The IB Experience

This summer, I have not been very good at keeping up my blogging - I shall try to improve now that I am starting to feel pretty settled here in St. Andrews. While I was waiting for my IB grades to be released in July I felt a bit sentimental, and I ended up sending one of the pictures from our graduation ceremony to the IB alumni blog -- they ended up asking me to do a guest blog post about my "IB experience". I think it was a good way for me to get back into blogging, and I figured I should post it here as well. I got really positive response from the manager of the blog, and she sent it on to someone else - so it seems this is also going to be featured in the IBDP staff newsletter, which I must admit I think is pretty cool. 

So here it is, my "IB Experience":

- --- -

At the graduation ceremony 2011 of the IBs at Nørre Gymnasium (Copenhagen, Denmark).
The white caps are a Danish custom - they normally have a red ribbon, but as IBs ours is made up of the flags of the world.

The 17^th May 2011 I had my very last IB exam – 3 months later I sat with my printed, water-marked, hologrammed International Baccalaureate Diploma. It marked the end of my three years at Nørre Gymnasium in greater Copenhagen, Denmark, the latter two of which I was enrolled in the IBDP.

I am a native Dane, and I love my home country; but I wish, and wished, to also be a native world citizen. Even with the internet and global social networking, the diversity of cultures and mindsets which exists on our planet, or merely within my IB class, is mind-boggling – and worth exploring. My first experience of being in an international environment was when I, 11 years old, went with 3 other kids and young leader to Thailand to spend a month at an international summer camp, arranged by the organisation CISV. It was an amazing experience; tough at times, but living in a ‘village’ with children from 12 different countries ranging from Canada over the Philippines to Mongolia gave me a perspective on the world which I wouldn’t have missed for anything.

Coming home, I finished my basic education at a Danish school; it became time to choose my high school [= gymnasium], and when I unwittingly wandered into an IBDP presentation while visiting Nørre G, the basic idea of it rang a bell. An academically challenging programme where I could learn alongside people of all nationalities, improve my English and have a good starting point for going to university anywhere in the world seemed like just the right thing for me to do.

In my experience, there is a strong sense of community to IBDP students – we are united in our suffering. After graduating, it can go one of two ways; you either loathe the organisation for all eternity, or you gradually manage to forget the late nights doing homework and the stress of exams, instead remembering the good friends you made and appreciating how that prize at the end of the marathon, the Diploma, was an important step on the ladder to reaching your goals. I believe I fall in the latter category – already, it seems a bit ridiculous to me how much we whined about our workload (denial, I’m sure.)

Choosing my IB subjects, I was very happy that I was not required to choose a very specific ‘direction’; my interests span a broad spectrum, and I wanted my subjects to do the same. I took Economics, Mathematics and English A1 as my higher level subjects, and Chemistry, Danish A1 and History at standard level.

I wrote my Extended Essay in Economics, choosing a topic I knew I could engage in: Why does Vogue UK cost £12 in Denmark, when the cover price says £4.10? I looked at the monopoly status of the Scandinavian importer, the impact of taxes and the varying countries’ Purchasing Power Parities – and ended up having a lot of fun with it. “Fun”, you’re thinking, and yes, that might not be most people’s definition of fun. But then, that’s why I think I might be able to do economics at university as well.

I ended up doing a lot of extracurricular activities which counted for CAS – surpassing the 150 hours by quite a bit. I tutored middle-school children at my local library, was a member of the ATU (an ‘academy’ for academically gifted students) for whom I helped arrange our study trip to London, founded and chaired our school’s Model United Nations club and spent the whole winter in my final year being assistant director and head of costumes for our school play, Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

Especially putting on the play meant I had many other things than school on my mind for quite a long time – possibly not the best idea three months before exams – but it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m pretty sure it contributed greatly to my staying sane in the last half year of IB. It seems impossible to fit those 150 hours into your schedule, but when you’ve found something you’re engaged in staying busy can actually be a really good feeling.

