JA!

so, remember when i posted that image of a postcard that said JA! in yellow and red. well, i made that to enter into a contest here at school and i just found that i won and i won 1000Euros!! hell yea. i am so excited. it was a contest to come up with images for 10 principles of sustainable cities and i wrote a text to go with. it is one of ten images that will be used in a publication, though i am not sure of the details. i will, as always, keep you posted on all news. hot diggity dog! that deserves a FANTASTISK!

i've finally succumbed to being a tourist

so, i hate to say it, but i am going to pander a bit and for the next week or so, this blog is going to look more like vacation slides than my dorky everyday updates. this is a long one, so make yourself comfortable.

met up with Owen and it is so nice to hang out with a old friend. we had beers at the Prater Garden in my neighborhood and yes all your comments about the temperature are true. it is already summer in berlin.

i couldn't resist coercing Owen's buddy, John, into letting me have a photo-op with his wurst (we have left the land of the Pølse and now it's just WURST!) on the condition that he got to be in the photo. and i did have a few nibbles of this delicious german brat. it's a totally different beast than that the danish dogs. and if i had to choose to only eat one for the rest of my life, i think i would choose a german bratwurst. they are hard to beat.

yesterday we headed out to the Staatliche Museum für Kunst which is housed in the former Hauptbahnhof and has turned out to be an excellent, spacious exhibition space where extremely large works like Richard Long's "Berlin Circle" can be shown and in a proper way.

there were even works by Owen's former proferssor, Thomas Ruff

and an enormous exhibit showing what is probably only a fraction of Wolfgang Tillman's many works. i like this one for it's simplicity.

then we made our way to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which was pretty thrilling for me to see in person because I wrote my undergraduate thesis on this piece while it was still in the planning phase and have not yet experienced it myself. the space is incredible and effective despite the tawdry row of tourist shops that have cropped up on one side. there is very little specificity in it's form. the gray steles, though varying in height, spread out like a piece of dark cloth, disappearing into swells and fashioned in such precise order that if it weren't for the different heights creating unexpected plays of light and shadow on the quadratic surfaces, it would seem like they go on forever in perfect symmetry. the memorial doesn't tell you what to think, and it seemed, by wandering ourselves and watching others, that those who visited were having physical interactions with the site that made them curious and want to know more. i didn't go into the information center below ground because i am still a bit saturated with Holocaust information so i can't say anything about that part. to say the least, i was impressed.

then, Potsdamer Platz
where I was sorely disappointed. I have read, heard and seen so much hype about Atelier Dreiseitl's design for the site and it was really nothing special. the waterways were loaded with algae bloom, it was dark and dull and the context of Potsdamer Platz is pretty miserable. the details of the site that i had seen in photos looked so lack-lustre and tired in person and the ponds had a typical stench of water that is not taken care of. i took one picture and then wondered if i had come to the wrong place by accident. honestly, it left me feeling a bit duped about Dreiseitl and everyone who has been praising that project. Maybe when it was first built it was really lovely and worked well but it doesn't now, and i think i will be much less likely to use precedents that i haven't visited myself.

the disappointment of Potsdamer Platz passed quickly when we came upon just one of so many amazing public spaces in Berlin. this one is right on the River Spree and you can see the Parliament buildings in the background. lovely.

interview dog flight interview

i have to say, i love copenhagen, but it is a relief to be somewhere where i speak the language. i feel so much more a part of things. the meeting in malmö with the former city ecologist went great. i got lots of good information and...


i lugged my rolly bag all over malmö and got to berlin with no trouble. i am becoming a regular jet-setter. i even have sensible shoes. the place i am staying is lovely. if you ever come here, ask me for the email of this guy. it is kind of like a guest house and the rooms have high cielings, are very clean, there is a shared kitchen, bathroom and it looks out onto a really nice courtyard.


a few blocks away, i spent my morning at cafe Liebling, literally darling. i started with breakfast while i worked and then continued right onto lunch! below is a little vid i made about how today went.

today i am rolling out with owen to mess around town and see stuff. he knows berlin a bit so he is going to be my ambassador here.

