ships + wings

From far away, we thought it was a magnificent ship just setting out from shore into the blue of Lake Michigan. We were walking out to the water before lunch. But – were those wings, or sails? Was it docked? Ashore? Or taking off? As we walked closer, our brains and eyes kept adjusting, recalculating, and the ship-bird shifted in and out focus.

We learned a few things: 1. Hyperreality (“Oh, the Mona Lisa? Yeah, I’ve seen it. On the internet.”) takes the fun out of truly seeing something for the first time and should be avoided when possible. 2. Santiago Calatrava designed the recent Milwaukee Art Museum addition with moving wings that open and close. 3. Wings are not so different from sails.