So now I’m sitting in my kitchen in Scotland, a newly matriculated Economics & Management student at the University of St. Andrews. I’m already a member of several societies, have been attending career events to explore the internship possibilities for first years, and am the producer of Euripides’ ‘Medea’, bound to go up in the drama society’s own theatre come December. The Nørre G preIB and IBDP made up the best three years in my academic career so far, and I will always remember them fondly.

- --- -

By the way, being a world citizen does not mean I do not suffer from the usual nationalistic expat-syndrome; being in the UK, hanging this on my wall was a must:

(c) Humon; www.satwcomic.com

Arriving at the end of the tunnel

The last couple of weeks have been kind of a mixed experience. A little under three weeks ago I broke my foot while out dancing, which means I've been wearing a caste and walking around on crutches for a while.. We finally had our graduation ceremony, and I got my studenterhue (grad cap)  which is a Danish tradition - you normally get it right after your last exam, but we waited more than a month, which meant we didn't quite feel like graduates yet. A few days after that, we went on the obligatory truck ride around greater Copenhagen, visiting the homes of many of our class mates, consuming a remarkable amount of alcohol in the process. But more than that, the point is that you spend a whole day (12 hours in our case) celebrating, standing in the truck screaming, and people wave at you, yell congrats, the cars honk when they pass, and everybody smiles at you. As a friend of mine said: "It makes you feel like a rock star!!". And it did, and I loved going around celebrating. But it was also tough for me, quite an ordeal really, because I had to move around on one leg and crutches - I was proud I made it, but my leg ended up cramping pretty badly towards the end, and it did take some of the enjoyment out of the whole experience, especially since I simply couldn't make it to the centre of Kongens Nytorv for the final dance around the Rytterstatue. 

          On top of that, we this weekend had massive rain in Copenhagen, which resulted in a flooding of our basement - 25 cm water everywhere. Now, it so happens that my room is in the basement - and although none of my vintage clothes were harmed, my prom dress, several pairs of shoes, my CISV stuff from when I was 11 and all my pre- and middle school books were soaked through; I've been spending days trying to save them. Also, I'll have to get a new wardrobe, new bookcases, a new table and a new bed. 

         Finally, I've been worried sick about my exam grades; I needed 38 points on my IB Diploma to get into University of St Andrews, and I felt very unsure as to whether I had managed that. Laying out the worst case scenario, I could go as low as 34 points - still a fine grade, I know, but very far from what I expect of myself. Also, it would mean that I most likely wouldn't be going abroad at all, and that the university I would end up at in Denmark would be far from my first choice, because the translation between IB and Danish grades is so ridiculous. So yeah, I've been in kind of a bad mood lately.

But, as the title of this post indicates, I am not only seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but have pretty much arrived at it. In just over a week, I will be able to walk properly again; I was allowed to start my job later and didn't, as I'd feared, lose it over my foot; I managed to publish my class' blue book today (which I've also been stressing about), and was actually happy with the result. And finally, and most importantly, the IB exam grades were published today, and I managed to in all my subjects achieve my best-case scenario grade, even surpassing it in one case - totalling 42 points which is even more than I was predicted. And *poof* - gone was my stress and anxiety, and I can now simply be proud of myself and excited to be going to St Andrews! Even if one of the two friends I was hoping to bring with me didn't make it, she'll still be rather close by - so it is not the end of the world. 

So: University of St. Andrews, here I come!!!

CNN's Quest to Cph

Throughout June, the CNN has been promoting Copenhagen through the 'Future Cities' part of Richard Quest's show Quest Means Business on mondays. I'd like to point out that the norm is one city, one show, but our capital has been on Future Cities for a total of 4 weeks ^^
          I really like Richard Quest's programmes in general  - although I usually watch BBC News, I like to watch Quest Means Business (airs mon-fri 20:00 CET); perhaps it's because he's actually British. I am a bit of an anglophile, I know.

