A Weekend of Art Museums

Last weekend (2/15-2/16) I went to the Statens Museum for Kunst-National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk. Here are some of the highlights of what I saw: 

At the National Gallery:

French Impressionism: Henri Matisse! 

Danh Vo- "We the People (Detail)":  Danh Vo's full-scale re-creation of the Statue of Liberty. Its 400 pieces are scattered throughout museums around the world. There are 100 fragments located at the National Gallery. 

More highlights from the National Gallery: Matisse (top center), Edvard Munch (bottom left), and  William Louis Sorensen (top right and bottom center)

At the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art:
I technically wasn't supposed to be taking photos, so I didn't get as many as I would have liked to. I was probably told by security to put my photo away about 10 times =)

The grounds. The museum is located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk.

Sculpture Park. Henri Moore sculpture at bottom left.   

Geocometti's existential  sculptures. 

"Dead Drunk Danes" by Asger Jorn . . .hmmm. 

Tara Donovan exhibit. She uses everyday objects to portray an "organic growth" concept in her work, including drinking straws  paper plates, plastic sheets, button, film, metal objects, etc.  

Incredible Warhol exhibit of his early drawings. Very minimalist and conservative in detail, it seemed to me as though the works shown were never meant to be seen by the public. Lots of them had ink smudges, coffee stains, rips in paper, etc. I wasn't able to get more photos, as the security guards were hawks about camera usage. I did manage to get this one, which is one of the more iconic drawings in the collection. 

Danish Holidays: Fastelavn and Valentine's Day

As it seems to have been two weeks since I last posted, I have some catching up to do.

Class work is (finally) starting to pick up. Maybe it's a Danish thing, but there is no busy work assigned in any of my classes. I have been in class for about five weeks now, and all I have had to do is light reading, one power point presentation, and one paper. I am so used to being swamped with papers and exams at Gettysburg, so this all seems a bit surreal. As much as I like the light work-load, all my exams and papers count more towards my grade (since there are less of them). For example, my Environmental Economics exam on Monday is going to count for 25% of my total grade. . better get studying!

Last week Denmark celebrated two holidays in a row: Fastelavn (2/10/13) and Valentine's Day. 

Fastelavn is a day of celebration in Denmark equivalent to the US Mardi Gras. It is roughly translated as "celebration," and the festivities resemble something like a cross between Halloween and a Mexican birthday party, with a signatory touch of Danish hygge (coziness).  The festivities proceed as such:

1. Dress up in a disguise. In our case, we were lazy and just put on  colorful masks.  Other  disguises at the  party were pirates, cowboy, exotic bird, Harry Potter, etc. 

2. Everyone is given a very long string of liquorice to eat with their hands behind their backs. Whoever is first to succeed, gets to hit the barrel first. I failed miserably at this task and ended up at the back of the line. 

3. This is the traditional Fastelavn barrel. Everyone take a turn at hitting the barrel with a stick until the bottom breaks through and all the candy falls out (same concept as a pinata). The person who succeeds at doing this becomes the kattedronning ("queen of cats").  Once all the candy is collected, the game continues until somebody finally manages to knock off the last piece of the barrel from the rope. This person becomes kattekonge ("king of cats"). So why cats? Legend has it that cats used to be put in the barrels instead of candy, which was superstitiously done to combat "evil" associated with cats. Poor kitties =(

Me, Molly, and Ca taking a swing at the barrel! 

 4. Afterwards we all go inside the house for some hygge time with fastelavnsbolle, a sweet pastry filled with cream and topped with icing, and coffee. 

Homemade fastelavnsbolle and coffee! =)

Lots of hygge! 

You can read more about Fastelavn here.

Valentine's Day was a few days later, and everyone was pretty tired out by Fastelavn activities at this point, if not still celebrating it (it sometimes spans throughout the entire week, even though it is only one day . . .kind of like Christmas).  Valentine's Day is celebrated in Denmark, but is not as big as it is in the US. It only came to Denmark about 5 years ago, and is mainly celebrated by younger people. Molly and I celebrated Valentine's with a girls night in at home (the day after since it fell on a weekday), and we indulged in a bottle of red wine and chocolate, while watching A Royal Affair (a great movie!!!). 

A Light in the Attic

Here are some photos of my hyggeligt room and living room at my house in Gevninge. Molly and I each have our own bedrooms in the attic, and have a shared living room. We have to climb up a ladder to get upstairs (you can see a square hole in the floor in the last photo).

Class Trip to Sweden: Part 2

Day 3 in Malmö, Sweden:

The Modern Art Museum in Malmo. The focus of the museum is on Surrealist art. 

Joan Miro 

Joan Miro 

The Western Harbor in Malmo. The faint bridge in the background is Øresund Bridge, which connects Sweden and Denmark. It is the longest bridge in Europe, spanning 7.5 miles!

Organic restaurant along the Harbor: Salt and Brygga. 

Inside Salt and Brygga. Very cozy and great view of harbor!

Amazing lunch at an organic restaurant: Salt and Brygga! (I know that this plate was vegetarian, but I am still uncertain as to what vegetables I ate. It was delicious nonetheless.)

Chocolate truffle dessert!

Tour of development along the harbor. These apartment buildings are valued at millions of dollars.

The building in front is student housing near the harbor (so jealous!!). Behind it is the Turning Torso, the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia! It is meant to resemble the spine of a twisting human being.    

More expensive housing (and in my opinion, ugly housing).

The Turning Torso. 

Class Trip to Sweden: Part 1

At the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, all students are enrolled in a "core course": a course that is seminar-style and focuses on a particular subject. I am in the 'European Sustainable Development' course, and we went on a three day trip to Sweden to observe sustainability initiatives in southern Sweden. 

Map of Places I Visited

Lund, Sweden: 

We visited S:t Hansgarden, a municipality-funded after-school center for children ages 10 to 12. The center focuses on fostering sustainable lifestyles, and provides students with educational and recreational opportunities, such as practical history lessons, blacksmithing lessons, gardening, cooking, art & crafts, etc. All students are given a bunny rabbit to take care of. The bunnies are kept in the center's barn, and the children must feed and take care of it on a daily basis.

All of the animals on the premise are free-range. 

Farm cat! 

This is the barn where the bunnies and other farm animals are kept. The barn has a green roof, a roof covered with soil and plants, which helps with the building's insulation and managing rain-water runoff.  

Many of the chickens like to hang out in the compost bins during the cold months, as the gases from food and waste decomposition keeps them warm!

Forest garden: a garden designed by permaculture principles to resemble a natural forest setting. The children have lessons and play in these areas during the warm months. 

In the town of Lund:

Lund Cathedral, built in the 1000s. 

Attending a lecture at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University. 

In Åhus, Sweden:

At dinner with classmates at Åhus Gastehaus.

Fancy dinner of mushroom crepe and potato. Yum! (or as the Danes say: "nom nom!")

Our hostel was located right next to the Absolute Vodka factory. 

At hostel in Ahus!

Kristianstad Biogas Plant: cool in concept, but disgusting when you have to observe (and smell!) a pool of sludge. Gross!

Kristianstad Biogas Plant is owned by the local government, and fuels all local public buses with biogas!

 Bäckaskog Slott in Bäckaskog, Sweden: an old monastery and later turned castle owned by Danish royalty. While it is considered a castle, I wouldn't quite classify it as one in my book. 

Inside the courtyard. Most of the castle looked like this. 

The parlor. 

"Red barns" originated in Sweden! 

Learning how to Curl!

Curling!