Cloud City Art Installation Less Lando Calrissian, More Jimi Hendrix

“As pieces began to be set in place, Mr. Saraceno sneaked a visitor inside and up a twisty staircase about 20 feet above the roof garden. Some of the floors were transparent, and the walls were mirrored steel, acrylic or open to the air. Suddenly buildings, people and trees were upside down or sideways, sometimes almost spinning around from the perspective inside this giant futuristic construction.”
 — While I am slightly disappointed that it is not a Star Wars themed exhibit, I want to go see Tomás Saraceno’s “Cloud City” installation that’s being built on the roof of The Met right now. Relatedly (sort of), I had never until just now realized how much the Pretenders’ cover of “Roomful of Mirrors” (which I’ve actually always preferred even to Jimi Hendrix’s original) sounds like the U2 song “Wire” — which predates it by two years! Still, though, U2 is to the Pretenders as Luke is to Han Solo.