freedom dog

it's really a fransk hotdog. but if i had to rename it, i would name it a tysk (german) dog, because the efficient design of this food is undeniable. the bun is basically a pocket that the ham captain(skinke captjan) squirts condiments into, then she slides the dog into the neat and tidy portable pocket. this one deserves a FANTASTISK!, though the bun was chewy low quality. i guess that is what i get for buying a hot dog when the bakers are just getting to work. i should start logging their locations, but i am a little too lazy for that. i bought this one on Amagerbrogade, if you really want to know. oh, and coming soon, a series about the pølse vagen themselves. i have been highlighting the food but a friend brought to my attention that my reporting is a bit one-sided and you deserve to learn more about the wagons themselves. also, a magic moment. my guy, the one who owns the three wagons in my hood and who i almost always get my dogs from, gives me the sweetest insider deals on dogs now. normally they cost 20 Kr- and he gives me my regular for 10! woah. this is a real milestone. or is this just how they get you hooked?

another evening walk along the Lakes. the clouds were reflected so perfectly in the water. it is almost hard to tell which is sky and which water.
also ///
tomorrow i am going to Malmö to meet with the city ecologist about how to integrate hotdog wagons into the green infrastructure. ha! i wish. no, i am going to interview her about the Western Harbor, but the word on the street is that in Sweden you can get a hotdog with a huge pile of mashed potatoes on top. brilliant. that is fusion cooking, i tell you. i'll report back about what i find.

wiener poet revealed!! mystery solved.

wow. this just in. there has been an anomymous wiener poet posting hot-dogged poem comments on the hotdog posts. check it out. it has been a mystery for some days now and i was racking my brain but they finally revealed themselves. i really should have known. it's just that the wiener poet is vegetarian and it seemed unlikely, but now i see all the signs and i am feeling like a fool for not guessing. i guess a P.I. should leave no lava rock unturned. i can put you in touch with her if you would like to commission your very own doggy dictation. maybe she would even send a mysterious wiener correspondence to your loved one, for a small fee, of course. she's a canine guerilla. she's hot on your trail. that was good fun. you'll get yours yet. with mustard and catch-you-up.

1. Mai

the national labor day was fantastic. there were a bunch of bands on many stages and loads of people. everyone seemed to be having a great time. here is little sequence of events.

it was a pretty rainy morning, but that did not stop the Danes from coming out. they just laid down plastic garbage bags and then put their blankets on top. smart.


the sun began to peak out, and i saw the light, too, and supported the communist party by buying a sticker.
unfortunately i didn't photograph our retreat to Søren's apartment (my original homestay) and the delicious dinner that Anne and Søren cooked for us. I will have to do a people feature when I get back from Berlin to introduce you to my ambassadors to Danish life.

this field describes about how i felt the day after and probably the rest of the city, too. but they sure did quick work on the park. i just got home from an evening walk, and this is what i saw.

cleaned up!!

they have even replaced segments of the grass already.

national holiday

in honor of the national labor holiday, i went to the Danish Design Center to enjoy some the fabulous fruits of Danish laborers--carefully crafted wooden furniture, among them. One of the coolest parts of the museum was a little show by The Flow Market. here are some shots to give you the gist of the exhbition:



this one featuring the lovely sara Harbo as Vanna/model






there was also a space to play with wooden letter blocks. i'll be going back for more fun there.


the current front-room show was all about wood and featured this olfactory test. each vase has a unique wood scent meant to be smelled and then identified. i didn't get any of them, but they smelled great!

they also have a collection of wooden chairs that are lovely and you are allowed to sit in them. i do have to say, though, that the interactive aspect of the museum was the best part. it sort of felt like playing in a furniture store. however, the designs featured are pretty banal and ubiquitous for most Danes because much of Danish design is made available on the market here, and people's homes are filled with the stuff featured at the DDC. for that reason, i think the Centre might benefit from a re-envisioning of their mission. last night i was at a rock show and a Danish guy said that he was concerned that Danes were living in the past and resting on their historically excellent laurels rather than continuing to innovate. there is a turn of phrase to describe this sentiment: Danish design is an old chair (Danske design er gammle stolen). but from what i have observed, the Danes are not living in the past. in fact, the history of good, democratic design may have contributed to one of Denmark's most meaningful contemporary exports--a tolerant, well-educated population and a thoroughly scandinavian notion that all people deserve fair treatment, and equal opportunities. happy labor day!

