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Denmark is more than Copenhagen

Fine arts/music

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January 28, 2016

Many of Denmark’s major attractions lie beyond the city limits, and if you’re visiting Copenhagen, it’s worth considering how long your Copenhagen visit should be.

You may either rent a car or use public transport. Train and bus links are comprehensive and easy to navigate.

Many travel guides describe the road from Copenhagen north to Helsingor as ‘scenic’, and that’s not an exaggeration. It runs beside the stretch of water called Oresund, with the coast of Sweden visible in the distance. It is a lovely drive, passing beautiful homes and small marinas full of yachts as well as it leads to some of the region’s major attractions.

Be sure to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. In addition to the outdoor and indoor contemporary art, you should settle down on the patio overlooking the sea and enjoy a fine selection of Danish open sandwiches.

In 2016 there will be several interesting current exhibitions. The first one, Fire Under Snow, launches a number of new video works and films in The East Wing of the museum. Set to be a grand tour of the moving pictures of video art, here you will be sorrounded by captivating stories about people, history and society, visions and the future. It runs from 26 January through 8 May.

The second exhibition called Eye Attack is presenting Op Art and Kinetic Art 1950-1970. This is the first major presentation of Op Art and Kinetic Art in Scandinavia for more than 50 years. Louisiana opens the door to a visual experimental laboratory with the whole range of media and techniques. This exhibition runs from 4 February through 5 June.

Very near Humlebaek, the home of the gallery, lies Helsingor, long renowned as the home of Hamlet’s castle. The Danish take full advantage of this Shakespearean connection with seasonal theatre festivals featuring the play, special performances for children, a tourist brochure announcing the town as ‘the hometown of Hamlet’ and Yorick’s ‘skull’ (in various sizes!) available in the gift stores.

Beneath the castle lies one of the region’s latest attractions, the Maritime Museum of Denmark, which celebrates the country’s maritime history from the age of sail to modern shipping. It is the architecture here that makes this museum so special. From a distance the ‘building’ cannot be seen, for most of it is underground, located in what was once the dry dock of the Helsingor shipyard. Green lawns and wide walkways suspended above the old dry dock are all that can be seen from outside. National Geographic magazine described this museum as “one of the ten museums to travel to for its stunning structure.”

Driving through the countryside to the town of Hillerod, you arrive at the Fredericksborg Castle, which is northern Europe’s largest, and arguable most magnificent Renaissance castle. In 1859 the castle’s interior was badly damaged by fire, whereupon the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries – J.C. Jacobsen – took an active interest in the restoration of the castle and proposed turning it into a museum of Danish history.

It contains a collection of paintings, furniture and decorative arts displayed in the castle’s splendid halls, chambers and chapel. The beautiful baroque gardens are of special interest. There are boat trips on the adjoining lake, and you may enjoy a meal at a restaurant in the town with a patio overlooking the splendor of a bygone age.

Art lovers should not miss Ordrupgaard, a villa out of town which is home to an astonishing collection of French impressionist art. In a mansion, once owned by collectors Henny and Wilhelm Hansen, you’ll find one of Monet’s paintings of London’s Waterloo Bridge, a Degas ballet dancer, works by Renoir. Matisse, Gauguin, Cezanne and many more. Don’t miss the modern architecture and the delightful gardens with sculptures, an extension that will interest those enjoying modern architecture.

Located on the shores of Ishoj Harbor and Konge Bay you find a stunning modern gallery called Arken (The Ark). It is home to works by the likes of Britain’s Damien Hirst and China’s controversial Ai Weiwei. Also here the architecture and the lovely ocean view are important parts of the experience.

Feature image (on top): Arken Museum, Ishoy

Denmark is more than Copenhagen, written by Tor Kjolberg

No Country is Topping Norway

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January 27, 2016

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The UN released its annual Human Development Report December last year. It contains an assessment of basic human development in 188 countries, called the Human Development Index (HDI). According to CNN “for the 12th year in a row, the land of lefse and lutefisk has earned the number one spot.”

The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.

The index accounts for three primary categories, including education, per capita income, and life expectancy. Norway’s qualification for the highest in human development indicates that it is a place where people generally experience long and healthy lives, access to knowledge, and a high standard of living. Norway has also been recognized as the most prosperous country in the world.

The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.

