During the last cold weekend of winter I spent 48h in Copenhagen. It was delightful. And freezing.
I had a great time testing a Fuji X100. I wasn’t enough experienced to always calibrate the right light, but in the end I preferred not to modify the pictures in post production, to keep the genuine state (or mistake) of art.
Here some snippets of the trip, enjoy.
Slovenia turned out to be the best option for a quiet, yet insightful, weekend between the feasts of Christmas time and NYE. I drove for about 4 hours on a sunny, cold day, enjoying the view I have in front of me. From North Italy to Slovenia, passing by Trieste and its crazy wind, the panorama changed drastically: from a sleepy countryside, to rocky sweet hills and then mountains, valleys and villages with a red-roofed church nestled in the snow.
My first surprise was to realise how versatile Slovenia is. I only knew it for the short coastline, similar to Croatia. It’s, instead, a delightful mountain country, similar in some ways to Austria with balkan accents, running to the Mediterranean Sea.
Check MUST-SEE PLACES IN SLOVENIA, as perfectly summed up on TRIPOSO
The time frame to visit Ljubljana, a pure gem, in a weekend is simply perfect.
You get the time to explore the centre, the castle, its museum and the panoramic tower, to eat in some delicious restaurants ( I personally recommend Julija Restaurant and the über-romantic Restavracija Špajza), and enjoy the spas.
Many hotels offer swimming pool and saunas, if you are on a more low-budget there is a public pool and sauna not far away from the city centre called Atlantis (in Summer Ljubljana’s water park).
Don’t forget to have a boat experience, it’s a 30min ride for 5Euro, great especially if the weather is not the best (and to chat with locals).
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… Slovenia, I’ll be back, for sure.
P.S. I still need to solve the problem of my broken camera, ending up being the idiot who takes picture with a crappy mobile. My apologies. And yes, I do accept donations to buy a new camera.
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I came full of expectations, got stroked by the sacred Art itself, and left in a glass case of emotions.
Photo courtesy Royal Academy of Arts. Photography: James Harris / © Anselm Kiefer.
By the time I steamed my enthusiasm off I started wondering what the hell happened to me in there. Then I started feeling a little slice of disappointment running into my veins, from the heart to the brain. Let’s proceed one step at a time.
The solo exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts, wonderfully organised, gave me lots of great moments, such it’s poignant. 12 rooms in total, from the early works to special installations made for the Academy, an actual path to explore Kiefer the artist in a fluid flux along the building, majestic feature and background.
Hall. © Anselm Kiefer
The official website states:
“Kiefer’s extraordinary body of work includes painting, sculpture and quite simply monumental installations. Uncompromising in the subject matter he tackles, Kiefer’s work powerfully captures the human experience and draws on history, mythology, literature, philosophy and science.”
I loved the composition in the rooms, the visitors were flooding in every possible spot, yet the dynamics between artworks and people was perfect. I also loved having the chance to check out the early works.
Early work © Anselm Kiefer
I guess it is about time to explain why I love so much Kiefer. As I already wrote, the term “poignant” could be the only meaningful explanation. To be more talkative (it’s a blog, for Lord’s sake!) Kiefer is a post-war German artist that worked on crucial themes such as history, religion, mythology and more. A mix of anthropology, ethnology, and more. I could keep writing stuff and ass “and more” and it would not still been enough. Kiefer is the kind of artist that never stops going a bit further with investigating the human being, its actions, its spiritual side. On a personal level his relationship God-Man is also vastly investigated, as visitors can see in his works with sunflowers and the ones with diamonds.
The use of materials is also an important part of Kiefer’s production. Wood: his childhood; Seeds: religion and life; Stones and Steel: history. And more. Everything seems to have a meaning and this aspect is sometimes endearing, sometimes overwhelming.
© Anselm Kiefer
Anselm I am sorry I took some pics, it was prohibited and I learnt it only after been told off by guards!
Now, what I realised I didn’t like about the exhibition, that little disappointment was the fact that 2 big topics were missing: the holocaust and more about the Bible, like the Genesis. Also the books and memory topic could have exponentially improved.
I remember a young myself visiting White Cube London some years ago, and falling in love with Palm Sunday and Aperiatur Terra by Kiefer. Oh my days, that exhibit has still a hold on me. It was everything. And more.
I didn’t see anything of those topics, and my little heart cried a little, I must admit.
