Hello dear community!
I am Imtiaz but you can also call me Sk (/ɛs keɪ/). I am a software engineer and an art & culture uninitiate.
Last Saturday, I found myself starting intently at Mark Rothko's Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 for what seemed like forever. I was really trying to understand this piece. Unfortunately, I was able to make no profound realizations. It seemed more or less like two rectangles on a large canvas. I wrote the following in my journal:
“Shapes on a canvas. This one’s truly beyond me. It's abstract expressionism apparently and people cry seeing this. What are they seeing exactly? I tried for a long time to feel something. The only thing that I found was that if I looked at it with a wide enough gaze, the colors vanished.”
But I guess the whole point of art is that it’s subjective. Born and raised in Bangladesh, I have had no real exposure to art most of my life. What led me to making a ritual of visiting one museum every Saturday was an unused Museumkaart and a brilliant series by Rob Walker called The Art of Noticing.
Now I find that all of this has spontaneously erupted into a Meetup out of my desire to share this journey with others and to form meaningful connections in the process. I warmly welcome you all to the Slow Museum Saturdays!
As I am slowly setting things up—you will find that I have created many ways for us to keep in contact. An Instagram page, a WhatsApp group and a shared Google Calendar. I would like this community to be accessible and accommodating to everyone. I also value your opinions. If you have any suggestions or concerns please feel free to reach out.
All this information is centrally located at a Notion page on my website: https://imtiaz101325.notion.site/Slow-Museum-Saturdays-1a2e8209172f80d8a1ffc33255984cf1?pvs=74
Please keep in touch. I hope to see you all in one or more of our upcoming events. For now lets enjoying this very sunny Wednesday.
Kind regards,
Imtiaz