DOORS OPEN - DAKOTA WHITEHOUSE

My first experience was at the Milwaukee Public Library. In the library I discovered “The Oriental Room”.  Once “The Chinese Room”, it displayed a variety of different figurative sculptures and an ornate mosaic floor of a dragon. As stated in “Wanderlust”, the environment dictated my mindset, and therefore my physical passage through – a room of collected knowledge, wood finished in dark stain, hundreds of pounds of books. The room inspired me to be careful and quiet in my observation, however, the instinctive integrity I tied to the room was quickly subverted by its manner of display of Asian artifacts and translated imagery, their authenticity entirely in question. The symbols on the floor did not even seem to resemble any Asian characters in their rigidity, and portrayed more of a mockery in their deformity, akin more to xenolinguistics. The Asian sculptures were all displayed in glass cases, and were dominated by the much weightier sculptures of un-caged American figures in the pursuit of knowledge, with firearms, and in pastime. The display of these objects and imagery, through its filtration, evoked more of savagery and ornamentation against the substantial amount of books on Milwaukee history.

My second experience was at the UWM Freshwater Studies Building. The facility was of cement/concrete/metal construction, maps of the Great Lakes decked the walls, and of patterns of algal growth, etc. As stated before, the environment affected my physical response. The facility was clearly built for experimentation and data collection, lighting and floor planning was designed for use not aesthetics, aside from the stripe of blue paint on the walls which went 6 or so feet up the wall which I assume was to represent their focus on fresh water. I instantly felt more comfortable to explore the room as I pleased. The presence of technology within the building was humbling; much of its purpose still remains unknown to me. The dock area was open, and allowed natural light to enter the room, the ceilings in this area were maybe 30 feet high and hung nets for sampling. The talks were highly informative, particularly one about the quagga and zebra mussels. The room extended far beyond its physical placement via its data, ranging from underwater cam’s, maps, and graphs of Lake Michigan’s ecology.