Saturday 31 May 2014

FMTSO: Sculptures

Last weekend was not only the opening of our new Textile Fashion Center, but also of the Borås International Sculpture Biennial 2014.

Of course the quite Literally Biggest attraction this year is the sculpture The House of Knowledge by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, which has been exhibited in lots of different places all around the world, but has now come here to stay; sitting outside the Textile Fashion Center (including the Textile College) …

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… and looking across the street towards the rest of our University/College campus:

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It’s a truly awesome sculpture. (I know I posted about it last week as well, but I find it worth another look…)

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▲ Photos taken from inside the sculpture ▼

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Of course the Sculpture Biennial includes many more sculptures and artwork. Some of them belonging to our city already, while others are just ‘visiting’.

In this post I’ll just include one more which is currently also exhibited outside the Textile Fashion Center.

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Vibration by Xavier Veilhan (born 1963 in Lyon, France)

“Thematically, his works revolve around our memory and our perception. He creates astounding effects by placing familiar objects in environments in which they appear foreign.

The horse and carriage, Vibration, stands out as almost as an illusion in blue. It takes its starting point in Italian futurism, a direction within art in the early 1900s that constantly strove to express movement.”

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I’ll be showing you more sculptures and artwork in future posts this summer; both from inside the Textile Fashion Center and from around town.

In the meantime, see more sculptures here:

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Try It On!

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Upstairs in the Textile Museum they also have a corner where you can try on the fashion of times past.

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Does that red dress remind you of anything…?
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, it might!

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Yes, that’s right. The froggy dress was made to resemble the sculpture Cloned Frogs on Gala Dress by William Sweetlove – a much discussed piece from our 2010 sculpture biennial; which has now found its place in the main entrance hall of the new Textile Fashion Center. (To read or re-read previous blog posts of mine about it, click the link.)

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During the Open House last weekend, besides trying on clothes, you also had the unique chance to get help with a proper makeover…

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… and have your portrait taken by a professional photograper.

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I settled for playing the diva with a feather boa and taking a “selfie”. (Did you notice me in the first collage?)

Monday 26 May 2014

Patterns

A few more “random rambling” pictures from the ground floor exhibition hall at the Textile Museum.

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(Those things whatever-they-are up in the ceiling were going round and round on a sort of conveyor belt.)

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That dress seemed to be made from recycled plastic tubes and packages.

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The ground floor exhibition was a lot about “patterns” and how we humans have always seemed to like to create them – from patterns on simple clay vessels back in the stone age, to the complicated digital graphics of today.

Actually the brain likes being exposed to “order of a high complexity” (one of the signs in the exhibition says). Our brains seem to enjoy recognizing and be challenged by patterns.

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The two photos below are from a separate exhibition by students graduating from the Textile College.

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A Patchwork Ramble, or Waiting for the Big Bang

There are so many things going on at the moment that I think I shall have to do a Scriptor-like ramble today.

Bomb Threat

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This is the Court House situated by our main square.

I took this photo on Thursday evening when walking back from having been to the unveiling of The House of Knowledge sculpture (see my recent FMTSO post). This was around 6:30 pm when most of the nearby shops had already closed for the day, so not a lot of people about. Looks rather peaceful, doesn’t it? – The next day, Friday, was a hot and humid kind of day with temperature rising close to +30° in the shadow, almost tropical storm blowing, and the whole of Nature just seeming to be waiting for thunder. I had intended to go into town in the afternoon, but didn’t. Just as well, because if I had, I would have found central town deserted and the shops around the square closed; because of a bomb threat to the Court House (which is still being used as such). Someone left a message in the late morning, that a bomb was to go off there at 3 pm. So the court house and all the nearby buildings had to be evacuated. However, no explosion took place, and the police found nothing. And I did not know anything about it all until the evening news on TV!!! (What?! In my town?!??)

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If we got any thunder here during the night, I slept through it. We did get rain through, and the air was a lot cooler and fresher the next morning. So I set off into town for my postponed errands; hoping to find things in a state of “business as usual”.

Well, shops were open – just not all easy to get to!
To my consternation, as I approached the town centre, I found it had turned into a gigantic obstacle course. Not the work of terrorists though – even if to someone like me (out for a bit of ordinary Saturday shopping) it might seem so…

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I guess my “sports filter” had kicked in as usual when reading the morning paper, and I had completely missed the fact that a big Action Run event was going to take place in town that day.

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Apparently, various ways of getting wet was considered part of the “fun”.

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I can only guess that the bomb threat the day before must indeed have been instigated by someone with a grudge against the judicial system rather than by someone wanting to cause chaos in general; because for the latter purpose, Saturday would (in my humble opinion) have been the more effectful choice. Or, instead of the court house, perhaps…

The Textile Fashion Center / Textile Museum

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Because that’s where everyone else was, who did not prefer climbing rubber walls or running through car wash showers or balancing on narrow timber logs across the river.

The inauguration ceremony (re-opening of the Textile Museum in its new premises, after a move that has taken two years to prepare) took place on Friday afternoon. I did not attend, because of the oppressive weather already mentioned. But they also had Open House all weekend, both at the museum and in the rest of the Fashion Center; and I ended up spending both Saturday and Sunday afternoon strolling around the place with my camera, because there was sooo much to see.

