Amager > Arken II

There was art and there were cows, both good for pondering.

Amager > Arken

My day to Arken with Tory and Owen. I miss it so much already.

Day 4 - Arken

Yesterday we biked to Arken, a contemporary art museum just outside of Copenhagen (it only features works 1990-). It was a calming and pretty 20km ride each way through southern Amager.

It is a very strange postmodern building that looks to me like some kind of 50s drive-in-movie structure. At the gallery shop you can buy lots of neat things, all nicely colour-coded for your perusal.

The architecture is quite stark and a little too mechanized - unnecessary and ineffective functionalism - but I liked the bathrooms. The doors only open automatically by the push of a button and we got locked in for a while as we tried to use our hands...

This was one of my favourite pieces. A cubic room was created by heavy velvet curtains hanging from the ceiling. Shoes off, you walk into a space that is instantly warm and comforting like a living room. Clips from the artist's experiences from Japan, mostly at the macro scale, are projected on the ceiling and reflected by a huge mirror resting on the floor. It was calming and mesmerizing, making me forget I was thousands of kilometres from home, making me feel placeless but perfectly content with it.

Then we went to the beach next to Arken and had lunch surrounded by a bright and beautiful hazy sky.

Day 6 - Brunch and the DAC

Today means we have only 5 more full days in Copenhagen. So today is Day 6.
We went to Kalaset for a special treat brunch. The blueberry pancakes were even BETTER than last time. They are, hands down, the best pancakes I have ever had. O is very full.

Then we went to the Danish Architecture Centre for the last time. There is a small fee and the exhibit changes quite often, but I highly recommend it. The bookstore has a very nice selection of Danish Architectural Press books that are hard to find outside of Scandinavia (*AHEM* Jan Gehl).

Some of the places we're going!

I think I am in total denial of the fact that in six days, I will be leaving Copenhagen for a very long time. Somehow I feel like I'm just on a litle jaunt that will welcome me back into the cozyness of the Copenhagen airport, just like always. At the same time, I am getting increasingly antsy without a job or projects to work on. And I keep dreaming of Canadian landscapes. Home, soon!

Cast Off

Today we went on an adenture into the depths of Amager. After passing Ørestad City (see: Scandinavia's Version of Sprawl. Intensely architect-ed area overwhelmed by glass and airy post-modernism. incl. The largest mall in Scandinavia), we were confronted by cows and fields that stretched to the sea. Amager is a lot bigger than I thought. We saw these eerie yet comforting land art sculptures that looked like the temporarily abandond dens for imaginary wild creatures.

Dancin' in the Street

Distortion Festival is a crazy street party that happens in Copenhagen each year, in a different neighbourhood for three days. It's the first days of summer; this year the sun was shining and the Danes were wild.

Okay, so maybe it did happen about three weeks ago... but I've been really busy trip planning! We only have about one full week left in Copenhagen and I'm very excited.

Breaking My Heart

1. Alvar Aalto (book via the museum library)

2. Arne Jacobsen.

Last Wednesday we visited the Danish Museum of Art and Design. There we learned that at least 4 bestselling pieces of Ikea furniture are direct copies of Alvar Aalto's work. (Their geometry modified for the support of crap materials). The saddest part is that the people buying the chairs don't even know.

Quiet Evening

After folkekøkken (eating, but not cooking this time), I went on a walk with a few friends in Christinia near the canal. The light and the way it shone through the leaves was perfect.

So hard to say it

Goodbye for now, lovely Sarah. I got to spend one last perfect evening with this girl, complete with one last performance full of talent. We sat by the lakes, glittering in the middle of the night, shared bread, stories and hugs.

Underwood Ink

The best coffee spot. Unassuming, friendly and awesomely furnished with many free copies of the New Yorker. Some of the best coffees I've had in Copenhagen (and certainly among the cheapest!).

Where we go at night.

Jolene! Somehow we always end up here. (And yes, it is named after the Dolly Parton song).

Round 1: Ali vs. Little Man. The Meat Packing District.

Those that emerge from Dunkel (translation: "dark") into the daylight are such haggard creatures they need not be displayed.

Beach Baby

On Saturday we went to Amager Strand to do some grillin' and watch the sunset. It was kind of freezing, but we had good food and good company to keep us warm.

grilling the salmon...

Ali is hiding.

And a rhubarb galette by tory for dessert. delicous!