The Rubin Museum of Art is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The museum specializes in artwork from the Himalayas and its surrounding neighbors, like India. Their mission is to promote understanding, stimulate learning, and to spark personal connections to the culture and ideas of Himalayan Asia.

I had to go to the Rubin Museum of Art for a homework assignment I had to do for my art history class. I am not the type of person who chooses to go to museums and usually would never go unless it is required of me to. I was not expecting to enjoy myself at all as I am not a big fan of museums, much less for ones specializing in art.

When I got to museum, I was surprised that it was so small. When I think about museums, I think of huge building with massive amounts of rooms and high ceilings. The Rubin Museum of Art, however, threw me off. If anything, it looks like a regular building you can find anywhere in that neighborhood. The museum has a total of five floors, each with its own different exhibit on each floor. People can have the option of being lazy and taking the elevators, or they can walk up the big, winding spiral staircase located conveniently at the center of the building. I chose to use the stairs.

Museums always have special exhibits going on, and The Rubin was the same. Right now, there is a special exhibit going on focusing on sounds. It is called “The World is Sound” and it was a pretty cool experience. There were parts where I had to touch the wall in order to hear what was playing over the speaker. I found it interesting how none of the different displays were overlapping and disrupting each other. It was as if each display was in their own little room. The sounds played ranged from religious mantras to sounds found in the nature to traditional instruments used in the Buddhist and Hindu culture. Out of my entire experience there, I’d say the sound exhibit was my favorite. You should definitely check the exhibit out before it closes in January.