When the CNN team was in Copenhagen to shoot the programmes, I read an interview with him on the topic. First of all, he said that we Danes should stop going berserk whenever someone remotely famous comes visiting; Copenhagen is a cool city, everybody knows that. Well obviously ;)
Oh, and he promised not to 'pull an Oprah' by walking around screaming 'OH MY GOD BLONDE PEOPLE' and 'OH MY GOD NO HOMELESS PEOPLE DYING IN THE STREETS', which also appealed to me.

For those of you who didn't catch the shows as they aired, you can watch them below:

'Copenhagenization' in the Danish Capital 

7th June 2011

A Carbon Neutral Copenhagen by 2025?

13th June 2011

Hedonistic Sustainability in Copenhagen

20th June 2011

Renovating a Palace in Copenhagen

27th June 2011

   

Much Ado About Nothing in London

Now, I haven't made a blog post in around a month - which also means I never got around to reviewing the performance of 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre in London, which was the main purpose of my day-trip to London. I think I fell into some kind of post-IB pit, where I really needed to just do absolutely nothing for a while; and even though I love writing this blog, it also felt like a bit of an obligation, because I felt I needed to post regularly. Now, I'm getting back into gear - first of all, doing nothing gets boring after a while, secondly I start working in a couple of weeks, and thirdly I have tons of stuff I need to figure out before I (hopefully) leave for St Andrews mid-September. Oh, and our grades are published next Wednesday, so I guess I'm also just a bit too restless to not be doing anything. It freaks me out!!

But back to my visit to London. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on!!, even if it was not very long - I had a marvellous travel companion, and when she hopefully joins me at St Andrews in the autumn we'll have to make theatre-day trips to London a regular thing. We went to the same pub for the two nights we were there (I really love Strongbow cider - not like the sweet stuff you can get in DK), we   bought loads of books (including a V&A hat anthology and a 1959 self-help book called 'The Art of being a Well Dressed Wife'), and I got a gorgeous three-strand pearl necklace with a silver clasp at Alfies Antique Market. The McQueen dresses we saw at Harvey Nichols were amazing, and the afternoon tea at Harrods just how I imagined (well, better, really); the champagne was delicious, a waiter came to pour us more tea and ask if we wanted more of anything every 5 minutes (we didn't really - there was so much food we couldn't eat it all in the first place), and the Terrace Bar in itself is a quite beautiful place. 

We stayed at Harrods for so long we ended up having to rush home to get changed, and run to the theatre - we made it in 2 minutes before the play commenced. Our seats were great, we sat near the middle of 5th row stalls (and with a rather insubstantial price difference between the two seating-categories, I don't see how it would make sense to go for the cheaper option). Evidently, we were not the only ones there who were David Tennant fans - several girls sitting along the wall were wearing identical Superman T-shirts, which turned out to be of the kind worn by Tennant in the play, when he as Benedick listens in on his friends talking about how in love with him Beatrice is.

Overall, the play was fantastic. I hadn't read it before we went, but the change of setting from medieval Padua to 1980's Gibraltar didn't really bother me - rather, it meant all the guys were wearing crisp white navy outfits, which can only be a plus.
          The story is basically two interwoven love stories; Hero and Claudio are young lovers, who are to be married - Benedick and Beatrice mutually loathe each other, and both swear that they shall never marry. But when their friends devise a plot wherein each overhears a discussion on the other's being madly in love with them, they of course discover that they requite it. The story's villain interferes with the young engaged couple, making Claudio believe that Hero was unfaithful to him the night before their wedding; he 'exposes' her at the wedding ceremony, and Beatrice asks Benedick (who has sworn to do anything for her) to kill his friend Claudio. A Romeo & Juliette-esque scam ensues, where they pretend Hero has died of sorrow, and as her innocence is discovered Claudio falls into despair; but as the play is a comedy, we of course get our happy ending.