Courtyard © Anselm Kiefer
Courtyard © Anselm Kiefer
Anyway, I have to wrap this blog post I am writing on a Saturday evening in a nice pub of Clapham Old Town, so I am going to invite everybody in London to go visit the Royal Academy of Arts in Central London and pay the ticket for a Kiefer experience. It’s worthy. And more.
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LAST WEEK TO SEE KIEFER AT RA! (it ends on Dec 14th!) https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/anselm-kiefer
I took some time yesterday to say goodbye to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. No, I’m not planning to move away, but there will be major renovation works soon, so the New National Gallery will be closed from 2015 for several years. Several years, what an awful news.
Albeit the loss the city will face in terms of contemporary art offer, if you are in the city head there, and just enjoy the wonderful installation designed by British architect David Chipperfield. After the great renovation made at Neues Museum in Museum Island, he worked in the open glass hall of the New National Gallery by displaying 144 impressive tree trunks.
Official Picture from the Museum website. © Photo: David Becker
I was blessed with a beautiful sunny day and the reflections of the light, the rays trespassing and the shadows produced were stunning. The synergy created between place, materials and light was the highlight of my Sunday. Additionally visitors create beautiful interactions by touching the 8m tall trees, by moving around, by creating new shadows.
Toddler playing
The exceptionality of living this open space in such a different way is striking if you are usually used to see it as a blank canvas, with no pillars sustaining its free floating roof. Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the space to be widely open, an interaction of granite floors, steel columns and glass. The introduction of wood on the granite, literally stick and stones, adds new meanings to the space itself: it gives a natural support to the roof, that for all this years; it gives also a sense of closure, anticipating the structural works the museum is about to undergo. An English nursery rhyme says “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. I saw this installation also as a wish, to avoid cracking the soul of the New National Gallery with the upcoming works.
Sony Center in the background
The exhibition continues downstairs until December 31st, if you have no money to pay the ticket just go there and enjoy the forest in the hall, it is for free and really worth a visit.
P.S.: as you may see the pictures were taken with a mobile phone. I had no power to control light and sharpness. At the end, I quite like the rough result this time.
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I believe this past weekend was indeed the best one to be in Berlin. In part I am saying it because the weather was gracefully beautiful, but mostly because the events that the city pulled out for the 25th Anniversary of the Wall Fall were really on point. Lichtgrenze was a sublime project, and didn’t miss to spread a clear reminder of how a city can not be divided, without losing its soul.
This art project, composed of 15 km of light installation, sent out a message of clear immortality, like a peace can be reached, without forgetting, without losing the memory of it, of its core. 15 km to walk along, across, next to. The invisible wall of light was constantly mixing up with the city, with the iconic buildings of the past and the new ones, with citizens and tourists.
I walked for 12 out of those 15km, carrying a broken camera, motivated to capture some eloquent moments, despite the crappy instrument (seriously, I need a camera). I played mostly with long exposures, because I despise the flash and wanted to preserve the colours. Suicidal move: I didn’t use a tripod, because it’s another thing I need to buy. I started walking around the closest piece of the Berlin wall I have next to where I live, the central part, on Friday. On Saturday, Mitte filled with people everywhere, I explored the northern part, from the Hauptbahnhof until the ex border crossing point Bornholmer Strasse. I kept the eastern part, around my neighbourhood, for Sundaym with the plan to get to the East Side Gallery. I didn’t reach it, due to the mass of people on the street. For many reasons, it looked like NYE. After an emotional tour around Kreuzberg, finding my way through the thousand of people on the streets, I stopped at Schillingbrücke, that is an important bridge between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, West and East Berlin. I thought it was a great point to see the balloons, that were attached to the light installation, let free. I could have decided to go to Brandeburger Tor and enjoy the concerts, but I wanted it to be a more private experience, and I really wanted to be at the crossroads between two former countries, now one. It was a good farewell. A meaningful one. I went home with the awareness of being part of the history. Moreover, I went home with the moral obligation to remember the history and share it with as many as possible.
Here are some snippets of the event. Bear with me for the quality. MORE PICTURES CAN BE FOUND ON MY FLICKR in the following days.
Zimmerstrasse
Checkpoint Charlie
Beautiful border between Kreuzberg and Mitte
@ Topography of Terror
Awful shot @ Potsdamer Platz, , the lights and people there were too many for my old friend, the crappy camera.
To Brandenburger Tor
The Reichstag-Bundestag area.
