Vigeland Park
at the Nobel Peace Center
Thor Heyerdahl’s Ra-II at the Kontiki Museum
The Kontiki, Heyerdahl’s landmark expedition in 1947, which proved that pre-Columbian South American people could have sailed the Pacific all the way to the Polynesian Islands and which made some of the first observations of pollution in the Pacific, inspired the Plastiki Expedition, whose mission was to document environmental changes in the ocean, specifically rising sea levels, acidification and pollution, taking samples from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is as science-fictionally ominous as it sounds.
Oslo’s new opera house, like an iceberg floating on the fjord
Apparently the building was designed with skateboarders in mind–the architects even consulted skaters to see what surfaces they prefer and what lines they like to carve. Accordingly, the surfaces of the exterior of the opera house are beautifully ride-able, with special consideration given to the music produced therein–the surfaces around the auditorium are rougher, discouraging skaters from riding there and disturbing the performance inside.
Monica Bonvicini’s sculpture She Lies is a glass and steel representation of Caspar David Friedrich’s The Sea of Ice, a Romantic painting depicting the wreckage of a ship jutting through thick ice. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the sculpture, as some people think it looks like garbage. I love the way the metal and glass reflect the light, like water or ice, and move with the wind and water. It looks to me almost as natural as an iceberg.
Tusen takk Catrine, Mette og Astri!
Oslo, 25 August – 31 August 2010