Or else!

One final note from my recent trip to New York City: I spent a lovely afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art. It was shockingly crowded, which was a little annoying when one is trying to contemplate a Picasso, but I was quite gratified to see so many people at a museum --- as opposed to, say, at M&M World. (Although they were mostly European, not American. Big surprise.)

I was browsing through their collection of contemporary sculpture when this little sign caught my eye:

Um...whaa??? What the heck is this supposed to mean? Please do not touch, or else we'll CUT YOUR FINGERS OFF?!?!?!

I mean, I know this is New York, but I would have thought that a museum would have a tad more delicacy.

At first I thought that I was being warned that some of the sculptures had sharp edges, which might injure me if I touched them. That might make a little sense, right? But just to set the record straight, the objet d'art in question was this one...

...which, in addition to looking soft, actually is soft. (No, I didn't touch it. Geez, what kind of philistine do you take me for? I read the curator's notes; it's made out of wool.) So while I definitely understand the need to keep people's greasy paws off of the artwork, the sign seems more than a little extreme. Especially with that spurting blood.

In conclusion: MoMA, WTF?

Well, at least they said "please."