One of the play's themes explores gender roles; the old idea of a female falling into one of two categories, Madonna or Whore, is shown in Hero and Claudio's relationship (the Madonna-Whore complex is attributed to Freud, but it seems Shakespeare beat him to it). Claudio idolises Hero, but all too readily believes she would deceive him; he doesn't even seek an explanation, but takes revenge by exposing her publicly. Beatrice and Benedick have a more healthy relationship in that sense - they are more than aware of each other's faults, but love in spite (and because?) of them. I'd like to think that the latter were the more modern couple, but we still have some issues suggesting otherwise.. it is generally less socially accepted for a woman than a man to be casual about sex - luckily, that seems to be changing.

Not surprisingly, I think Tennant was genious in this production. He is absolutely endearing as he, utterly tonedeaf and with no apparent aptitude for rhyming, waiting for Beatrice tries to compose a love song with the help of a toy keyboard. Also, the scene where he listens in on his friends is one of the most hilarious ones I've seen in a long time - the walls are being 'painted' at the time, and in his distraction Benedick places his hand in a paint bucket; Tennant's impressive timing, his ability to look so utterly astonished and his gradually being covered in white paint (as he of course keeps barging into the paint buckets) makes for stomach cramp-causing laughter.
           I'm afraid, though, that the corresponding scene with Beatrice is not nearly as funny. It's still rather funny, but in general Catherine Tate doesn't really live up to Tennant's comical talent -- she doesn't manage to make her character quite as believable, and sometimes it seems Beatrice is nothing but a bunch of grimaces. That's a bit harsh I guess, and it's not that I don't find Tate a good actress; but the problem is, working with Tennant, she is a bit overshined.

One actor worthty of mention, though, is the production's Claudio, played by Tom Bateman. He was apparently fresh out of drama school when he landed this part, but he seems to easily match his more seasoned fellow actors. Josie Rourke (the director) has put in a 'new' scene in the play, where Claudio, after hearing of Hero's innocence and death, spends the night at the church - drinking his brains out, and ultimately almost shooting his brains out (saved by a 'vision' of Hero). This scene, as well as the animal-like anger and desparation he shows when he 'sees' Hero (really her maid) with another man after her hen party, was very impressive and deeply moving to me. I must confess, I cried a bit. So kudos to Tom Bateman - I'll look forward to seeing more of him.

I must confess, I'm still a bigger fan of Tennant in Hamlet than Much Ado About Nothing - Hamlet remains my favourite play, and the general cast of that production was more impressive. But I by no means regret going to London to watch this comedy - it was a great, great trip, I liked the play very much, and in general it is just nice to be able to watch a play in English. And as I said - we plan to make a habit of it.

There's No Place Like London

In just five days, I will be walking the streets of London! I'm going with a good friend from next Thursday evening to Saturday morning, which gives us a full Friday to enjoy the city. We'll be staying nice and central, right by Piccadilly Circus, which means most of the stuff we'll be doing is within walking distance - and means we'll have time to get home and change before we're off to the theatre. 

The plan so far is to start the day off with book shopping in the huge Waterstone's right where we live; I went there last time I was in London as well, and bought a copy of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as well as Dita von Teese's Burlesque and the Art of the Teese. I love Dita von Teese's style, and that she's been able to revive a more aesthetic, less vulgar form of strip tease - where it's really more art than anything else. I have yet to actually see a burlesque show, but I will one of these days -- I must admit I imagine it sort of like being on the set of Cabaret. I hope I'll find more great fashion books this time around, I've soon filled a shelf with them, but I'm missing some on shoes. And possibly one on McQueen. And whatever else I haven't thought of yet.

This and the picture to the left are
photos I took of some of Polly
Morgan's pieces exhibited in the
summer 2010

Following the book shopping, we'll go to the gallery The Haunch of Venison, which I briefly mentioned in a past post. I am hoping the experience will be as great as last time I went - back then I was slightly put off by looking at their homepage, but decided to go anyway and did not regret doing so. One of the artists they were showing a couple of works by was Polly Morgan; I even bought a book about her work, named Psychopomps. 

