Opening Night for the New SAM

My girlfriend and I decided to hit the town this past Saturday night for a special occasion: the 36-hour opening gala for the new expansion the Seattle Art Museum (a.k.a., SAM).

We left around midnight and got there 20 minutes later. We waited for our tickets (which were free) outside the museum at 1st Ave. & University St. for just a few minutes. There was even a person who informed us what time we would get our ticket for, which she said would be 1:20am, but by the time we got to the front of the line, they were sold out and our slot was for 1:40am. We considered going home, but instead went to the Alibi Room and hung out there for an hour before heading back to the museum.

The new expansion in terms of its architectural accomplishment is not much of an improvement over the existing building--the outside is quite ugly. It looks like The New-Age Ministry of Information. The only nice parts of the building are the white neon signs in my opinion.

Once we got inside, we were not any more optimistic about the new $100+ million expansion--while the first floor was very spacious, it's main attraction was four early 1990s Ford Tauruses. They were hanging from the ceiling and were also on display on the ground (one of the exhibits pictured here had a Taurus in the foreground with a widescreen showing a clip of Times Square in the background??). We really didn't get it, but perhaps we just weren't smart enough to figure out the artistic beauty of these particular retro-modern-art pieces... There was another strange quirk: also on the first floor there was a room where one could make custom buttons, paper

masks, and other memorabilia. The participants (pictured here) undoubtedly thought they were uber-cool and hip to be involved in such an ingenious act of modern artistry; we, however, found the task to be reminiscent of kindergarten.

Now, here comes the good part: once we got to the third and fourth level (the second floor looks onto the first), the various collections were amazing. From a porcelain collection to New Orleans old-fashioned dresses to Greek vases, every exhibit was designed with the utmost precision and presented beautifully.

So, overall we were very satisfied with our visit. The collections easily surpass the shortcomings of the 1st floor gallery and the sterile look of the outside of the building. Secondly, the event was very well organized and the employees and volunteers were very nice and welcoming.


Congratulations, SAM!