Australia and Switzerland came in after Norway as second and third in the Human Development Index. The first 49 countries on the index fall into the category of the highest levels of development.

The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth, the education dimension is measured by mean of years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and more and expected years of schooling for children of school entering age. The standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per capita.

Happy people in Oslo. Town Hall in the background.

Syria and Libya saw the steepest decline in their standing in the Index this year, slipping 15 and 27 places respectively.

While the UN’s assessment determines that two billion people have advanced beyond low human development in the last 25 years, there are still 830 million people that could be classified as “working poor,” earning less than $2 per day.

A fuller picture of a country’s level of human development requires analysis of other indicators and information presented in the statistical annex of the report.

Feature image (on top) Reine in Lofoten

No Country is Topping Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg

Playground of Contemporary Art in Denmark

Fine arts/music

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January 26, 2016

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Playground of Contemporary Art in Denmark

A new art playground opens in Charlottenlund on the coast north of Copenhagen in May this year. Olafur Eliasson, Jeppe Hein and other major figures in the art world will be contributing to the new art playground at Ordrupsgaard, thanks to a DKK 16.9 million grant from Nordea-fonden.

Mike Doug Starn, Big Bamboo — Mike and Doug Starn, Big Bamboo

In May 2016 the popular museum Ordupgaard will be adding an art playground to its grounds, where children and the young at heart can have fun with art in the open air.

The project will last for three years, and the works in the Art Playground have been created by Danish and international artists, and are designed to offer opportunities for play and sensory experiences.

Olafur Eliasson’s sculpture envelops its surroundings in fog every time the wind changes direction (feature image, on top).

Jeppe Hein’s water pavilion tempts you into a world of water jets.

The Japanese artist Terunobu Fujomori invites visitors into a teahouse among the park’s treetops, while US artist duo Doug & Mike Starn provide a labyrinthine bamboo construction for playground guests to climb around and through.

Terunobu Fujimoro, Teahouse, Kanagawa, Japan, 2003

All of the works are being created especially for Ordrupgaard, and are intended to encourage free play, far from hushing custodians and admonishing fingers.

“Free play is important, and it has a positive effect all the way into adulthood,” explains Ordrupgaard’s Director, Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark. “Play is where we challenge ourselves. It’s how we explore, sense, act out and experience important aspects of being a human being. Through play, the child develops the basic skills required to become a competent and active participant in society, and Ordrupgaard aims to support this development through the works in the art playground, while at the same time creating a platform where children and adults can share experiences of art in a playful universe within a natural setting.”

“The Art Playground represents a fun and playful way to experience major works by leading contemporary artists. We are pleased to be able to give children and adults free access to step on both the grass and the art in the park at Ordrupgaard,” says Mogens Hugo, chairman of Nordea-fonden. “Our aim is to support activities which promote living the good life.”

The Art Playground will be free to visit, and with the support of Nordea-fonden, Ordrupgaard will also be offering a wide range of other activities, such as a children’s art parade, play days and treasure hunts linked to the artworks.

The artworks of The Art Playground will be installed at Ordrupgaard in 2016-18 as features located round about in the museum’s art park, carefully integrated into the natural surroundings. The first work, the sculpture Vær i vejret (‘Be in the Weather’) by Olafur Eliasson, will be the first to be inaugurated in May 2016 with a large garden party, to which all are welcome.

Playground of Contemporary Art in Denmark, source: Ordrupgaard

St. Moritz of the North

People

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January 25, 2016

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Once known as, ‘The St Moritz of the North’, Norway’s Geilo ski resort, has been a popular tourist destination since the late 19th century.

Here are some really great destinations for winter with beautiful winter scenery and great adventures awaiting you, some of them not even far away!

Norway doesn’t get enough attention as one of the top winter sports locations in Europe. The village of Geilo, located midway between Oslo and Bergen, is a true winter paradise.

Imagine: a nice hot cup of tea or coffee and a light breakfast, then bundle up and out into nature. It doesn’t always have to be the standard downhill or cross country skiing or riding a sleigh. Have you heard of snowkiting, ice diving or ice climbing?

Boasting 39 downhill slopes, over 500 kilometres of marked cross-country skiing pathways, 5 snowparks and a dedicated children’s area, you’ll never want to leave once you arrive.

Waymarked trails in and around Geilo are dotted with adorable little huts serving hot chocolate and other warming treats to keep you going as you ski your way around the area.

