Letter: Critiquing the Aspen Art Museum

As visitors to Aspen, my wife and I had the opportunity to see the new art museum downtown. After leaving the museum, we were shocked to see workers still constructing the second exit stair out of the museum. How can a new building be open while the basic emergency exits are not finished?

We were concerned that the city didn’t value our safety and potentially put us in danger. After thinking about it, we realized there were very few patrons in the museum and there would be few lives to lose. After we climbed the one exit stair to the top (the elevator wasn’t operational), the turtles were gone, and there wasn’t any art displayed. We went down a level to see an exhibition of temporary refugee housing. Although interesting, we don’t understand how this is art. Is there a shortage of refugee housing because there is not enough art being created for them to live in?

If the museum keeps up this trend, maybe the second exit stair won’t be necessary.

After seeing the plethora of Christmas wrapping-paper tubes used for architecture, we pictured the arduous task of wrapping all of our presents for the coming holidays. This didn’t lift our spirits.

We would like to suggest that the concrete sidewalk be changed to that rubber material used in playgrounds. This will help soften the blow for the drunks who try to climb the building’s exterior trellis on a Saturday night.

We look forward to returning to Aspen next year to participate in the inaugural Pro-Am Race to Climb the Art Museum Facade.

Brian Husting

Irvine, California