Hit the road: go to the Broad!*

There’s a brand new art museum on MSU’s campus in East Lansing called the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and it’s well worth a visit. Designed by world class architect Zaha Hadid, this small gem of a museum is probably unlike any space you’ve ever entered. It’s all angles, inside and out, and even without the carefully chosen and interesting collection, the building is its own experience.

The current collection includes a triptych from around 1400, a box by Joseph Cornell, a huge installation by Damien Hirst, and much more. The exhibits are spare rather than crowded, which makes for better viewing (in my opinion), and it’s a fairly small museum, so you won’t leave exhausted. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article entitled A ‘Mini Bilbao’ Opens in Michigan. No, they’re not confusing Hadid with Frank Gehry, but rather quoting Mr. Broad in saying that ‘[he] hopes the space will have a “mini-Bilbao effect,” drawing cultural tourists who flock to architectural icons like the Frank Gehry’s titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Spain.’

To whet your appetite, you can take this virtual tour, and if you really need a further incentive, admission is free!

*Rhymes with “road”.