The ROM Crystal opened this weekend. Attending the museum that night involved first picking up free timed-entry tickets beginning at noon on Saturday. After a typical Friday night of not enough sleep, I headed down to the ROM with a friend a little before the ticket booth was to open, where we waited along with hundreds of other people in the burning, midday sun. I, of course, forgot to prepare myself and the 2-and-a-half hour wait resulted in quite the burn on my neck and shoulders, a not unusual state of affairs for my fair, English skin whenever I forget to prepare for copious amounts of sun time.

One could only get two tickets per person, and I knew of a number of people interested but unable to get downtown at that time of day. Eventually we added one more to our arsenal of ticket pick-uppers, another friend who decided he may come and would get a spare ticket for a possible, not yet assigned, sixth person later that evening. After a while, someone near us in line joined in our conversation, and eventually switched spots with her boyfriend. This resulted in us getting to speak with two (born and raised in downtown Toronto, no less – I have not previously yet met anyone fitting that description) people during our wait.

Our tickets were for 1am that night, and a few minutes before our entry time we got in line. We didn’t have to wait long, and once inside, I felt like a kid in a playground. We’d been told that the gallery was still “nude”, meaning no exhibits were yet up to detract from the space in any way.

The ROM’s original outward facade protruding into the new space was a predictable element, and was celebrated accordingly by the extension of the new white walls, resembling suspended sculptures, protruding from it. The rest of the space left me impressed by the complete lack of any perpendicular elements – every wall and window was angled somehow, and while it didn’t have the crisscrossing bridges against a backdrop of shimmering windows that I had imagined, the angles of the white walls and the organic feel of moving between not quite fully divided rooms, were enough to leave me feeling impressed with what the architect, Daniel Libeskind, did here. My overall impression was that it was reminiscent of the slanted kitchen at the science museum in Ottawa, which is all wonky to help teach balance and perspective (granted, the significant difference is that the floors are actually flat in the Crystal).

After touching nearly every wall, and taking a few photos, we were herded through what turned out to be an exit from the new space. I was disappointed as I had been hoping for more rooms beyond. However, it was exciting to be in the museum late at night, and so my friends and I took advantage, taking the time to look around some of the exhibits we’ve seen before, and some of the newer ones on right now.

There were a lot of people in the museum that night, but I think the organisers did an excellent job of crowd control, at least while I was there. The energy was invigorating and the space is so dynamic, it all made for a very enjoyable opening.

See my (crappy) cell phone photos of the space here below.