thanks and cut off my second hand

thanks for all your notes!! you are great. i am beating that lil' bout of homesickness and feeling much better--but don't let that stop you from commenting and mailing. i need regular, preventive care, too. i have been thinking that, at least for me, when i travel it is bitter sweet. i am enjoying what i am seeing and doing, but i sometimes have a hard time living in the moment because a little part of me wants to fastforward to arriving at Sea-Tac to the Seattle skyline, the big red R, turned green T, highway 99 and all of your smiling faces. and one way that shows is that i start making plans for when i get back. and, well, one thing i am gonna do is get a ribbon for the typewriter my sister gave to me and start writing notes with the old machine. i can't wait.

PART 2 cut off my second hand



on a walk the other night, i found myself in a Nørrebro, a trendy, but only sort of shi-shi neighborhood that must have as many second hand stores as capital hill has coffee shops. it was heaven and hell neatly platted in several blocks because i really don't NEED to buy any darling Danish dishes or a sweet, 1960's tea set, or some enormous impractical wooden chair, or as these pictures show, an orange glass lamp. oh, the orange burnsfor me. but, boy is it fun to look(i say that with a tiny sigh of resignation). luckily, i was there long past closing time, so it was impossible to pick up all the paper-thin, white porcelain cups in my hand and pretend i was sipping hot tea and chatting. that might have unraveled and strained, even snapped, thin thread of resistance i have to all that is Danish, well-designed, and too breakable or heavy to bring home.

oh frankie and deer haven

this weekend i rode my bike up the coast to Klampenborg, basically did the Arne Jacobsen tour (gas station, theatre, restaurant and beach/waterfront). it was beautifully overcast and the clouds kept in the warmth from the previous days. the pic is of Dyrhave (Deer HAven?) which is this incredible nature park with herds of deer. mostly deciduous trees, to it was kind of like walking in a forest of skeletons. didn't take enough pics on the digital, but when i start developing real film, i will be flooding the blog with eery black and whites of Deer Haven.

And, this is what a Frankfurter looks like in København. still the tiny bun and not dressed in it's coat, but laying next to it. this time i opted for a pile of cripsy onions. crunch!

interlace

started a new little postcard series called, "interlace". I weave paper together to create words. i have made two as gifts this year and thought they were really beautiful so i am going to make some more. these are a bit sloppy, but they are just for messing around. i have been finding really beautiful advertisements for events in bold colors on cardstock and immediately wanted to make interlaces out of them, but the card stock is really difficult to weave with on a small scale. JA is the size of a standard postcard and I LIKE TO WATCH SHIPS PASSING BY is 7 3/4" x 5 3/4". I was really excited about Ships Passing but since the cardstock was so stiff it was really challenging and i got frustrated and stopped. but, now that i have taken a picture of it, it actually looks pretty cool. maybe i will salvage it. i think i might do a Copenhagen Alphabet. we'll see.

Oh, and have any of you heard of Viktor IV? I just discovered him at the Royal Library bookstore in the Black Diamond. Artist wanderer who made daily logs in his boat logbook out of letters, envelopes and other found objects. there is a show about him at Galleri Tavi at the northernmost tip of Denmark, SKAGEN, and i might try and make it up there, visit Mark's parents in Aalborg and reach the tippy top.

need your help!

starting to get some berlin plans lined up. i wanted to ask all of you if you have ideas about buildings, sustainbility driven projects that might be good. also, do you have friends in berlin that might want to go to art events at night. it just so happens that the Berlin Biennial is happening while I am in town and I can make it to several cool art events in the evenings. I am tickled.
Also, I have just emailed Olafur Eliason to see if I may come on a studio visit since his workshop is right in town. Cross your fingers. I have an appointment at the City Planning Agency, but haven't been able to get any designers to meet. At present, that is the major hole in my visit.