After that, we've planned to go vintage shopping at Alfie's Antique Market - an indoor market in Marylebone. I found it when searching the web for vintage shops in London last time I went, where I came up with a place called The Girl Can't Help It; I hadn't the time to go during my previous visits, but this time around I will. 

We also plan to visit the small Beyond Retro in Soho; there I bought a beautiful opera coat in black moire with red silk lining, from the 1950s I'd guess, last time I was in London. We sort of happened upon it, because it is situated right next to a really nice Korean restaurant named RAN, where I went with some people (including the friend I'm going to London with this time around) during our studytrip to London last spring. We might go there to have dinner again, but that is not quite decided. 

Now, we're arriving to the two main reasons for the trip. I e-mailed Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge to ask how long they would exhibit the McQueen garments in their windows; it said until the end of May on their homepage, and I would be so sad if I didn't catch it. Whether it was my email or they'd decided upon it already I do not now, but after some days I got the reply that 'they could confirm' the exhibition would stay in place until the middle of June! So of course we will be going to Harvey Nichols. 

When our noses begin to feel sore from being pressed against the glass too long, we'll move on to Harrods to have afternoon tea at the Terrace Bar, with scones, cucumber sandwiches and a flute of champagne. I haven't ever tried proper afternoon tea (although I have had scones with clotted cream once), so I can't wait.

And then, finally, we'll go home to the hotel to change into heels and drop off a day's worth of shopping bags, and set off towards Wyndham's Theatre. We'll collect our tickets and go watch Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I can't wait to watch a Shakespeare play in proper English (not that easy in Denmark - except of course for our amazing A Midsummer Night's Dream), with great actors, with a friend who's just as crazy about both Shakespeare and David Tennant as I am :)

We'll probably go eat dinner after the play, and then find some pub where we can hang out until the small hours, and then go to the hotel and pack; our train from London to the airport leaves at ten past five in the morning, so it'll really be no use going to bed. I'm so excited!!!

Waterstone's Piccadilly

203/206 Piccadilly
London W1J 9HD

Open: mon-sat 9-22; sun 11.30-18

Haunch of Venison

6 Burlington Gardens

London W1S 3ET

Open: mon-fri 10-18; sat-sun closed (free admission)

Alfies Antique Market

13-25 Church Street

London NW8 8DT

Open: tue-sat 10-18; sun-mon closed

Beyond Retro 

58-59 Great Marlborough Street (in the cellar)

London W1F 7JY

Open: mon-wed 10.30-19.30; thu-fri 10.30-20.30; sat 10.30-19.30; sun 12-18

Ran Restaurant (horrible website, nice restaurant)

58-59 Great Marlborough Street
London W1F 7JF

Open: mon-sat 12-15 & 18-23; sun 18-23

Harvey Nichols

109-125 Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7RJ

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Harrods

87-135 Brompton Road 

Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7XL

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Wyndham's Theatre 

32-36 Charing Cross Road

Leicester Square

London WC2H 0DA

Celebrations & A Vintage Tip

First: A Vintage Tip

Saw this dress in the Kirkens Korshær second hand and vintage shop at Frederiksberg metro station today (the corner of Falkoner Allé and Nyelandsvej). It looks like a sz 36, so too small for me, but at 175 dkkr it's a bargain - it looks like it's from the 1960's, and the lace detailing is really nice - the picture doesn't really do it justice, but I'm stuck with the camera in my old Nokia :)

Now: The Actual Post

Today I have finished my last IB exam!! Technically I don't know if I've passed yet, but I am countining on it ^^ I am perhaps slightly more worried about making it to the 38 points I need to go to St. Andrews, but my fingers will be crossed all the way until 6th of July, which is when I'll get my results :) 

Those kind of pessimistic thoughts shall however not keep me from celebrating :D had a glass of Asti after we finished the 2-hour long economics exam, as someone had been clever enough to bring some along. 

