Forbidden City: MET

I felt the Forbidden City exhibit at the MET had an interesting flow. I think the first room and the projection were the most successful. I think I learned the most from these areas. They set the stage for what made the space interesting. The emperor was highly influenced by European art styles of perspective and visual trickery. This was not apparent if you did not read the placards but was emphasized in the video projection. The 3d models where really nice to see the overview of the space and how it would have looked. Image was used sparingly but I thought that its use could have been pushed further. In some instances like the left hand graphic, image was used in the background but the vases on the raised case made the presentation kind of awkward. This area of furnishing that communicated with the patio was nice because it brought in the natural light into the space. Images could have adorned some of the inner galleries where the furnishing is to give a sense of placement. Some of the placement was kind strange. There was an actual door next to a doorway in the forbidden city next to a throne. In the calligraphy portion the middle case talked about the restoration. This was interesting but seemed out of place when you had a room the contained more calligraphy tools. Over all the lighting was very nice. There was 2 lighting schemes. One was the natural light coming from the patio. The other was laid out similar to 19th century galleries, but with more visible spot lights. I felt that the space should have accommodated for hiding the spot light tracks. The spot lights were used very well highlighting table posts and other artifacts to really show there detail.