Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. I must say I really enjoyed it. But not because it was Valentine’s Day.
I went to San Francisco – as you may have guessed. I got the hint that at Fisherman’s Warf ten thousands of tulips were on display. Yet after counting them, there couldn’t have been more than forty. Maybe I just missed them, but how do you miss ten thousand tulips? My guess is they were stolen for their petals on those Valentine beds.
Fortunately the weather was incredible. Unseasonable warm, it’s called. So I just sat around Fisherman’s Warf until it got time to go to the Luc Tuymans Exhibition in SFMOMA. Flanders House organized this event, since Kris Peeters and Ingrid Lieten – respectively prime minister and minister of Flanders – are making a tour in California. I guess I got invited through Belgica, but apparently not all Belgica members got invited. This is kind of strange since I think I deserved it the least to be there.
Anyway, it was an unexpectedly fabulous evening: Ingrid Lieten winked at me, Kris Peeters shook my hand, I got to take pictures of everyone, a journalist interviewed me, we got a free guided Luc Tuymans Exhibition tour and I drank a blonde leffe. Afterwards, the present Belgica members went out for a drink in the cultural center of San Francisco, outdoors and surrounded by numerous beautiful looking buildings. At the end of the evening I didn’t even had to take the train back, as I got a ride back to Ramona Street. Yes, a lovely day indeed!
I got some pictures to show you, but they have been edited blindly (just by doing what I think should have been done by looking at the original file). I got no visual feedback since my PC is still broken, so the colors will be off and they could be over/under-sharpened. But hey, I got to show you something, right?
Kris Peeters giving a speech
Kris Peeters making a joke
The guided tour at Luc Tuymans Exhibition
Among other famous journalists, Goedele Devroy was present.
Peeters in good light
Siegfried Top
February 15, 2010 at 19:18
Very nice, looks like Kris Peeters made a good joke?
Interesting exhibition as well, hope you enjoyed it!
grtz
Siegfried
Wim Van Gestel
February 15, 2010 at 19:39
Hey Siegfried,
I vaguely remember it had to do with Limburg …
Anyway, the exhibition was nice, but I don’t have an eye for modern art. I see compositions in form and color, coming together and telling a story. Yet this is often lacking in modern art. I wish I understood it – I hate not understanding things – but I don’t. And to me suggestive art is fantastic when it is somewhat limiting in what it can represent. It’s boring if it is plain and sec, but it is boring if it can be anything too. It’s like in game theory: if the solution is obvious, I don’t want to write it down. If the set is unbound, I don’t care about the solution. If everone can be right, it doesn’t interest me.
How is life at Hog? My best to all colleagues there!
Jesse
February 16, 2010 at 07:35
@ Siegfried: Do you comment on Goedele Devroy by saying “Interesting exhibition”
?
@ Wim: “Looking at a cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don’t stare at it. It’s too risky. You get a sense of it and then you look away.”
(quote from a man with the same initials as me: JS)
Wim Van Gestel
February 16, 2010 at 09:36
Oh, that was a fantastic bit from Seinfeld!
It’s cleavage. I couldn’t look away. What am I, waiting to win an Oscar here? This is all I have in my life.
pj
February 19, 2010 at 04:30
Love the pic with “Exit” above Kris Peeters.
Seems like you enjoyed the evening and were glad to be invited. More consequential than libertarian on Valentine?
Wim Van Gestel
February 19, 2010 at 13:48
I think my human behavior as a ‘consumer’ fits perfectly in the grounding theory of libertarianism.
pj
February 19, 2010 at 16:42
I was referring to your ‘utility’ of meeting a head of state, of course.
Wim Van Gestel
February 19, 2010 at 16:46
Ah! Well, I think it’s nice to meet a celebrity, yes.
Leen
February 23, 2010 at 00:35
Graag gedaan (ride back to Ramona)
Nice pics!
Greets
Leen en Olivier