Then two friends and I went in to the city to have cake at La Glace, which is sort of a tradition of ours whenever we go on holiday. (Lin & Lisa: We'll go there with you when you A: Are home and B: Are done with your exams). La Glace is founded in 1870 and is the oldest confectioner's shop (konditori) in Copenhagen; they have some of the best cakes in the city (which happen to also be some of the most expensive). Today I had a piece of 'Det Gyldne Tårn', The Golden Tower, named after one of the rides in Copenhagen's Tivoli. It was really yummy, but my favourite remains 'Karen Blixen' which is a cake with coffee and a bit of chocolate, named after the famous Danish writer who for 17 years lived on  a coffee farm in Kenya. My mum's favourite is the 'Sportskage' which is their signature cake - not named 'Sports cake' because it is particularly healthy (by no means), but because it was created for a theatrical premiere of the play "Sports Man" in 1891. With nougat in whipped cream decorated with caramelized choux pastry on a bottom of macaroon it is quite heavy duty - but I think it's one of the best looking cakes in their assortment (and it of course tastes good too).

          Det Gyldne Tårn                                                 Karen Blixen                                                    Sports Cake                      

Picture of the front part of Les Trois Cochons

Tonight, I am going out to eat with my family at Le Trois Cochons - the little three pigs. It is one of my favourite places, although I can't afford to go there very often. First of all the food is good - it is variations over French cuisine. It is a part of the restaurant group cofoco, short for simply Copenhagen Food Consulting, which also runs another of my favourite restaurants Scarpetta, which serves Italian food. Les Trois Cochons runs with a set menu where you can choose one of 3-4 main dishes but where both appetizers and dessert are 'what the chef feels like serving' - nice to not have to make so many choices, and it means you don't just go for the safe stuff on the menu, but have new culinary experiences.   Besides, they have the most divine rye bread (yes, as a Dane, that is something I appreciate). Secondly, their decór is really nice; the restaurant's in an old butcher's shop, and they've kept the old tiles and meat hooks, but added crystal chandeliers and wine cupboards - preserving the history of the place, making it a good-looking restaurant but containing the contrasts I love so much. 

Afterwards I'll probably see if I can find some of my classmates somewhere in the city, out celebrating !

only I can't stay up too late, have to be fresh for my job interview tomorrow :) 

La Glace

Skoubogade 3

1158 Copenhagen K

Open: mon-thu 8.30-17.30; fri 8.30-18; sat 9-17; sun 10-17 (closed on sundays April-September)

Le Trois Cochons

Værnedamsvej 10

1619 Copenhagen V

Open: mon-sat 12-14.30 (lunch); mon-sun 17.30-24 (dinner, kitchen closes 22, sunday 21)

Analogue Blogging & When you wish upon a star

This week I've probably been more stressed than I've ever been before: I had 8 exams in 5 different subjects during 4 days. So when I got home from my last history exam, I collapsed on the sofa in our garden-facing room where I could see our 90-year old apple tree blossoming. I fetched a blanket, a pillow, Thursday's newspapers and my May issue of British Vogue which I hadn't had the time to look at yet - and sitting snugly I read both newspapers and Vogue from cover to cover. I can strongly recommend this to anyone in desperate need of tranquility.

At night, I wanted to write a blog post - felt a bit guilty for not posting anything the whole week. And guess what: Blogger was down! And remained so until sometime Friday evening. Very annoying. Instead, I resorted to some analogue blogging; I cut out stuff I liked from my Vogue and posted it to my beloved Moleskine notebook. I had space in between the poems I learned by heart for my English exam - had planned to write notes for them, never got around to actually doing it. Reading through the magazine reminded me why seeing the editorials online just can't compare; especially since not all of them make it to for example fashiongonerouge.com.

