Consider this the meat-loaf-and-mashed-potatoes choice. The Institute is not the most adventurous of art museums--we leave that role to the Walker Art Center--but the exhibitions displayed along the grand marble hallways provide the same sort of soothing effect as our favorite comfort foods. There's something pleasantly familiar about spending a gray afternoon traversing galleries filled with art from a bounty of ancient and modern cultures. And with the addition of the African collection, the promotion of such respected traveling shows as Roy DeCarava's photographs organized by the Museum of Modern Art, as well as innovative use of technology throughout the Institute programs, there are many reasons to anticipate pleasant surprises from this old chestnut in the future.