Last week was a revelation. It goes without saying that I was hoping and expecting to see plenty and to enjoy much during our week in Norway, but I truly had no inkling just how many layers of discovery would be waiting for me.
Aurlandsfjord, near Flåm While natural beauty appears in every direction, this post concentrates on the man-made.
Don’t you find that a big part of travel is keeping your eyes peeled for the unexpected? Familiarity may tend to let such sights melt into the woodwork for locals, yet it’s exactly those choice visual details which elevate a tourist’s experience. Reviewing my photos at the end of each day, threads of connection begin to surface, and it’s something of a game to find the basis for future blog posts among them. In fact, I’ve learned that keeping my “week after” post in the back of my mind as we travel is an unexpectedly fortuitous lens for noticing and appreciating the nuances of new places.
This fabulous piece of digital video art, a silhouette of a man in constant, athletic motion, was in the baggage claim area of the Oslo airport. I took it as a good omen of what was to come.
This trip provided plenty to work with, to the point where I could potentially write a full month’s-worth of posts. The challenge is in paring down; I’ve compiled everything into a two-parter. This week highlights the fluid line that seemed to waver between the mundane and the monumental, and the indisputable fact that Norwegians seem to value living amidst art. The smallest details loom large, so that the measure of what one sees doesn’t hinge on size or function.
Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo is beyond remarkable, including over 200 sculptures in bronze, granite, and cast iron, all created by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). The huge scope is mind-boggling, yet it is the intimacy and depth of humanity his work portrays that stopped me in my tracks. Take a moment to look at the facial expressions and body language of the figures below; there is something of all of us there to recognize.
Public art appears everywhere, on both broad and intimate scales. To me, it tells a side story about the communities who live with it, painting a more complete picture for those of us who are temporary guests.
Although it’s hard to see why from the angle of this shot, this series of side-by-side highrise buildings in Oslo is known as the Barcode. I was quite taken with the bold architecture throughout the city, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet building being among the most famous. A couple of days later there was still snow and ice in the mountains as we traveled by train from Oslo to Bergen, and in hindsight I wondered if shards of breaking ice as they begin the spring melt inspired the striking windows of the Deloitte building.
She Lies, ©2010 Monica Bonvicini This sculpture seemingly floats in Bjørvika Fjord in front of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. It is an homage to Caspar David Freidrich’s 1823-24 painting The Sea of Ice, celebrating the power and majesty of the great frozen north.
Large and fanciful murals, to smile and wonder at, cropped up in unexpected places. See more of this artist’s work on Instagram.
Other street art was more serious. Although hard to see in this shot, the head is beautifully, if roughly, carved from wood, emerging from wall and painted body. While appearing spontaneous, this piece’s careful execution must have required plenty of forethought.
Deer Grazing on Yggdrasil, Dagfin Werenskiold Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented each year, contains spectacular murals inside. But it was Dagfin Werenskiold’s 16 wooden relief carvings ringing the outside entrance area, depicting Eddic poems from Norse mythology, that captured my imagination with their confined compositions, textural effects, and imaginative colors.
Frøy and Skirne, Dagfin Werenskiold
Dykkaren (Diver), Ola Enstad There are numerous sculptures in the Aker Bryyge area, but this one, perched near the edge of the harbor, seemed most at home.
The manhole covers in Bergen Harbor speak to the pride the city takes and the beauty it assigns to every feature, even the most basic.
No explanation needed
This wallpaper, an unexpected bright spot in a public restroom, was anything but ordinary.
A trip to the Ski Museum and Tower at Holmenkollen held a special treat beyond the views. This exhibition of dresses created from repurposed traditional Norwegian sweaters set my knitting heart aflutter…to the same degree as peering down the steep ski jump.
These beautiful dresses were created by Karin Mertz Pladsen and Hanne Senstad of 2jinter. They sew wool dresses of old knit sweaters / cardigans and new woolen fabrics from Austria. In their statement they mention that when they were invited to exhibit their dresses at Holmenkollen, they quickly ended up using Lillehammer’s Olympic sweater from 1994 as the theme for the dresses, which was appropriate considering it is the 25th anniversary of the Lillehammer Games this year.
Come back next week for visits to the Munch and Kode Museums — a more formal view of Nordic art that is anything but stuffy.
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One final note: In a sense, travel is a forced interruption of work patterns that often leads to unexpected break-throughs in the studio after returning. It’s an effect that always seems to crop up for me in one way or another. Therefore, it was a sort of kismet to learn about Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less on a podcast during the flight home. I have it on hold at the library and will let you know what I find out.