After getting active outside you then go home, light the fireplace, get into a hot sauna and let the day wear out. This sounds like the perfect combination, doesn’t it?

Geilo’s skiing really took off in the early 1950s when the first ski lifts were installed. This was the resort’s heyday, when international tourists were drawn by cheap prices and quality powder.

Today the area between Geilo and Haugastol is one of the best places in the world for snowkiting! The Hardengervidda plateau offers endless lakes and hills that are perfect for this sport. And plenty of wind of course! Standing on a snowboard or a pair of skis you are pulled along by your snowkite. Geilo is in fact one of the few places in the world where you can try out snowkiting!

Harakiri Snowkiting Trip to Geilo 2015

Depending on how skilled you are you can get pretty fast and can maybe even try a jump! Everybody can snowkite and it is a lot easier to learn than surfing on water if you are thinking about your own feeble attempts at standing on a surfboard. Still, it makes sense to visit a snowkiting school first to learn the most important tricks from a pro.

Geilo is situated in the mountain region of Hallingdal, in south-central Norway’s Buskerud County. It is overlooked by the Hallingskarvet mountain range (the highest peak is the 1,933m/6,342ft Folarskardnuten) and bordered by Hardangervidda, the largest mountain plateau in Northern Europe.

Geilo is a very pleasant resort, emphasized by its title as a ‘National Park Village’, due to its close proximity to the large national parks of Hardangervidda and Hallingskarvet. It is also easily accessible, located halfway along the main route between Norway’s two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen.

St. Moritz of the North, compiled by Admin

People and Trolls in Copenhagen

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January 22, 2016

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“Does humor belong in Art?” asks Sverre Følstad, an expert on the Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914). Of course, it does! Danish Robert Storm Petersen (1882-1942), better known as Storm P., has proved this by transforming his parody of ordinary life into fine art. Now you may experience the works of Theodor Kittelsen at the Storm P museum in Copenhagen. The exhibition opened yesterday, 21 January.

Who was Theodor Kittelsen?
Few artists have been more understood and loved by Norwegians than Theodor Severin Kittelsen, best known for his drawings of trolls, illustrating the collection of Norwegian fairy tales by Asbjornsen and Moe. As a young boy he was “discovered” and was given free lessons by the architect Wilhelm von Hanno at the School of Art in Christiania (today Oslo).

After two years with von Hanmo, Kittelsen was granted sufficient financial support to continue his studies in Munich.

Water sprite

His first encounter with sea ghosts and the water sprite was when he joined forces with his sister and brother-in-law, who made their way north to tend a lighthouse on the wind-swept little island of Skomvær in Lofoten.

He wanted to make a book named “Troll Magic” together with the novelist Jonas Lie, who was to write the text. However, nothing came of this, and Kittelsen became responsible for both drawings and text.

In 1910 Kittelsen was a sick and broken man. The civil grant for his artistic achievement, voted him by the Norwegian Parliament in 1911, was a great source of encouragement.

Troll in Karl Johansgate (main street) in Oslo

In 1912 he purchased a property at Jeløya near Moss, with Edvard Munch at Grimsrød as his nearest neighbor, where he died January 21, 1914.

Some trolls may appear as fairly harmless, merely mischievous, or very tiny creatures. Others are huge, absolutely gigantic, frightening or downright terrifying.

According to some Norwegian fairy tales, trolls only come out at night. If exposed to the sun, they could turn into stone – like when they’re cursed. Theodor Kittelsen shows us what might happen when a mountain troll sees the sun.

The exhibition at the Storm P Museum in Copenhagen, “Life and Death, People and Trolls”, consists both of original drawings to the fairy tales and his own series “Have animals got soul?” and “The Black Death”, drawings, wooden work and works in different techniques.

Kittelsen completed the illustrative work “The Black Death in 1896, and this his highest peak of achievement as a black-and-white artist.

The basis for the exhibition is borrowed from Blaafarveværket, with additional loans from other art galleries and private collectors.

Maybe you don’t believe that trolls exist. But if you happen to be traveling on Norwegian roads, watch out. You just might see a “Troll Crossing” sign!

The exhibition runs through 17 April.

