Let's Play

 

In the main square, they have put up a giant chess game for the summer.

And there are also these rows of images of people. While there, I was not able to figure out the purpose of those; but later, I found hints online: It seems one can use them to play "twenty questions". I.e. one person chooses an image and the other person has to try and guess whom, by asking yes/no questions. So I guess also an exercise in describing people, fitting in rather nicely with the Art Biennial going on this summer.

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections #179

Mural Progress

 

A very hot day here today (~ 30'C / 86'F). I went for an "early" walk (around 10 am) down to the park to check on the progress of the big mural (cf my Monday post). Even that early it really felt a bit too hot for me already. The walk back home took longer than the way there because I needed to sit down and rest for a while now and then (whenever I found a bench in the shadow!)... Phew!

I noticed that the artists at work on the mural had now added parasols to their equipment. One of them even had two - just like me, on my balcony back home!

I had brought my separate camera this time so I could zoom them in a bit better.

 

I was back home again around 11:15. The rest of the day I've stayed in, with fans going, and trying to keep the heat out... Putting in this post late in the evening: 10:40 pm, still 25'C on my balcony, and still not dark, but twilight turning to dusk now. I just noticed my solar lamp turning itself on... I'll go out and sit there for a few minutes to "cool off" before I go to bed.

(Likely to turn to thunder and rain during the night or early morning. Tomorrow will probably be somewhat cooler.)

Optical Illusions

 (Continued from previous two posts.)

Further on along the river, I found this art installation. I was thinking that it was probably a perfect day to view it - the sky so blue, and the water still like a mirror... But on the other hand, I should probably go back in some other kind of weather as well, to see what it looks like then!

Text from the online brochure:

Disrupting Ebb and Flow, 2023
by Elin Stampe (b.1992), Stockholm

A silvery veil spreads reflected
light above the Viskan river and the
Posttorget plaza. Optical illusions
appear on the water, like a flickering
archway that changes with the wind
and movement.

On approaching, you will discover that the
glittering consists of squares of mirror foil on
wires, forming triangles. The history of Viskan is
intimately entwined with Borås; it still character-
ises the city and brings its inhabitants close to
the entire aquatic habitat. To this day, fragments
from the textile mills are found in its vicinity.  

The artist, Elin Stampe, has obvious roots in the realm
of textiles, with its associations to protection,
flexibility and its potential to both enfold and
build volumes. With her monumental installation
Disrupting Ebb and Flow, Stampe connects with
the history of places in a tangible and tender
way. The title also reminds us of another force
– the gravitational pull generated in the mutual
relationship between Earth and the moon. The
eye is bewildered by the flashes of light. 

A version of the work was shown in
a completely different setting in the summer of
2023: Sergels torg plaza in central Stockholm. 

The brochure also mentions the installation being accompanied by "a suggestive sound loop" - but I did not hear that, so the sound must have been off when I was there.

In the background in the photo above is a church tower, which also seems to have some work of art on it. So I went to have a closer look at that, too.

 

 Fiete Stolte (b. 1979) lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Outdoors, works from Stolte’s
photographic series Roots
(2019) are exhibited, which,
at first glance, look like tree
roots. In reality, what we see is
the branches of a leafless tree
top. The title, Roots, leads us to
believe that it is the earthy part
of the tree we are looking at, but when we realise
what it is, we become aware of the tree’s biolog-
ical symmetry. The images are also inverted, like
photo negatives, the historical analogue forerun-
ner of today’s digital photography.

I have so far only seen this one, but perhaps there are more to be found around town.

Adrift

After having watched the artists at work on the huge mural in yesterday's post, I walked on along the river, and after a while arrived at this scene, with some boat sculptures adrift on the water.

 

The brochure about the art biennial that I found online suggests the following interpretation:

The boats are drifting with the wind. Are they on
a peaceful trip, enjoying the calm, or have they
lost hope of reaching their destination? People
have traversed the waters throughout the ages.
Sometimes to escape, sometimes out of curiosity
and an urge to see new things, and sometimes
to hurt and exploit the strangers they encounter
on the other side. We think we know where we
are going, and that this is something we can and
should control. But there are circumstances and
powers that we cannot rule – and then, we are
like the figures drifting serenely in these boats.

The Wind is Turning Towards the East was origi-
nally created in 2013, and in light of the thousands
of refugees who arrived only a year or so later,
empty-handed and desperate after drifting
on a stormy Mediterranean without finding a
welcoming port, this work is chillingly prophetic.
It also suggests a more symbolic picture of our
ignorance of our own destiny. Perhaps this is
most aptly put by the poet Harry Martinson in his
masterpiece Aniara from 1956:
“O, would that we could turn back to our base
now that we realise what our space-ship is:
a little bubble in the glass of Godhead.”

Heli Ryhänen (b. 1971) lives and works in Tampere,
Finland. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts,
Helsinki and the Kankaanpää School of Art in Fin-
land.