Out of the four editorials in Vogue, 2 of them were some of the best I think I've ever seen; 'White Mischief' with Agyness Deyn by Tim Walker:

and 'Forget Me Not' with Hannah Holman by Tim Gutt and set design by Shona Heath (who also did the 'Star Signs' set design in the December 2010 issue; those who have been in the Nørre G drama room will recognize those pictures as some those I decorated the walls with). The shoot was themed around the customary gifts for different anniversaries (17th = Furniture, 20th = China, etc.):

And by the way: I felt like humming 'When you wish upon a star' yesterday; some of the McQueen garments meant for the 'Savage Beauty' exhibition at the Met got caught in customs, and weren't allowed to enter the USA. Which means: They are displayed in the windows of Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge until the end of May !!!!!!!

I've been talking to a friend about going to London for a couple of days sometime during the summer, to watch David Tennant in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre. We both loved him in Hamlet (although we only watched the movie), and would like to see him on stage - now, we're trying to find out if we have time to go sometime this month, so we can catch McQueen at Knightsbridge. And I also want to show her the fantastic gallery "The Haunch of Venison" which I visited by myself when I was in London last summer (my companions went to Abercrombie & Fitch across the street instead) - I'll write more about that some other time. 

Alexander the Great conquers NY post mortem - and I'm not there to see it

From McQueen's Fall '06 collection, shot by Steven
Meisel for Vogue US (from fashiongonerogue.com)

This summer, there is one place I'd really really like to go. Which is unfortunately not very realistic.  See, I've never been to the US, and have always wanted to visit New York, but I am dying to go there particularly this year to see the posthumous McQueen exhibition at the Met, "Savage Beauty".

I've been a fan of McQueen pretty much ever since I became interested in fashion (which is quite a long time ago, really), and was very saddened when he passed away. In my last post I spoke of Damien Hirst, saying that what I liked about him was how he played with our concept of death, that his art was both beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Much the same is the reason for my admiration for Alexander McQueen; he also toyed with this theme, for example in the gown below from the Spring '07 collection, adorned with actual flowers, some of which fell of the dress as it went down the runway. It was an interesting comment on the eventual decay of beauty, I thought. Real flowers have always been more beutiful to me than the fake ones, even if they are of good quality, because the beauty of real flowers is passing, and will eventually wither away - which reminds us to appreciate it while it's there. 

Look from the McQueen Spring '07 collection, featured in Vogue US in the story
"Alexander the Great", shot by Steven Meisel (from fashiongonerogue.com)

Also, most of McQueen's collections were very couture-like; even if his label didn't have a place in the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, he made some of the most stunning, elaborate and exquisite garnments I can remember. But at the same time he retained an (in my mind) very British quirkiness along with a good deal of self-irony - notice the antlers which are a part of the look on the first picture in this post. 

Alexander McQueen, Fall '10. Pictures from Style.com

The last collection he did himself was the Fall 2010 ready-to-wear; another gorgeous collection, and I guess he died at the height of his career - joining ranks with Marilyn Monroe and others. Still, I wish he'd gone more in the footsteps of Audrey Hepburn, pulling out of the business if he wasn't happy with it anymore, but living a long life anyhow. 

The McQueen fashion house now has a new head of design, Sarah Burton, and so far I'm not too crazy about her designs, but she does of course have quite a legend to live up to. She did manage to make a rather nice wedding dress for the new Duchess of Cambridge, though ;)

Oh how I wish the Met could magically be transported to Copenhagen, or even just London, so I'd have the money to go see the exhibition!