People and Trolls in Copenhagen, written by Tor Kjolberg

A Danish Furniture Icon

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January 21, 2016

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Børge Mogensen (1914–1972) started his career as a cabinetmaker in 1934. In 1936 he went on to study at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts under Professor Kaare Klint before entering the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from where he graduated as an architect in 1942.

He became head of design at FDB (the Danish co-op) in 1942 before establishing his own design office in 1950.

During his years at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts the young Mogensen developed a close partnership with his mentor Kaare Klint and subsequently also assumed Klint’s approach to simple and functional furniture design. Later on Mogensen was to work as Klint’s teaching assistant at the Royal Academy.

Børge Mogensen was one of the most influential designers in shaping Danish Modern design and present day Fredericia’s founding designer from 1955 until his death in 1972. He found inspiration all over the world in his quest to create everyday objects that would endure for generations. Mogensen’s most recognised pieces were developed during his collaboration and friendship with Fredericia CEO Andreas Graversen.

Functional is the word which best describes Børge Mogensen’s design. The majority of his furniture was designed with industrial production in mind and is characterized by strong and simple lines. His true genius is to be found in his almost scientific analysis of the functionality of a piece of furniture.

A smaller but essential part of Mogensen’s work was the cabinetmade pieces, one of them being “the Hunting chair” from 1950 made by Erhard Rasmussen. A simple low easy chair with an oak frame from where the strong natural leather seat and back is stretched.

In 1948 Mogensen participated in MoMA’s international furniture competition ”low-cost furniture” together with his friend Hans J Wegner. Back home in Denmark, inspired by the exhibition, he experimented with plywood shells and fused the international modernist movement with his own design identity. Mogensen also found inspiration in ethnic arts & crafts, lithography and Japanese wooden carvings.

In 1950, the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild’s exhibition presented furniture under the theme ”A Hunting Lodge”, in which Mogensen had, for the first time, designed furniture using a solid wood framework with saddle leather forming the seat and back. The methodology was inspired from medieval Spanish furniture construction, something that Mogensen would return to time and time again.

Other important pieces include “The Spokeback Sofa” designed in 1945, which with its lightness and simple, open construction differed from most sofas at the time, and “The Spanish Chair” from 1959, a low, robust easy chair.

Fredericia has had the rights to Børge Mogensen’s design since 2005.

In 2014, Madklubben Vesterbro had 128.698 visitors, making the restaurant the most frequented in Denmark, according to the online booking portal, DinnerBooking. Søborg by Børge Mogensen was chosen as the dining chair for the popular restaurant.

The lacquered oak version of the chair with black steel frame lends an industrial expression, which fits into the rough, urban style of the restaurant. Most importantly, Søborg provides excellent seating comfort for enjoying a night out.

Feature image (on top): Photo Villy Lund

A Danish Furniture Icon, source: Felicia.com

A Room With a View

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January 20, 2016

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Norwegian photographer Knut Bry worked several years taking photos in Balestrand, a municipality and tourist attraction located by the Sognefjord in Norway. Writer Idun A. Husabø was working alongside Knut and has written a series of essays about people living in Balestrand.

The book was published by Skald (in Norwegian only).

One evening in the late 1990s Knut Bry photographed the view east from room 222 at Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand. After the photo was published in the column “A Room With a View” in the travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler, room 222 became especially popular.

“Relatively unchanged since the time of the Vikings, the country boasts some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes,” wrote Condé Nast Traveler.

Kviknes hotel is one of Norway’s largest tourist hotels. The hotel houses an extensive collection of artworks and antique and its view of the Sognefjord is mesmerising. So much so that the hotel has had its fair share of celebrity guests including several prime ministers, presidents, royal families and film stars.

It’s difficult to describe a place when you feel there are no words that do it justice. This is exactly the kind of effect Balestrand has on people.

Suzel, the managing director at Taber Holidays in Great Britain claims that “Balestrand is her favourite place in the world.” That’s a huge compliment from a woman who has travelled the width and breath of Norway, as well as all the other Scandinavian countries.

The mountains in the distance, the reflections of the sky and the water creating a special light have attracted artist from all over the world since the late 1800s. The paintings of these artists have been exhibited abroad and basically functioned as the first tourist brochures. In Kviknes Hotel you can experience historic photos and paintings og artists for whom Balestrand was the source of inspiration.

