Thursday – Good Fences

The gulls like this fence in the bird sanctuary lake!

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Sculpture Biennale 2016 (Part I)

Back to cooler and cloudy weather today, so I find it a good opportunity to post some photos from a walk from when we last had that kind of weather… (two and a half weeks ago)

Our 5th international sculpture biennale opened that weekend, and on the Saturday I went for a walk to look at some of those involved in this year’s exhibition – including both some “old” ones and some new ones. They have concentrated the event to three areas in town. Some of the sculptures are found around the main square, and some around the Textile Fashion Center; but there are also some in a residential area of Borås not usually much frequented by others than those who live and work there.

Giant silver spoon in front of the Court House in the main square. Artist: Åsa Maria Bengtsson. It brings to mind (for me at least, but it’s also mentioned in the brochure) an old saying about some people being “born with a silver spoon in their mouth” (while others, obviously, were not). I think you have the same saying in English, with the same connotations.

 

Popular with the kids! (and I like it, too)

Seen from this angle, it also reminds me a bit of cobra, though…

In the neighbourhood of the Textile Fashion Center, there are some “dropped clothes” lying around on a wooden deck by the river. As if someone had gone swimming… They’re not real clothes, though – they’re made of bronze. Artist: Jude Tallichet (USA). According to the brochure “we ourselves will have to give the clothes a body and identity and create our own story of what has happened”. (Personally I can’t help wondering how long it will take before someone sees it as a challenge to add to the story by throwing the clothes into the water, too. It has happened to bigger things than that in the past…)

There are also some bronze wallets (by the same artist) to be found around town. With those, they have taken care to place them inside shop windows rather than just leaving them on the street, though!

A pedestrian underpass I’ve never even noticed before, but which will no doubt be discovered by a lot of people this summer – as it is now part of the suggested walk to see more sculptures.

On the other side of the tunnel, there is a big empty field which used to be an industrial site. One of those places where you would not feel safe walking alone in the dark. But this summer, it has been turned into a new territory to explore.

Sarcophagus L by Matthias van Arkel

Made of industrial silicon rubber; and in the context of Borås being a textile city, (the brochure says:) “its bale-like shape readily suggests bundles of used clothing ready to be sent off for recycling”.

Nearby, there is also this piece, entitled Guardian Angel, by Ernst Billgren.

It’s the figure in the middle that is supposed to be the angel. Wings on the back and a raised sword in its hand. I have to admit I failed to quite see it while walking around it, though! (But maybe that’s the way it is with guardian angels…)

There is also something here which really is invisible, but which can still be “experienced” – which is what the three people in this photo are doing. Quoting from the brochure:

Very little remains of the factory buildings that once stood here, and through the ground we feel vibrations supplant themselves through our bodies. The place has direct links to the atomic clocks that govern Swedish national time and are controlled from Borås. Every second, a low-frequency pulse is transmitted through the ground. The work provokes questions of whether our need for exact time […] is reducing our own sense of time. No longer feeling the diurnal rhythm of the earth and our bodies.

I think this will be enough for one blog post.
We’ll walk on to the residential area another time.

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Weekend Reflections

Friday was another hot day here. Between breakfast and lunch, I went for a walk to another of the “lungs” of this city - the park with the bird sanctuary lake.

Looked like a buoy but I think it must have been a ball or perhaps balloon.

The ducks seemed to be having a lazy morning on land. There were almost only mallards and a few gulls to be seen on this day.

The lake is lined with yellow irises in bloom just now, very pretty.

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Azaleas, Rhododendron & Street Art

We’re having another heat wave this week, and it’s been (and still is!) too hot to spend much time at the computer.

It’s also really too hot just now to be out and about much in the afternoons; but on Monday I was, anyway. I decided to go and visit a park I don’t go to all that often (as it’s a bit out of the way for me), but which is worth some attention this time of year as they specialize in azaleas and rhododendrons. And with the heat increasing, it struck me I had probably better go ‘a.s.a.p’ if I was to catch those in their glory… 

It is a sight worth seeing, although not quite as idyllic as it might seem from photos – because even if the park is located up on a hill, it’s really quite close to heavy traffic below.

Coming down from the park, across the street there is the office of our local newspaper, which was one of the buildings to get its share of mural art last year:

In a street nearby, there is also this wall, which I think was painted the year before:

And opposite the painted wall of the newspaper building you also find this 9 meters high bronze sculpture by Jim Dine from 2008:

This sculpture – entitled ‘Walking to Borås’, but usually just referred to as Pinocchio –  was really the start of our international sculpture biennales and street art festivals in my town which have followed since then.

We’re having another sculpture biennale this summer and I have been round to look at some of the new additions, too – I just haven’t found the time/energy to blog those photos yet…

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Surrealistic Textiles

Two Saturdays in a row I’ve been going for quite long walks, both with the Textile Fashion Center as my goal (or turning point!). This building is situated on the other side of the city centre from where I live. Besides the Textile Museum it also includes the Textile College, some of the town’s public sculptures and murals, and a café and a restaurant. 

 

As I like the place, and have an annual pass to the museum, I often find it a good destination when I don’t know where to go. There’s also more than one way one can choose to walk (or take the bus) to get there and back again.

Just now there is an exhibition in the museum showing textile prints by famous artists from the 1950’s (and clothes made from those fabrics). The most famous probably Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. I have to confess I did not know before that they also made textile patterns.

 

Salvador Dalí – Flower Ballet
(I liked this dress – it even looks comfortable!)

Pablo Picasso

Saul Steinberg – Arab Town

Andy Warhol – Happy Butterfly Day

 

There was also a big screen with a couple of short films running, one showed Picasso at work, and the other Destino by Salvador Dali & Walt Disney. (Just checked YouTube and found them both there, so including the links here. I found them both rather mesmerizing to watch, even though not really my most favourite kind of art.)

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