A little weirdness always makes my day so I was very happy sat in a cave made from glowing blue plastic water bottles. It was an unexpected bonus from my trip to La Laguna and Santa Cruz, I love strange art and the Instituto de Canarias Cabrera Pinto (below) in Calle San Agustin is always worth a detour when in La Laguna.
The current exhibition in the Sala de Exposiciones is called MBIDOM by Nestor Torrens, entering the main hall I was greeted by a blue glow, all the walls and ceiling were covered in the tinted blue water bottles with red lights in the caps to add a contrast. The young lady guide was sat in a small alcove also made out of the bottles and looked like a rather attrctive Smurf as the glow enveloped her. Wandering around I found sofas and a large table in a small side room, all made from the same water filled containers. Suitably impressed I headed towards the exit of the main building but saw an arrow pointing to a Cosy Room upstairs and of course my curiosity led me up the stone stairwell.
A small entrance led into a tight twisitng low corridor of the blue botles and opened up into a circular chamber with a cushioned seating area in the middle. I lay across the seating and imagined what a bizarre bedroom this would make – only problem would be the water in the bottles would make me want the toilet every 10 minutes. Some other visitors squeezed into the chamber and we exchanged puzzled glances before I eased my way back out. The guard outsidewhere the quadrangle looks down onto a typical Canarian courtyard gave me a brief nod of acknowledgement as I headed out into normal sunlight without the blue haze. The exhibition is on until 4 July, Tuesday to Friday 11 to 2 and 5 to 8 with just 11 to 2 on Saturday and Sunday and it’s free.
Back down to Santa Cruz and a sneak preview of the new Carnaval Museum, it’s in the commercial centre Parque Bulevar and spread out through the three floors with costume clad dummies hanging from ceilings and lurking at the top of escalators. There are also glass cases with smaller exhibits and plenty of reproductions of old Santa Cruz Carnaval posters. The official inauguration is next Wednesday at 7pm but the exhibits are in place and extra lighting is just being tweaked to bring out the magic from the costumes. There are 79 business units in the building but on several visits I have yet to see it anywhere near busy – shame as it is set out well and they make an effort with outside entertainment for the children.
The exhibits have got to help make the centre more attractive, there’s a really creepy Ronald McDonald figure sat on a bench downstairs – quite realistic, his fries seem to follow you around the room. Anyway if you happen to be in Santa Cruz have a wander around, Parque Bulevar is just behind the Caja Canarias HQ on the ferry port side of town.