I never read the back cover when I’m about to read a book from an author I love—I just want to dive right into it and go wherever they choose to take me. I’m never disappointed. I like stories, surprises and new destinations, especially when I haven’t considered them.

I go to exhibitions with the same mindset. I show up—granted, preferably when it’s free admission day—and open my eyes. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it but whatever happens, I feel feelings and that’s the entire point of the cultural exercise.

After Pierrick Sorin’s video installations last summer, I was curious about the Musée d’arts de Nantes‘ latest temporary exhibition for the winter.

The name was rather cryptic, “Ocean Liners 1913-1942. A transatlantic Aesthetic.”

It turned out to be a fascinating journey mixing three of my favourite things—travel, boats, and colours. The exhibition started with a series of posters featuring exotic destinations advertised in the interwar years. Ocean liners were the only way to cross the ocean and bring people back and forth between the old and the new world back then. The complex machinery and the huge size of these new passenger ships inspired many avant-garde artists and modern art.

The second part of the exhibition focused on the travel experience in the first, second and third class, from decadent luxury to simple cabins close to the engines. Ocean liners were depicted as a floating theatre stage, where the upper and middle class had the chance to socialize and sometimes meet for the first time.

Many of these ocean liners, like SS Normandie, were built in Saint-Nazaire, one of the largest shipyards in the world. I’m familiar with the city so this was an interesting artistic perspective on a fascinating industry.

And of course, I got to take pictures of people in the museum, which is my favourite side activity!