Liesenstrasse at the corner with Chaussestrasse, Mitte
Liesenstrasse
Gartenstraße
Park am Nordbahnhof
Bernauerstrasse
Mauerpark
Bornholmer Straße, ex border crossing
Bundesdruckerei
Indischer Brunnen, Kreuzberg
Bethaniendamm
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That feeling of goosebumps on your arms when sun and win blend while you’re on your bike. That particular feeling, that one. There. It was me a week ago under a Summer day in Berlin.
I use my bike, sport in general, to keep my mind straight. It takes constance, abnegation and respect for the rules, and I like it like that because it helps my crazy head to stay alive.
I absolutely adore when I have free time to combine bike and photography, and this is the result of my past wanderings. I mainly went South, or followed the circular road around Berlin zone A, prophetically called “The Ring”.
Bonus: pics taken with mobile:
For the past decades Frogner Park has been the most visited place of Norway: the Vigeland installation contributed to this result.
The monumental Main Gate – Detail
It is very very tourist-ish but still indeed fascinating to walk along across the 200+ sculptures designed by Norwegian artist Vigeland, made of granite and bronze. It is a lovely public park, accessible and easy to find, perfect for picnics and wandering (and in Summer there is also the pool open!). A must-go when in town.
Facts about the installation:
– the main theme is the ‘Human Condition‘, but the twist is that none of the works have an actual title, so it is up to the visitor to capture the feelings. Intriguing.
– from the main entrance you can divide the sculptures in the ones on the Bridge (in bronze), the Children’s Playground at the end of the bridge (8 bronze sculptures with kids playing); the maze on floor brings you to the section of the Fountain (in bronze) that leads you to the Monolith (14 meters of granite human figures trying to move and elevate to the sky) with along a circular section of sculptures called the Wheel of Life (in granite, sculptures mainly in couples).
– the most interactive part by a visitor is at the Wheel of Life, where you can sit on the stairs among the statues and (especially for adults) take a cheeky selfie with a granitic companion of your choice or to (especially for children) climb without getting in trouble on the sculptures itself. It is somehow great to see kids getting involved and there is nowhere sign of defacement -yay society, you crazy breed-.
– on a sunny day, lights and shades enables you to capture even more vividly the feelings, for a quite amazing impression. See yourself.
The Bridge – on one side
On the Bridge – Detail
On the Bridge – Detail
On the Bridge – Detail
On the Bridge – Detail
Children’s Playground – Detail
The Fountain – detail
The Monolith
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
The Wheel of Life – Detail
Kids being kids. 🙂
Kids being kids. 🙂
P.S. sorry for poor quality in the pixels, just focus on the subjects *wink wink*
I will never stop ceasing people to go visit a museum of arts or an art collection.
It might be my degree in Arts, but I am firmly convinced that the time you invest visiting a museum or just watching artworks, graffitis, installations or just an exhibition allows your soul to recharge, be inspired to think and imagine but, simple as that, to have something to talk about: I deeply resent the only use of ‘like’, ‘share’ and ’emoji’ in these modern times, since there is a lot to see, think and share. Art is the boosting vehicle to do it.
Bar the lecture, Oslo is a vibrant city in term of arts, as the Wall Street Journal explains in this interesting article: online.wsj.com/news/.
If you have some spare time I recommend the national museums -a daily ticket gets you to 4 museums! Sunday free entrance too!!-, the Stenersen Museum – Tuesday is the lucky day to get into for free!- and related to that the Munch Museum -mainly drawings and prints, highly promoted to tourists, anyway worth to go once. Keep in mind: ticket is average expensive than the other places, but if you buy it and then visit Stenersen Museum you will have a 50% discount on the Stenersen ticket (but not way round? d’oh)-. A new pearl at the end of Aker Brygge, in Tjuvholmen, is the Astrup Fearnley Museet. The structure is a pure jewel of the Fjord City urban renewal program, planned by architect Renzo Piano – tickets fairly pricey, but every Thursday they have interesting lectures if you fancy something more along-. #FYI Next to A.F.M. there is the Hotel ‘The Thief’, which has a lovely panorama rooftop bar!
These above were my suggestions for the city centre, but I have one more if you feel audacious: Henie-Onstad Art Center (HOK), in Høvikodden, South-West of Oslo.