Fog and Butterflies in the Ark

The entrance to Arken - drawn by Søren Robert Lund, an at
the time only 25-year old architecture student. The letters
say "THE WEIGHT OF THE LIGHT / FROM ABOVE /
SENT TO REST / ON THE FOAM / FROM THE WAVES
ON THE SEA"

Yesterday, I went to the museum of modern art a bit outside Copenhagen called "Arken", meaning the Ark (as in Noah's Ark). It is by the sea in Ishøj, which is perhaps not the most obvious place to put such a museum (Ishøj is a less-well-off suburb to Copenhagen), but it was built as part of an admirable project of moving working class people out of the Copenhagen slum, by building a whole new part of the city - with a highschool, artificial beaches and a museum. There is a videoinstallation in one room with the area's history, where they explain for example how they fought to get a highschool; the plan was to build another one in Gentofte, which is one of the very well-off suburbs north of Copenhagen, because it had a higher concentration of educated parents. But instead of only looking at demand for education, local politicians were clever enough to consider supply as a creator of demand - if there was no highschool, chances of getting kids from un-educated homes to attend one were slimmer, and it would be difficult to attract educated families; and so the slum would really just be moved somewhere else. The same logic was applied to building the museum - and as I said, I find it an admirable deed (especially since it's a really good museum).

I went to Arken to see an exhibition by the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. He has made an installation called Your Blind Passenger (2010) as a part of an exhibition series at the museum called "Utopia"; it is a long tunnel filled with fog lit with different coloured lighting - you can see no further than a metre in any direction, which is an extremely odd (and slightly terrifying) sensation when you are used to relying so heavily on sight to make your way in the world. The video below might give you a sense of it: 

Olafur Eliasson, Your Blind Passenger (2010)

Damien Hirst, For the Love
of God, The Diamond Skull
(2007)

Apart from Eliasson, some of my favourite things at the museum were the Damien Hirst works they have. Hirst has a way of dealing with our sense and perception of death in a way which is both beautiful and disturbing, something I highly appreciate. One of his best known works is perhaps the diamond-encrusted skull entitled For the Love of God (2007); Arken owns a silk print of this with crystals attached in place of the diamonds. 

Together with this large silk print hang 6 other works by Hirst; 4 of them are collectively named The Elements (Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, Green and Blue), (2005). They are big paintings in strong colours, with what first appears to be painted butterflies; moving closer, though, you realise that they are actual butterflies "caught" in the paint. From being a happy picture of butterflies and colours no one can be scared of, it becomes a butterfly death trap. Below are first the full-size pictures, then closeups I took yesterday. 

Damien Hirst, Untitled
(Birthday Card), (2001)

Much the same theme is present in the two remaining pictures; the first is Untitled (Birthday Card), (2001), which is a great baby pink heart with butterflies (never mind the light reflection in the picture to the right, not a part of the work). 

The second is a large black disc with some sort of framed 'structure'. You have to move really, really close and look at it for a while before you can see what it is; thousands, millions of flies held together by black paint. And you jump back, disgusted, immediately; before you knew what it was, you didn't mind being close to it, but when you do you have to convince yourself in a wholly different way before moving closer. This kind of art, which almost physically interacts with its viewer I think is very impressive.

Peter Holst Henckel, World of Butterflies (2002)

Lastly, I saw some things by artists I didn't know. One room had a whole wall filled with pictures of butterflies like the one to the left (reminded me of The Collector) - it took me a very long time to realize that they were not just butterflies. The work is entitled World of Butterflies (2002) and is by Danish artist Peter Holst Henckel - again, here is this mix of the brutal things in life (there were many of them with well-known press photos of starving children, guerilla soldiers etc.) and something beautiful and fragile, where it takes a while to realise that the former is even there. 

Right before we went home, we browsed a bit in the museum shop; for my summer reading list I bought Fashion since 1900 by Valerie Mendes and Amy de la Haye. Looking forward to reading it :)

Now, back to studying for exams. My first one is English, tomorrow! Before that, though, I'm planning on getting my driver's licence today around 1.30 p.m., GMT+01. Wish me luck :)

Arken Museum of Modern Art

Skovvej 100

2635 Ishøj

Open: mon closed; tue 10-17; wed 10-21; thu-sun 10-17