Cultural Melbourne

One of the most appealing aspects of Melbourne is its emphasis on the arts and culture. I had the pleasure of visiting the State Library of Victoria, which was a short walk from my hotel (it's interesting how everything seems like a short walk when I'm outside the US).

The Library featured a fantastic reading room with an overhead ceiling that invited sunlight to stream into the open space. I was struck by the number of young people studying in the Library, especially since I often read about the demise of libraries. These youngsters certainly had their share of electronic gadgets, but there were quite a few engaged in the satisfying act of reading a book in solitude. The magazine section with offerings from various countries and wide ranging topics provide ampled evidence of the diverse interests within Melbourne. I examined what types of job were available within the library. More than anything, I noted that every job posting included a phrase about "commitment to work, life and family balance."

The National Gallery of Victoria provided my first exposure to aboriginal art. At first glance from the uninitiated viewpoint, it seemed nothing more than geometric figures and lines. After spending some time learning about--most powerfully through a video of aboriginal artists at work--I started to see the art as connections to the dream world and ancestral stories. I kept moving along the emotional path for appreciating art when I read the following phrase at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI):

"Because here it is about something other than just the registering of events, that ultra-modern impulse that converts, through the use and abuse of new technologies, human experience into an archive."

I was spellbound by an exhibit called "Correspondences" that brought together the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami and Victor Erice, an Iranian and a Spaniard. I can still vividly recall Kiarostami's film clip featuring images seen through his rain soaked car windshield and Erice's "sea-mail" correspondence. The intertwining of water and different cultures seemed an especially appropriate theme for Australia.