Vancouver 2

Our home base in Vancouver is The Comfort Inn Downtown.  It appears to be an older building, perhaps for apartments, turned into a hotel.  The rehab went well.  The rooms are well done.  Early this morning Tom and Carol headed back to Albany.  Jan and I will do the same tomorrow morning.  Today we decided to visit the University of British Columbia Campus.  Tuition, room, board and fees for a year is about 24 grand for a BC resident.  It's slightly higher for Canadians who are not from the province.  For US residents who wish to attend it is 52 grand Canadian.  The web site did not say what it is for residents of other countries.

The primary purpose of our visit was to check out the Museum of Anthropology.  World famous for its collections, the museum is tucked onto one corner of this sprawling campus, which obviously supports a very large undergraduate student population of over 61 thousand.  Because the climate is conducive there are many beautiful gardens along the pathways to the academic buildings.

One large part of the MOA is the totem collection.  Canada and the various members of the First Nations (we call them Native Peoples or Native Americans.  They call them First Nation and sometimes First People) held lengthy discussions about what to do with these culturally significant representations of their history.  The tribal members decided that the totems could become the property of the Museum provided there were explanations of the significance.

You should be able to spot the attentive listener in the front row.

In addition to the historical artifacts on display, the museum also commissioned this artwork in the style of the pieces.

 Artifacts from peoples other than the First Nation are also on display.  In this area the Chrome touchscreen will give you more detail on any piece in the case or in the drawers.  You are free to open them.

 While the museum is open to the public and charges admission to non UBC students it is woven into teaching.  The racks in the picture contain new artifacts requiring analysis and / or interpretation.

The pieces are from all over the globe.

This unusual and highly engaging art changes based on what visitors in the space do.  As the calligraphy cascades down the wall people touch them and it changes what happens.  I am sure the engineering of the exhibition contains limits.  The possibilities are not endless, but they are plentiful.  I sat for about 15 minutes and while things were similar they were never identical.  Children loved it.

Time to organize our suitcases to fit into various airline required weight limits!