I walked out of the Louvre one night, and all of a sudden I was audience to a magnificent sunset over the Pyramid. I had been in a hurry to get home, but the glorious moment forced me to take a breath and be still. The Pyramid is currently the site of a neon installation by the artist Claude Lévêque. The dramatic [ ... ]
Read MoreIt rained the other day, and I could feel October coming. Paris in autumn is so moody, almost sinister, and I love it. That feeling right after a rainstorm, when the air is still charged and everything is so vivid, that’s where I am now. This transition is intense, but good. Here’s a glimpse at Paris after the rain, on a walk I took [ ... ]
Read More(As I finish up my thesis this month, this blog will be temporarily transformed into Garlands in Florence with posts about summer in Italy) We were going to San Gimignano for the day. We were right by the train station in Florence, and this clueless young couple, obviously in town just for the day, came up to us, and [ ... ]
Read More(As I finish up my thesis this month, this blog will be temporarily transformed into Garlands in Florence with posts about summer in Italy) I had to wake up early for a drawing class field trip. We went into Florence to the Boboli Gardens, the Medici’s massive formal gardens behind the Pitti Palace. They were lovely [ ... ]
Read MoreThis is what my thesis is teaching me: Life is in this moment. I am so tempted to say that life will start again when I turn in this massive document. That I will literally never have a reason to be stressed ever again. But to think that this moment a waiting period for ‘real life’ is a dangerous [ ... ]
Read MoreEvery morning as I descend the staircase of my apartment building, I am drawn to the windows at each landing that look out over the courtyard. My apartment building has a secret garden. I don’t know who is responsible for maintaining it, as I have never seen anyone gardening. In fact, the only time I’ve seen a neighbor in the [...]
Read MoreThis is part of Museum User Guides, a series with ideas for how to “use” museums. The activities suggested here propose a fresh way to understand and experience a particular collection. Life in Paris can be exhausting. From the agony that is a daily métro commute to the overall grumpiness of [ ... ]
Read MoreThis is part of Happy Places, a series about making the time to have experiences that bring you joy, but can be hard to justify with a busy schedule. I love going to cemeteries to talk about life. I recently wandered around the Cimetière du Montparnasse with a friend, talking about major life decisions we were thinking of [ ... ]
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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
IMAGINIBUS is a blog about playing in museums, with a focus on imagination and creativity.
This blog is a place to be inspired to use your imagination around artworks—and to see the art of your daily life.
When we engage creatively with art, museums can become playgrounds and laboratories to experiment with attention, mindfulness, and imagination. Interesting things happen when we use that museum gaze to look at our daily lives like a work of art.
Find more inspiration for playing with new ways of paying attention to your daily life here.
Hello! I'm Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies PhD candidate, and mother currently living in Quebec. I take playing in museums very seriously.
Read more about the blog here.
Check out my newsletter on Substack to be inspired to see the art in your daily life.
