MoMA Fall Openings

Kurt and I don't lead very fabulous or fancy lives. We also don't do things in Manhattan often. This past week was an exception to both those points when we were able to score tickets to the Museum of Modern Art's Fall 2010 Openings. One of the new exhibits is called Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement and features a Rural Studio project--a 20K House built by an Auburn Outreach team. The whole Rural Studio staff made the trip up to NYC for the big opening, so it was great to see some familiar faces.  Most of all, I was super excited to see Mackenzie! She was amazingly able to tag us on to the RSVP list and Kurt and I were able to attend the event. We were expecting a small reception centered around the single exhibit. Little did we know, it was a big party for new work in many of the galleries. They shut down the museum to the general public, hired a DJ, lowered the lights, and of course, had an open bar! It was a great party and the exhibit looks great. It's amazing to see the Rural Studio, a program I hold near to my heart, in such a respected setting, surrounded by many great architects and their work. Definitely not your typical Tuesday night for us Brooklyn-philes!

After spending some quality time at the open bar (even though they were not serving beer...what kind of people don't drink beer?!.....oh, right.....artsy Manhattanites), Kurt and I were able to guide a few of the Rural Studio-ers down to the Corner Bistro in the West Village. I felt badly that we drug them farther than they were hoping to walk in their fancy shoes, but some cheap beer and catching up were well worth it. We were out late enough that Kurt and I actually took a cab back to Brooklyn! You can mark that in the record books: Kurt and cab in the same sentence :) I was tired and hungover the entire next day but I had a blast with some old friends!

Thanks for getting us into MoMA, Mackenzie! You'll have to come back and hang out longer next time!

(Photo credit: Top 3 [expertly photographed and manually photomerged] images courtesy of Kurt L. Martig.)