This week has offered rather pleasant walking weather (neither too hot nor high risk of rain). On Tuesday I decided to walk to the Textile Museum, which is on the other side of the city centre from where I live (and has not tempted me while it was really hot). It turned out they were making some changes so had fewer exhibitions open than usual. But on the other hand there was no entrance fee. :)
City view that I passed on my walk to get there. The tower belongs to the oldest church in town (and I think indeed the oldest building, from the 17th century). (We don't have many really old buildings as there were big fires back in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.)
The Textile Fashion Center. Borås is an old textile industry town and we have both a Textile Museum and a Textile College, both nowadays in this building, together with a number of other textile-related companies. Nowadays there is more focus on developing new technology and design etc than on production. Our city is also known as a center for quite a few mail order companies, but their warehouses are situated on the outskirts of the town.
Since 2014, one of my favourite sculptures in the world is sitting in front of this building: House of Knowledge by Jaume Plensa. I love it, partly because before it came to "live" here, I already knew it from photos from other places in the world, where it had been exhibited before!
Inside in the entrance hall of the building stands another sculpture that some of my long-term followers may also remember: Clones Frogs on Gala Dress by William Sweetlove.
Upstairs on the 2nd floor of the Textile Museum, there is an area where people can try on fashions of the past. (They change the clothes in this wardrobe around every now and then.)
Before you may feel tempted to comment on this mirror selfie, I hasten point out that I'm wearing the outfit I came in, though! (A few years old maybe, but not quite museum stuff, yet...)
Four pieces from the summer exhibition, by artists Åsa Norberg and Jennie Sunden.
"At the heart of Norberg and Sundén's new collages are the mail order catalog and the history of the textile and clothing industry." (Quote from brochure about the exhibition)
On my way back I took a detour past the entrance of the University/College across the road. The official name of the sculpture outside the entrance is Catafalque, but because of where it's standing (or lying!) it's also known as "the lazy student"... (Artist: Sean Henry)
A mural nearby. It looks three-dimensional, but is painted.
As usual, there's always something going on somewhere, and you can't always walk where you had intended to go... I think this is meant to become another open place along the riverside, with perhaps another restaurant or café or two on the ground floor of that building.
I had an ice cream in the town park before entering the last part of my walk back home!
12 comments:
Now that is what I call a very interesting day out and worth it for an ice cream
Your first photo is my favorite; it is glorious! You deserve the ice-cream after all that walking! I didn't know they would let you actually try on clothes! That is really interactive! Is this the same red dress from so long ago that was so controversial and in the news so much?
I can see why you like the sculpture, I do too. The textile museum sounds awesome, I'd want to try on some of the older fashions, as long as someone had a camera handy though.
As always, I very much enjoyed this walk with you, Monica. Your town is really good at linking past, present and future.
Ice cream! It's been too un-summery here for me to want ice cream in town, but O.K. usually serves some for dessert after our Saturday and Sunday dinners.
Thanks for walking along, Billy - even though you only got to look at the ice cream, not eat it... :)
Ginny, yes, the red frog-dress is the one from our first sculpture festival (in 2010) and was in the news quite a lot back then. At first it was on display in the park, but had to be moved to a more secure place, as children used the frogs to climb up on it... Plus, it was also "given" (or dedicated) as a gift to our crown princess Victoria (also Duchess of Västergötland, our province) when she got married that year to her "man of the people" Daniel (now entitled prince). They didn't take it home with them, though... :) (If memory serves me right, I think they were given a small copy.)
Amy, I think trying on those clothes is probably one thing that's more fun if you have company :)
Meike, as our summer on the whole has been a dry and hot one, an ice cream at the ice cream café in the park often feels like just the right thing before walking back home after having been in town for a while. (As long as there isn't a long queue.) As I've not been out of town all summer, it's also a way of adding a bit of holiday feeling :)
Monica you are sharing so much gorgeous art with us, both in today's post and previous posts. I like the textile museum, the Lazy Student, and the crouching man sculpture you can see through.
It's always good to go on a virtual walk even to places one has already seen (and, in my case, also often forgotten). Your ice cream made me feel like having one but we ate the last of the ice cream in the freezer with strawberries last night.
Graham, now in turn you're making me want one but I'm out of it too... Thanks for catching up! ;)
Thanks Terra. A card on its way to you...
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