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As a result I have have more pictures and impressions than I can find the time (just now) to organise and share! So I will be getting back to this place in several posts to come, just sharing a few things each time. Otherwise all our heads will end up spinning… Just like these chairs below!

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The goathi or lappkåta makes sense in a “punny” way, if you know Swedish…“Lapp” in Swedish = “patch” but is also a (dated) word for the Sami people (cf. Lapland, the region in the north of Scandinavia where they live).

In the planning of the new museum, the public was asked to send in various kinds of patches of a certain size to the museum; and a textile artist made use of some of them for the decoration surrounding the entrance (as seen above); but evidently there were a lot more patches sent in than needed for that purpose…

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EU Election

Today was also election day for the European Union Parliament; and on my way to the Textile Museum I popped in at my polling place (a technical senior high school) to vote. They had art on their wall too:

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I can’t claim to be very engaged in political issues, but I do find it better to vote than not to vote – because even if I’m not 100% sure which party I agree with the most (for the Americans: we have more than two!), I do feel more sure about some I don’t wish to see increase their influence… Which really makes any one of the others a better alternative!

The results of the election are coming in as I’m writing this but I’m not going into any analysis here. I consider that I’ve done my tiny little bit by voting.

 

Friday 23 May 2014

FMTSO: Celebration / The House of Knowledge

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This weekend in Borås we celebrate the opening of our fourth Sculpture Biennial; which will be going on all through summer until 14 September (and an extra Street Art festival on top in September).

The festivities started yesterday with the unveiling of the huge sculpture The House of Knowledge by Jaume Plensa outside the Textile Fashion Center.

The House of Knowledge has previously been exhibited in many places around the world, but to Borås in Sweden it has come to stay. (It has been bought and given as a donation to the city.) The artist himself was present at the unveiling yesterday and declared that it is no longer “his” sculpture but “ours”. It is Jaume Plensa you see to the right in the collage above.

Below you see parts of the crowd waiting around for the unveiling ceremony to start. We had lovely summery weather for the occasion (+28°C in the shadow) to make it extra festive!

I got there half an hour early myself and managed to find a good spot to sit and wait and watch people; and then also take photos of the actual unveiling.

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Now things are beginning to move…

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It is a rather perfect position for a sculpture with the name The House of Knowledge: Sitting outside the Textile Fashion Center (which now includes both the Textile College and the Textile Museum + some other textile related businesses), looking across the street (and railway) towards the rest of the University.

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This weekend is also the official opening of the Textile Fashion Center as a whole (even if the college moved in already back in the autumn), and the Textile Museum   now re-opening in the new premises (having been closed for two years for the move).

No doubt you will be seeing more of it all on this blog in the months to come, as I and my camera intend to continue exploring both inside and outside.

In the meantime, take a peek at the FMTSO link-up to see more town fairs and celebrations around the world.

Friday 16 May 2014

FMTSO: The Bridges of My Town

As mentioned in last week’s FMTSO (Landscapes), the town of Borås was founded along a river (Viskan). Besides the river, we also have railways and major transit routes running through town, crossing each other at various points - which means lots of bridges.

Most of the photos below were taken last weekend, but I put in a few extra ones taken earlier.

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▲ The bridge above has just recently been made a pedestrian bridge; basically leading east from the railway station area, past the old “Red Mill” cinema and the sculpture Bodhi (in the river to the south) … towards the main pedestrian shopping street in the town centre, starting just behind the older sculpture The Pedlar (symbolic of the town because it was originally founded as a market place for pedlars back in the early 1600s) ▼

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Standing on that bridge looking north, you see another walkbridge a bit further down … ▼

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… and if we move on to stand on that bridge, you see yet another one… ▼

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Continuing north, a bit further along there is a railway bridge crossing the river. ▼

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Beyond that we find the newly refurbished Textile Fashion Center, in an old industrial complex with buildings on both sides of the water connected by various bridges.

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▲Student accomodation – built right across the river ▼

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▼ … and right next to a main road bridge …

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Further along still, here is another walk-bridge solution, connecting two big shopping mall areas on both sides of a highly trafficated main road. ▼

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I’m tired now… Let’s go back into the town centre!

▼ Remember our friend Bodhi?

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Across the river from him, we now take the promenade south along the river; offering several possibiliteis to cross over back and forth to the Town Park at convenient distances.

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▼ Continuing south means going home… Smile

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▲ Motorway bridge ahead…

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… we walked under that one … ▲

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▲ Possibly the smallest bridge in town… Winking smile over an artificial little brook and pond.

 

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By the next big road bridge we have the newest highrise building in town – also quite close to the next bridge:▼

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Crossing over to the west side of the river now and walking away from the water a bit. The last bridge for me to cross before I get home is a footbridge over the railway. ▼

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And of course the view from that one includes another… ▼

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OK. Have to stop somewhere. That’s enough for now!!!

Friday My Town Shoot Out – Bridges

 

 

 

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