Random recent pics...

I got this piece of glass in venice. It's beautiful, and the colour reminds me of the water there.
My Jebus - he's been everywhere with me since Otago days!
A Montvask on Fredericksburg Alle
A great piece of graffiti in Düsseldorf. On the way back from Venice, we stopped there for a few hours - it was a few hours too long!

Some random pics...

Great portrait of Jack (the Greatest Cat in the World) Tarr Boniface Young

A rather optimistic municipal advertising campaign. What with the OutGames, and the Climate Conference in December, it's for sure the place to be!

Oh, and the view from out bedroom window - now the trees are in bloom. Quite different from the shot from when we first got here.


Boring news is that my article won't be published this year in JoNZAH, but will be next year. There's problems with some of the images. Sigh. Considering most of the pics will be in black and white ... gurrrr, anyways!

After updating the blog for the last 3 hours, I think it's probably time I got some housework done!

Will post some Venice pics soon!

VENICE

Finally, some Venice photo's.

Our Hotel room lights.


Wonderful graffiti on the Rialto Bridge.
David standing on the balcony of Francis Upritchard's exhibition space - lovely view!

View from the Academia Bridge

Essential shot of gondola's

St. Marks Square from the Campanile.

Doges Palace and the Lion of St. Mark.

Colonnade inside the Doges Palace.

The Bridge of Sighs - it's really there - not just part of the Sisley advertising!
Santa Maria della Salute - a truly wonderful sight.

Our hotel on Dorsoduro.
Our favourite restaurant in Campo Santo Stefano.

Random night shot near the Academia Bridge
On the other side of the Academia bridge.
Good old catholic statues are everywhere - I like them...

Mask shop

Water fountain - all over the city, essential when it's 30+
A perfect balcony!

Santa Maria del Giglio.

Cafe at the Giardini by Tobias Rehberger (winner of the Golden Lion)

David and the Macedonian entry in the Biennial.

a nice bit of Shepard Fairey at the Campo San Vio.

The terrace at our hotel.

La Biennale di Venezia

Holy hell.

We went to Venice, and of course, the Biennale as well. As a virgin to such things, it was rather overwhelming. I think in the 5 days we were there, we got to about 70% of the lot, and there were a few major "it's too bloody hot and sticky" moments where we ended up missing out on some things - most notably AES+F's The Feast of Trimalchio (I think when I saw Last Riot at the City Gallery it was the first time I'd ever tolerated sitting through an ENTIRE artist video, and it may have even been twice!) I might even be ever so pissed at myself at that. Shuld have done a bit more research though, ah?

But really, there's like 97 artists in the Making Worlds Fare Mondi exhibition over 2 sites, 78 countries involved in both the Giardini, Arsenale and Participating countries exhibitions (if you count the IILA Istituto Italo-Latino Americano countries as separate, which only seems fair) and 44 collateral events. All in all, I dread to think how many artists are involved - but just may be drunk or stupid enough to cont them some time soon!

My head is a mess; my desire to discuss everything I've seen is so paramount, and I wanna talk shit about it all. Even if you have the most fleeting interest in contemporary art production (and the glorious power of nationalisation and creative control etc etc), if you can, you just have to see it! Much more to talk about - and will do soon!






So, aside from that, lots has been going on...

We have been biking all over Denmark - well Sjælland - went and had a lovely lunch in Zürich (where I had to get a new camera cos my old one totally crapped out - and it was only a year old. Sigh), and a not so lovely lunch in Düsseldorf; went to the weirdest museum in Malmö, and I've been so so busy with work. Oh and I have an article coming out in the Journal of New Zealand Art History, so that's a bit cool!

Oh to find a rich sponsor who'll assist me in achieving my full academic potential! It might be Sweden for my masters.

Anyway, some pics will follow in a more sensible order soon!

North of København

On our way north to Jægersborg Dyrehave we came across what is possibly the most beautiful gas station in the world. Designed by Arne Jacobsen and build in 1937 (and kinda similar to the ant chair designed 15 years later), it was an almost heart stopping moment.


Charlottenlund Fort, built in the 1880s, is a cute wee place to stop - and of course has some great sport for graffiti.



Charlottenlund slot was looking kind dreary when we got there, thanks to the changeable weather. Like Wellington, you've really got to take sunglasses, an umbrella, a jumper, and a rain coat almost any time you leave the house here!

A castle that was in royal hands for many over 200 years, it's just plain odd that it's now home to the Danish Institute of Fisheries and Ocean Research.



Once we made it to Dyrehave - literally the deer garden - we had a look round Bakken - a 425 year old amusement park that occupies a small bit of the large gardens. It's funny. And they have a roller-coaster built in 1932 out of wood, and I reckon it'd be bloody fun to go on.


The Hunting lodge in the park is really something. Not used any more, it once had a dining table that could be hoisted from the basement into the main salon so the guests could get away from having to see the staff!

Malmö

Malmö - where the Danes go to shop!

Scott and Lucy were over and it was lovely to have them here. Instead of hanging out in KBH, we headed to Malmö - a 15 minute train ride across the Øresund Bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden. One of the highlights was seeing the totally weirdest museum I've ever come across - the Malmö Museum where they had a rather wonderful Nelson Mandela exhibition. I'll get round to writing up why it was so strange on my museum blog, that I'm in the process of getting round to!

The main square has some beautiful details, and gets good sun!

At the end of a long day wandering about, we went to St. Peter's church - kinda just for fun. It was begun in 1319. The totally best part of the church is the 14th century wall paintings in the Kramarkapellet (Tradesman's chapel).

Musikby

Hidden away next to Valbyparken is a totally beautiful little group of summer houses called Musikby (Music town). I still haven't really gotten my head around these sort of summer houses - very small dwellings on a kinda large section where you can grow whatever you want (it seems), but can't live there all year. I think they're dotted all over Europe - but I'm not really sure!


This one kinda reminds me of a crib we stayed at in Riverton one year - I think it was the same colour blue.

Of course, for every lovely and charming one with a well maintained garden, there's at least one that is a bit rundown - but even these have their own beauty!



On the way there, we found some totally wonderful graffiti - a whole wall with various stories. Considering it was a bit of a dreary day when we were on our way there - it was great to stumble in this ...