'Devil Whirls'

I don't know where to start. Perhaps I'd better just pick up where I left off...

Towards the end of Midsummer Eve, Friday evening, I cracked a tooth (a pre-molar in the upper jaw). It broke in two, but the loose half did not fall out. I spent the rest of the weekend keeping my jaws clenched and/or keeping the tooth in placer with my tongue; with occasional breaks for very careful intake of fluids and half-liquid/mashed food. And worrying about how to manage Monday, when I knew I'd need to call my dentist first thing, hoping they'd be able to fit me in the same day, and preferably early, as in the late afternoon I also had my important 2nd covid jab scheduled, which I also had to count on to perhaps be followed by similar flu-like side-effects as with the first one, and...

Well, I did my best to distract myself from worrying too much over things I could not do anything about over the weekend anyway. But it wasn't easy!

I thought of contacting an on-call dentist but for one thing I wasn't in severe pain (just "in trouble"), and for another I really thought it best to have my regular dentist handle it. (Even if she's new and I'd only met her once before. But I've been going to the same clinic for 30 years, and they have all my dental records etc.) 

On Monday morning I got up early; I needed to get dressed and have some sort of breakfast (yogurt) before calling (as soon as they opened), in case they would be able to fit me in early. I called around 7:50, actually did get an appointment at 8:30 (and walking into town takes me around 25 minutes)... Good news: Although it was a tricky job, the dentist was able to replace the broken-off half of the tooth with a filling. (Bad news: Next time something happens to that tooth it might not be fixable any more... But I'll worry about that when the time comes...)

I was back home again before 10 am, and my covid jab was not until 5:30 pm (across town). In between, a (local) friend messaged me - the same friend who was kind enough last time to offer to drive me to the vaccination center. I asked if she would have time to do it again, and she did. I feared there might be more of a queue this time, as I knew they were carrying out at least around 1500 vaccinations that day.* But again, it turned out well organised. I got there around 5:20 and was out again by 5:45 including the 15 minutes wait afterwards. 

*The reason I knew the number of people that day is that all of us were the same 65+ who had been given our first jab the last weekend in April. (My friend's husband also among them, by the way. But not the same time of day as me.) Back then, we were all told we'd have to wait until 2 August for our second jab, i.e. 14 weeks, which was longer than the 9-12  recommended. In between, some people have protested about that; and then recently the 'delta' version of the virus caused some concern, so the authorities decided to reschedule after all, and - with extra resources - moved all of us forward to 28 June. So we ended up waiting only 9 weeks instead of 14!

Felt very relieved last night to have it over and done with, but was prepared to face similar side-effects as last time setting in during the night or morning (fever, headache, muscle ache etc). However, that did not happen. My morning temperature was normal and I felt pretty much as usual (except still a bit sore in my mouth, from the dental job!) 

So I even decided to go for a walk into town (late morning, back before noon) and take some photos of that new sculpture at the travel centre; which by now I knew had been unveiled already the day before (we caught a glimpse of it from the car when driving to the vaccination centre). They filmed it in advance to include it in a digital celebration of the town's 400th birthday today.

Here it is:

 

 

I like the sculpture; less sure about the name... But while writing this post, it struck me as a quite suitable title for this whole post after all...!

More about the 400th jubilee and some other things to follow - another day.

Please Take Fake Information

Yesterday I went for another walk to the Textile Fashion Center, with the special purpose to pick up some Misinformation.

For the duration of this summer’s Sculpture Biennial, in the entrance hall of the Fashion Center, just opposite the genuine information desk, you will also find a Falskkiosk (Fake Kiosk).

During the opening week, inside the Falskkiosk, you would (most of the time) find the artist Momus, also known as Nicholas Currie.

When not talking to people, he was writing a series of ‘newsletters’ to be left in the kiosk for future visitors to read. They are all entitled “Official misinformation service of the Borås International Sculpture Biennial 2014.”

Going back this week, I found he had left a series of 45 different letters behind. I think I’ve now managed to collect them all – but I have not yet read them all. Some of them seem to be quite a clever mix of facts, fiction and philosophy, though.

For example, in one of them he writes:

I don’t mean to imply that the things I’m saying in these newsletters are insincere. They’re mostly lies, but lies don’t have to be insincere; one writes what one would sincerely like to be the case, rather than what one knows to be the case. In this sense, lies are a bit like progressive politics; both are based on what ought to be rather than what is.

I once wrote a book full of lies about Scotland. On the cover was the motto: EVERY LIE CREATES THE PARALLELL WORLD IN WHICH IT IS TRUE.

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) …

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

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

▲ Photos taken from inside the sculpture ▼

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.

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.”

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:

FMTSO: Celebration / The House of Knowledge

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.

Now things are beginning to move…

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.

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.