions as I could. I would love to see it under a sunset, or during a thunderstorm, under a deep blue sky at civil twilight, under fast moving clouds on a partly sunny day or even to see what it is like under one of those lake effect snowstorms. But I don’t live in Buffalo (those lake effect snowstorms are just not appealing), so I’ll just have to hope that the next time I justify a trip to Buffalo that the sky once again does its best to make an already spectacular and special space even more spectacular and even more special.
We’ll end our visit to the AKG Art Museum by focusing on just a few of the artworks from its surprisingly strong collection. If you have read all of the slideshows so far (hey, I guess anything is possible), then you know I like to rank my favorite museums. The list shifts around a lot, although it always includes MoMA in New York, the Tate Modern, the Pompidou and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The fifth spot seems to shift between MASS MoCA, the Hirshhorn, the Broad and SFMOMA, depending on wherever I visited most recently. If I was to start a list that focused just on smaller cities, the AKG Art Museum in Buffalo would be at or near the top, along with the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City. After that things get tricky. How do I define a small city, am I thinking of the building or the art or both, and can I really keep the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (which is the 46th largest city in the US- thanks again, Wikipedia) on the main list or do I need to move it to a smaller cities list instead. Maybe we should just take a break from all this unnecessary overthinking and instead take a minute or two to appreciate the art. Whether it is a scribbled on picture of a local natural wonder, an ominous countdown or even a terrifying face with extra eyeballs, the AKG Art Museum in Buffalo has something for everyone.
