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

Grand Teatret, ChiliMili & some casual shopping

Saturday was my day off from studying - I went shopping with my little sister in the day and went to see a movie at Grand Teatret with a friend at night, finishing off with late dinner at Chilimili :)

I love going shopping for other people; just as I spend ages picking out the perfect gifts for friends and family, I like to help in finding clothes which both look good on that specific person, fit their style and are fashionable at the same time - especially when it is a challenge. I think no one appreciates that more than my sister; saturday she exclaimed that she would have to limit her aquiring of new clothes the next years to when I'll be home on Christmas and summer break (but - I'm not sure she'll keep that promise until she's 15). 

Deena & Ozzy oxfords, copper and silver nail varnish from Urban Outfitters
and a bow hairclip from Monki

As it often is, when shopping with other people you happen upon things which you feel are must-haves - or at least would be really really nice to have (must-have is such an overused term). And so did I this saturday - in Urban outfitters I found two kinds of metallic nail varnish at 70 dkkr each (been wearing the silver one, it's really pretty) plus a pair of oxford shoes which were just too cool not to buy. They're in black suede, clear pvc and silverish-gold on the tips, by a brand I'm unfamiliar with, Deena & Ozzy; they're practically customizable since you can change their appearance so much based on which socks you wear ^^ The brand seems quite cool too - I googled it, and I liked many of the shoes which popped up. Lastly, I bought a dark pink/purple triple bow hairclip from Monki - put it in my hair as soon as I'd paid for it :)

After having dropped off the shopping bags (mine and my sisters's) at home, I met up with a friend to go watch "The King's Speech" at Grand Teatret (yes, it has taken me long enough). Grand is without doubt my favourite cinema in Copenhagen; they stick to grown-up movies, and often ones which appeal to a narrower audience (they have 'French movie monday' for example) - in other words, don't go if you want to see "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Tangled" or "Meet the Fockers". But I watched "The Black Swan" there not too long ago with some of the actors from our play, and I can't wait to see "Mao's Last Dancer" there. It seems much less commercial than most of the other cinemas, and especially the main theatre is a beautiful old room (Sal 1), just as a movie theatre ought to be. They sell coffee, small bags of candy and cake, soda is available only in the old-fashioned glass bottles - no super-size me as most other places, where a medium soda is 3/4(!) litres. Sorry, this isn't to nag about the moral delapidation of modern cinemas - Grand Teatret is just something special :) 

(The King's Speech is a great movie by the way - but you don't need me to tell you that.)

After the movie, we went to Chilimili by Rådhuspladsen for a late dinner. They have really yummy, healthy food, and between 9 and 10 p.m. they have half price on all food and beverages (not sure if that's a permanent thing; anyway, otherwise there's the 20% discount for students). Their concept is that you take your pick of a couple different dishes between all the stuff they have lined up such as pasta salads, humus etc (lots of vegetarian food too), have it in a wrap or sandwich, or you buy either their 'soup of the day' or 'hot dish of the day'. Very good value for money (although the space is very attempted-hip cafeteria-ish; but never mind that) especially with the half price offer; otherwise, you can eat a small portion for 35 dkkr (without student discount), and e.g. the hot dish is 69 dkkr. In Denmark, it doesn't get much cheaper if you want to avoid junk food :)

Grand Teatret

Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8 (a side street to Strøget at the City Hall Square-end)

1460 København K

Chili Mili Rådhuspladsen

H. C. Andersens Boulevard 12

1553 København

Open: mon-sun 10-22

Grass & Cherry blossoms, Glass & Steel

I have decided that I would like to write about some of my favourite places in Copenhagen - as inspiration to natives and visitors alike :) I had the idea yesterday when I was spending the afternoon with my family, going around to different places in the city as the thoughts occured to us.

Kongens Have yesterday

The cherry trees are blossoming now

The first place we went was Kongens Have, 'The King's Garden', which is a big park in central Copenhagen situated around Rosenborg Castle. When the weather's nice there are always lots of people relaxing on the grass, going for walk, playing football or petanque or taking their kids to the playground. Denmark might not have the nicest weather in the world, but that just means that whenever the sun comes out, Copenhageners flock to parks and plazas to drink cold beer and get some sun - even if it after most people's standards is still freakin cold. 

One thing which makes Kongens Have particularly nice right now is that the cherry trees are blossoming -- and since the weather ought to hold for the duration of the easter break, everybody who can should take a trip to the park. If you're studying for exams, you can always take your books with you :)

After we'd been in the park and had gotten a bit to eat, we went to Amager to see one of my favourite buildings in the Copenhagen area (one of the few new buildings I really like), 8-tallet (≈ "The number 8"). As you can see to the right, they aren't quite done yet, but already it is an astonishing building. Seen from above, it is constructed as an 8 - a far more interesting shape than the usual glass-and-steel boxes. They have done a lot to create life in and around the building, with shops and a (quite good) café in one corner; I read in an interview with the architect that he'd wanted to make the building resemble a mountain village - this has resulted in multi-level apartments, small 'gardens' for many of them, and an invitation for people to hike to the top, up the many stairs. I did so already last summer, and the view is beautiful on both 'sides' of the building, both the one looking out over 'Fælleden' and the one looking into the inner side of the 8. 

8-tallet as it will end up looking. At the bottom here is Café 8-tallet; I've walked to the top on the 'hill' to the right.

You really don't have to be an architecture-enthusiast to appreciate the beauty of this building. And it makes for a good afternoon trip; just take the metro to Vestamager station, take a walk up and and around 8-tallet, and finish up with a nice cup of coffee or brunch/lunch/dinner in Café 8-tallet. 

EDIT: The left staircase is closed for non-residents; I am not certain whether the right staircase will be closed when all the apartments adjacent to it are sold. So if you want to go, it might be a good idea to do so rather soon. Otherwise, there are details on how to arrange a guided tour on the 8-tallet homepage.


Extra: Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG showing some of the group's other buildings on CNN:

Kongens Have

Øster Voldgade 4B (not too far from Nørreport station)

1350 København K

Open: January 07-17; February 07-18; March 07-19; April 07-21; May-August 07-22; September 07-21; October 07-19; November 07-18; December 07-17.

8-tallet

Richard Mortensens Vej (by Vestamager metro station)

2300 København S

Open: Always, but Café: mon-fri 11-21; sat-sun 10-21 (these are kitchen opening hours; the actual café is open a few hours longer for you to finish your food or just have a beer or coffee. Kitchen is closed every day 16.30-17.30)