Entrance
It is an art centre, meaning along with a collection there are also temporary exhibitions, concerts and more. The key-word for HOK is: Location. At the top of a fjord, the building, a mix of wood, concrete and glass, is surrounded by woods and sea. I found the collection quite limited, the ticket a bit expensive, but the combination art centre-location is the top. If this is not yet enough appealing, Frank Zappa played there. John Cage too. A-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Poster of the events at HOK
I took some pics with my mobile, and glued together for your infotainment (yeah yeah yeah, low quality pics resolution due to my crappy phone. Please feel free to invest in me, I always accept donations for a new one). Hope you like’em!
The Collection
The Collection
The Collection
The Collection
Architecture and View at Høvikodden
Casual Banana and U Sculptures
Raise your hand if you want a fresh cold beer right now!
For a quite unusual morning i went to visit Schous Bryggery (visit schouskjelleren.no/about/ to get more info about) in the lovely and “multikulti” neighbourhood of Grünerløkka , Oslo and I had the pleasure to see the entire plant and meet the people behind that great Beer. This before 8am. Call me devoted, please.
Brewery in Trondheimsveien 2, since 1873
So Without further due
…
Here a selection of pictures I took with my low-quality, not-so-smart-at-the-end phone, cheers!
The simbolic front building
Entrance to the pub (it’s underground!)
Schous – brand
Draft Beers Selection
Details
From water to beer… it is kinda magic!
Malt Milling
Did you know that there is also chocolate malt?…yum!
A collage of machinery objects, some of them look like faces too 🙂
A big thank you to brewers Luca and Michele. I highly suggest this place when in Oslo, it is open after 4 pm, for more information check their Website or Facebook Page for news, events etc..
Ha det bra!
How long can a person brag about his special weekend in Paris?
I have no shame answering “As long as you find good picture to post”. I can also play the birthday card too, so I am more than qualified and allowed to publish this post and then move on to the next trip/topic.
I had almost two full days ‘dans la Ville Lumière’ that is quite a decent amount of time for a getaway weekend on a low, low budget.
The first good thing to do is to jot down some places to visit/revisit and a mental plan where to go during the day, 3-4 spots to see, and keep it quite open to discoveries and adventures.
1) Paris is a great city to become like a spirited errant, to walk around and have a great time. Try it the most your feet can. I highly recommend if it is the first time to find a free walking tour of the main tourist attraction, just to have an idea of what you’ll see. This is me repairing from the wind at Pont des Arts, victimised by hundreds of so-called Love padLocks: It’s a nice amount of colours but I know the story behind so I am not really into it (that doesn’t explain completely my silly sleepy face, sorry)
2) In a weekend you have the huge possibility to have a great dinner and a great brunch. I suggest to fill the gaps trying out local things, baguette, croissants, crepes..there’s loads, especially on the streets, so don’t get cut on leash by big chains. I don’t personally know where to eat, the key is to choose a vibrant neighbourhood, where for sure there are lots of good places. My suggestion? Bastille, but because of my sake, nothing more.
Dinner at Le Chalet Savoyard, 11eme. Delicious fondue!
Indulge in a great Sunday brunch!
3) Go artistic. If unfortunately you don’t have time to visit a museum remember, there are some great art galleries where to wander for free in Marais, or some temporary expositions that would love to see you there (I suggest to check Centre Pompidou’s website or the Palais de Tokyo). You can find online also areas where to see great graffitis!
Tourist bonus point: Place du Tertre and its “artists’ hangout, great for taking pictures, you won’t find great art masterpieces but above average quality alternative postcard shaped on canvas (don’t make me call them painting).
4) Find a panoramic point. Yes it is possible to find a panoramic point without paying. Paris is not really hilly, but I suggest über romantic top of Parc de Belleville… or the über über Sacré-Coeur Basilica at sunset or during a very sunny day
Lads
Another brilliant spot is at Trocadéro during night: you have la Tour Eiffel in front of you boosting everybody’s heart up, by blinking and intermitting that blue laser -that makes me think the Town Hall has been communicating with aliens, but this is just the pure bland truth, everybody knows and doesn’t say-.
5) Enjoy the water! Nothing better for your soul to sit around a fountain in les Tuileries, or watch the boats or Jardin de Luxembourg. Quality time alert: hanging along the canals or river Seine is highly addictive! Pic-nic, or just a stroll, what’s better than this?
6) Endorse enjoying breaks on a Café. Take it slowly, watch the people passing by, enjoy the conversation with your mates, have a sip, have a laughter, another sip, another laughter. Repeat it n-times. LUSH.
Santé!
Valanzo 