So, here is a concise list of requests for you:
1. Does anyone know of landscape//architects in Berlin that would be good to meet/interview or have studios worth visiting?
2. Ideas about buildings, landscapes, parks, boulevards, tiny and big interventions in the city that I can learn from or enjoy
3. Friends of yours who might want to go to art events in the evenings

all your help is welcome. you can add comments directly to this posting without logging in or having a blogger account. just click on the "COMMENTS" link below the post.

good + basic

the Danes have got high quality basics dialed in. rugbrød is a special delight, dark and moist, full of toasted rye berries and other grains. it tastes great fresh with a thin smear of salty butter or cheese, toasted or dipped in soup. this half-loaf came from the gold standard of bakeries, Emmerys, and required 18.5 Kr-. that is $3.89 and worth every penny.

a ham nail in a straitjacket

Mark just filled me on some slang for hotdogs and the stands. I will slowly be divulging these gems of Danish lexicogpraphic wonder as I eat what's named in the nicknames.
Last night I braved the hotdog wrapped in bacon and it was a real wiener. Next time I will drink fewer beers before the food act because to be quite honest, I don't think I was able to fully experience the flavors the "ham nail in a straightjacket." Next time, I will give it's fair due and eat one midday with a bike-riders hunger.

a sausage wrapped in bacon: "et skinkesøm i spaendetrøje" (a ham nail in a straitjacket)

book selections

ABCHCE by HC Ericson
This one is incredible. Short poems like this one on p. 54:

Dear
Telephone Company

I seldom receive any personal calls.

No one ever calls to say
that they miss me,
that I mean everything to them,
that there's no one quite like me

There must be something wrong
with my phone


Then the poems are accompanied by letters extruded into 3-D line drawings like the ones on the cover. Beautiful book. Translated from Swedish.




And then these two gems. Found The Graduate at a little basement thrift store in my neighborhood and Black Boy at the Laundromat Cafe (strangely Seattle-esque breakfast joint that sells used books and organizes them by color. I'm knee deep in Black Boy right now, then I'll move on to The Graduate.

walks week 3

weekend of new things

starting from top left and reading like a book:

Sara, Nana and Læsse at the 100 year anniversary of women's suffrage street party / Kastrup Søbad by White Architects/ I got a tiny sunburn because it has been so gorgeous. / The Amager neighborhood Center by Dorte Mandrup / two darling ladies at the 100 year anniversary. Love the colors / Amagerstrand beach promenade/park by Hasløv & Kjærsgaard / this is how i am wearing my scarves right now / Ja! Confetti / even grandmas wear snazzy sneakers, here. you can't see these, but she has got new old school adidas kicks. yea!

danish delights

on thursday, Jonna, the director of the Center for Public Space Research, brought a torte from the Lagkagehuset to share because she was going on vacation and wanted to celebrate. Shortbread crust, marzipan filling, lemony-tart heavy whipped cream and then a layer of fresh berries. incredible. a little tea to cut the sweet. it was amazing. i ride by the Lagkagehuset everyday on my way to school. it is delicious torture.

hot dogs go home at night

wow. i had a big night of learning.
on my way home from Danish Films with English Subtitles night at the DFI , I saw this:


then i realized:



but i also wondered:



and lucky me, my guy was there. but he told me he is going to vacation to Juttland, or moving there. i couldn't really tell. i hope he comes back. he said he owns three carts and works everyday. his wife died 4 years ago and the dog stands are kind of his life. the one i saw heading home is part of his fleet. and he will actually speak a little bit of danish with me, which is really cool. i had a medister.

found book

pieces of this will certainly be appearing in postcards and collages. it was really wet when i found it, so i had to dry it out on the heater for several days. as a result the pages are very warped. i found out on a walk and it's funny how mundane things like this will strike you. i just wanted to take it home. oh and the poems are in Swedish.

For Mom (WMW)

Mom, as promised, here are some pictures of where I live. And as alway, I can't resist an opportunity for a little bit of narration. And, to everyone else: I know I said this blog would also be about research and stuff, but that is just not working out. I write about green factor all day and read and slave and so forth and honestly, I am not going to report a whole lot about it in the blog. For my scholarship, I will be submitting research progress reports on an internal blog. If, for some reason, you would like to read those, too, I would be happy to share them. Otherwise, you can read my thesis when it is done in June/July upon my return. I will probably also post a copy on the web somewhere.