Art Restores Balance
Last time we wrote, you know we were suffering from a bit of seasickness, over-swankification on this ship and a general sense of dis-ease. We were trying to get our groove back.
Interestingly, we’ve now become shipboard art fanatics. It’s actually just what we needed to restore a sense of balance.We appreciate art, in general, but we never seem to give it the attention it deserves. Being on this ship for a couple of weeks, we have sort of fell into exploring the art in our quest to find away-from-the-crowds experiences.
In doing so, we learned that this cruise line, Celebrity, prides itself on the Celebrity Art Collection assembled for each ship. Apparently, the collection on each vessel houses some big names in addition to emerging talent. There’s even some Lichtenstein’s on here.
The theme of the art on our ship is balance, harmony and the principle of yin-yang. The ship’s art first caught our attention one day walking the stairs (we have a no elevator rule on ships). The opposing forces that the collection attempts to convey started to jump out at us.
First, we noticed what we would later learn was described as art depicting the struggle between man and nature.
As well as a big/small installation.
Wandering around, we also found incredible art depicting the cyclical, soothing nature of changing seasons.
Video art demonstrating the often oppositional relationship between ink and liquid.
We even stumbled across an entire room dedicated to an installation urging passengers to examine what separates an art experience (the installation itself) from an everyday experience (the fact that this is “just a room”).
We were pretty wowed as we started to uncover all of this. Most noteworthy is the fact that it got us out of our heads long enough to do exactly what it’s intended to do. And, crazily enough, exactly what we needed.
This art inspired balance in two guys who were feeling out of whack.
Mojo restored, we’re ready to conquer the rest of this voyage.
Such a cool post! I sort of famously hated being on a cruise — and got off early, not an easy feat, I tell you. But the ship blew my mind! I also knew someone who worked on building it… I am so happy to see some of that type of work highlighted.
One day, we are going to get that entire story out of you.
A cruise ship is the last place I would have expected to find interesting artwork. I would have expected it to be cheap artwork from a discount store from the ’80s, maybe. I love that last piece.
We were very surprised. Lots of cool art all over the ship. First time in a long time that we really dug in and took time to learn about the art around us. Reignited our interest in art and people’s ability to produce these things.
Good luck with not getting seasick for the rest of the trip. I never thought that there would be such an extensive art collection on a cruise ship!
Thanks, James. The seasickness actually passed pretty quickly.
It’s good to know there is something on cruise ships besides buffets, loud music, and bingo. Big cruise ships really aren’t our thing, but we do love art.
Very interesting! It’s great how cruise ships are offering more and more to their passengers in order to keep them entertained. I love the idea of a floating art gallery.
The art collection on the ship really raised the bar because it intended to get a reaction out of passengers – to make them think. Most art in public places (outside of galleries, etc.) strives to be neutral so as not to offend anyone.
That is quite good. Would not have expected it on a cruise ship.
What fascinating works of art on the cruise! I loved that ink one the most, very beautiful…
Enjoy your trip guys:)
I think that this is a perfect offer not only for those who like art but also for those that are not so acquainted with it. It is great how someone has jumped into that idea:)
That’s really cool!! There really IS something for everyone!