Artists and Shadows at Work

 Looks like we're in for a week of sunny weather again. I phoned my hairdresser when she opened this morning and asked if she could fit me in for a haircut. She could, so an hour later I was there (in the town centre), and got that done. 

Afterwards, I went for a stroll looking for more new art, connected to this summer's Art Biennial. 

At the hotel near the newly renovated footbridge over the river, I found two artists at work on a new mural. 

I'm intrigued about all the blue dots and lines on the background. Hard to tell yet if they're just markers or will remain visible after the mural is finished. 

I was also fascinated by the shadows cast by the machines and artists at work.

 

Having watched these guys for a while, I walked on to make more discoveries; but I'll save those for another post. I will of course also be returning to this wall. (And hope to be able to add more details about the artist(s) when it's finished.)

Midsummer Eve, part 2

 Continued from yesterday's post.

Walking home from the Museum Park, I chose a different (and more roundabout) way than I came. First (instead of going down the very steep footpath) I chose to walk along a nearby side street back down to the lake. Along one side of it, opposite the park, there are some rather "posh" villas.

I couldn't help noticing that on this one they had put up privacy screens just like the one I just bought, on the inside of their see-through railings along the terrace to the right... ;-)
 

Back down on flat ground near the lake.

 Zooming in the little islands belonging to the (former) bird sanctuary in the lake. I don't think they keep many rare birds there any more - now it seems to be mostly the usual wild ones that come and go as they please.

 

Looking back across the lake to where I came from. The museum park is on top of the hill to the right (hidden from view from below).

Having passed the lake, I had to walk for a while on a walking+cycling path along a big  road and a major bridge crossing the railway near the station. (No photos - too busy keeping an eye on traffic and traffic lights etc!) Over on the other side, I made a little detour to the kiosk at the travel center for the buses to buy myself an ice cream; and sat down on a park bench for a while to rest while I ate that. Nearby, I noticed a new "sculpture" thing - a big golden wreath. It may not be a permanent installation, but just on loan for this summer's art festival. I have not yet found any details about it.

 Anyway I went up behind it and took this photo (looking south). The white whirlwind sculpture in the background has been there for a few years now, I think. Behind that is the travel center for buses. (The railway station is out of sight to the right.) The building across the road to the left is a school (secondary/high). My way home from here goes past that school, turning left at the corner, then across and along another street/road or two. 

Once I get to the old cemetery I feel I'm "almost home". I usually choose to walk along the inside of that wall in the shadow of the old trees for the part of the way that I can.

Midsummer Eve

 

Today we celebrate Midsummer Eve in Sweden - nowadays (since the 1950s) always on a Friday, followed by Midsummer Day (public holiday) on the Saturday. The Eve is not formally a public holiday, but is essentially treated like one, as that's traditionally the day of the main public celebrations - like folk music and folk dance performances, and dancing games for children around the Midsummer Pole. (Cf maypole traditions in Britain.)

Most people prefer to celebrate midsummer either in the countryside or at the coastside. It's definitely not a city festival. For those who remain in town, the public celebrations are held in parks on the outskirts rather than in the city centre.

For my own part, it's been many years since I last took more "active" part in any midsummer celebration; but if the weather is right, and I feel up for a long(ish) walk, I do like to go and have a little peek at the event in our Museum Park, up on a hill near a lake that is also kind of a bird sanctuary. There are no buses that go all the way there though - and on weekends, from where I live, none that will even take me half the way. (And just now, non part of that way at all, any day of the week, because of some major roadworks still going on.)  

But we were blessed here this year with rather perfect weather for Midsummer Eve: Sunny without being too hot, and no rain. So I decided to take on the long walk. On my way there, I took "the shortcut" - which instead is partly very steep, though. First, it includes climbing this footbridge over the railway:

(46 steps up and nearly as many down on the other side)

Crossing a major road (on the pedestrian crossing on the right); and then through an underpass under the motorway.

 Then to the right from this roundabout.

Walking on along the left side of the lake...

 

And a bit further on, up a very steep hill to the left. Alas in this photo the path comes out looking almost flat, but I can guarantee that's an illusion! (Luckily I found a bench half way up where I could rest for a few minutes...)

The park was crowded, and the music and dancing games for the kids had started, and I did not get anywhere close to the midsummer pole. This photo (above) was taken holding my phone way up over my head and just hoping for the best!

I did not actually hang around in the park for very long, as there was nowhere (comfortable) to sit... I did rest for a little while on a stone wall near the old church, though.

 

Signs said the café was open but I deemed it a rather hopeless mission to try and get anything from there (not to mention anywhere to sit down and consume it). So I did not stay very long (perhaps half an hour), but walked home by a different route. I'll save the photos from my way back for another post. (All in all I was away from home for a bit over two hours. Most of that time on my feet, though, which made it feel longer!)