The trouble with living in a high culture vacuum

is that whenever anything of vague significance takes place, the whole town flocks to see it. This past Sunday, I joined other fellow sheep citizens to see Picasso's Parade, a mofo-sized three-storey-tall painting (or rather, to put it correctly, a ballet theatre screen) , the artiste's largest known work, displayed in all places, at the IFC mall next to a bunch of high end cosmetics and fashion stores. (Seeing how the average HKer never sets foot in a local musuem, wouldn't it make more sense to display it at a newish mall that needs a major attraction?)

Word had it that Pompidou only shows the work once in 20 years, and never before had it been shown in Asia. The queues were long. The tickets for a guided tour were sold out through Monday. The popularity of the event raised my expectations.

I was quickly disappointed. The work is far from Picasso's best; inspite of its size it's definitely no Guernica. It looked like the work of a starving artist, trying to earn some extra pocket money. (Though Picasso couldn't have been too starved, since this was his Rose Period.) The fact that I had to elbow through crowds of people just to see the bloody painting didn't exactly enhance my art-appreciation mood. Everyone had their cell phones and digicams out, snapping away. (Wouldn't a Picasso make a great cell phone wallpaper?) Security guards yelling at people taking pictures with flash.

Damn, have some respect for art people!

Heck, I'm a tourist too.
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The Andrei Tarkovsky Filmfest is on.
And it conveniently coincides with Christie's auctions, the only time that I'd be really busy during my internship. Hope I won't be too dead after work to catch this.