Friday 23 May 2014

FMTSO: Celebration / The House of Knowledge

2014-05-22 House of Knowledge, Textile Fashion Center, skulpturbiennal3

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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2014-05-22 House of Knowledge, Textile Fashion Center, skulpturbiennal4

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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.

21 comments:

  1. Very interesting sculpture....I wonder if any of the letters come together to spell a word in any direction.

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    1. There may be a few short ones Virginia, but I doubt the "message" of the sculpture is to be narrowed down to just a few words.

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  2. What an fascinating sculpture!

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  3. Hi,again!
    What a huge sculpture!! I wish I could see that in person!
    Tomoko

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    1. One amazing thing to me is that a year or two ago I saw photos of this very sculpture on a friend's blog - from Antibes in France. I could not anticipate then that I would ever get to see it in real life. I could hardly believe it when I heard back in February that it was coming here - and not just for the summer's exhibition either, but to stay!

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  4. It's great! I am always rather sceptical of "modern art", but this sculpture is one I understand and like.

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    1. Meike, I agree. There are several modern sculptures in town which I'm not really all that crazy about. But this one I can easily find loaded with meaning.

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  5. Yes, let the sculptures begin!!!! I love them, and it reminds me of the red dress and it's dress babies, your best post series EVER! This is huge, yet so delicate. In the last picture, he almost disappears! He looks like perhaps the biggest yet! Is the meaning that our bodies are houses of knowledge? That is what I would think...well...because I have so much knowledge!

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    1. Ginny, I think lots of meanings can be applied to this sculpture, which could all be equally "right".

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  6. It is truly an amazing sculpture.

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  7. That really is a sculpture worthy of a celebration. I've seen it before - was it on this blog? Or maybe it was on a blog from another place it has been exhibited. I remember it because I think it is a magnificent work of art.

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    1. You probably saw it on GB's blog back in October 2012, Pauline. And apparently in spite of its huge size it is a very well travelled sculpture so you might have seen it on blogs from other places as well. Here in Borås however it is new; but it has come to stay.

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  8. That is super. When I saw it previously - under its wraps awaiting the ceremony - I had my doubts because I didn't realise it was made up of letters.

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    1. John, it's that fact that makes me really love it. The possible interpretations are endless :) By the way, I'm not sure I've mentioned that one of the other parts of our university that the sculpture is overlooking (and the other way round!) is the Swedish national education for librarians!

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  9. It seems strange seeing it in its new setting. the last time I saw it was in Antibes with the sea as it's background.

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    1. I remember seeing your photo of it on your blog, Graham - and on Gaz's - and never in my wildest imagination back then would I have thought it would end up here! Even if the background we have to offer is far from as beautiful as the sea at Antibes, I have to say I think that the fact that it now sort of binds together the whole university campus here (which includes both science, design, librarianship and teaching) does add to the meaning implied in its name (House of Knowledge).

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  10. Late getting around this week. This is amazing. Very unique idea for a sculpture.

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