Welcome to the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, museum of the future, museum of today. Once through the doors, you are confronted by black-masked attendants. Whenever England liberates, the ultra-progressive contrarians in Wales lockdown. If someone told Labour supporters in Wales that Boris Johnson enjoyed breathing oxygen, they would hold their breaths to spite him.

One of the staircases to the first floor is blocked off, supposedly on grounds of safety. The NMW cultivates visitors as fearful drones taking instructions on social distancing and mask-wearing. Absurdly, shutting one staircase forces visitors into closer proximity on the other staircase; the only real purpose of the move is for museum staff to display willingness to do whatever looks authoritative, however pointless or counterproductive.

Once you have negotiated locked doors and closed galleries, the first gallery has been set to prepare you. The usual selection of modern and contemporary art has been removed apart from a Howard Hodgkin print; instead there is a marble statue of a woman and bronze heads of black men.

#NationalMuseum #Wales #Art #Political #Masking

‍