“Most people think the First World War broke out when Franz Ferdinand, the Austraian Crown Prince, was shot” Sigurd Kvikne, the hotel owner, told us, showing us a chair. “But it didn’t. It brought something in motion, there was an ultimatum and alliances were formed, so the tension grew over the weeks after the shooting. But where do you think the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was at the time the war broke out? He was here in our hotel, sitting on this chair.”

Even the threat of war did not stop this loyal and royal guest from going on his annual holiday to Balestrand.

A Room With a View, written by Tor Kjolberg

Scandinavian Borders and Migration

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January 19, 2016

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The Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been a towering symbol of European integration ever since it opened in 2001. New travel restrictions imposed by Swedish authorities are an example of how national boundaries are re-emerging.

The Finnish government has also decided to strengthen its border surveillance after several hundred illegal migrants have entered into Finland via Sweden.

Anti-migration protesters attend a rally at the border town Tornio between Sweden and Finland, 03 October 2015.

Previously the Scandinavian countries thought that refugees would come in a controlled fashion they have now awakened to the reality, and now Norway, as several other European countries, considers introducing passport control. Norwegian authorities have realized that a large part of those who come to Sweden will head to Norway, because Sweden is about to collapse under the massive migration.

Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The idea of a borderless Europe, where you could pass borders from Spain to Denmark and the south of Norway has now been killed.

“The refugee situation in northern Finland is out of control,” says Minister of Interior, Petteri Orpo to the television station Yle.

When Finland criticized the Swedish railway (SJ) for allowing illegal migrants to travel from Sweden to Finland, SJ justified this decision and claimed that the state railway wanted to “act kindly and humane”.

There has been large amounts of asylum seekers, everything from a dozen up to about one hundred per train,” said the Finnish railway’s Communication Director Mika Heihari to Yle.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa is now going through southern Europe with only one goal, Germany and Scandinavia.

Now Swedish politicians claim they will probably have to take up big loans to finance the hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers who are expected this and the coming years. The Swedish economy is simply not prepared for such enormous costs.

Andreas Orrefors, an associate professor in intellectual history, who lives in Lund, on the Swedish side of the Oresund Bridge, says that the clock has been turned back. “We’re going back in time when the bridge didn’t exist,” he says. He’s studied on both sides and taught students from both Sweden and Denmark.

Closing the borders in Scandinavia is supposedly temporary but is likely to be extended if Europe’s migrant crisis continues in 2016.

Only in Finland 150 people have been assigned specifically to handle the migration chaos.

Refugees in Sweden, not satisfied with being housed in abandoned military camps, cottages and former manors, are heading for the neighboring country, Norway, where welfare benefits are even better and the system not yet broke.

“It’s basically every country for itself now,” said Mark Rhinard, an expert on the European Union at the Swedish institute of international Affairs.

Refugees crossing the border from Russia to Norway reached an unprecedented number, and an agreement between Russia and Norway has been settled to stop the traffic there.

“There is a clause in the Schengen Agreement which gives member states the option of introducing border and passport control if one fears for national security,” says Secretary of the Norwegian Justice Department, Jøran Kallmyr.

Both the Danish and the Norwegian governments have taken a series of measures to discourage migrants from going there, including a proposal to seize their jewelry to cover their expenses.

“There are 22 million Syrians, and this has put enormous forces in action,” says EU expert Paal Frisvold. “”It’s an intersection here between openness and generosity and being caught off guard. I think this is clearly a sign that the situation is out of control.”

The new ID checks between Denmark and Sweden mean there will be no more direct railway service from Copenhagen’s main station to Sweden. Travelers heading to Malmo will have to switch trains at Copenhagen Airport after going through the checkpoints there, adding an estimated half an hour to the 40-minute commute.

Scandinavian Borders and Migration, written by Tor Kjolberg

Related post:
Immigration Tensions in Scandinavia

The World Celebrates a Fine Old Gentleman

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January 18, 2016

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The World Celebrates a Fine Old Gentleman

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is still considered one of the world’s greatest playwrights. 110 years after his death, you can visit the Ibsen museum in Oslo’s Arbins gate 1, and get an insight into his life and works.

Henrik Ibsen, the man with the full white beard, round glasses and top hat, used his sparkling pen to put into words how people think, live and feel. His portrayal of the individual’s personal fate at that time is still something which touches us today. Ibsen lived in the apartment in Arbins gate 1, which has been reopened to the public, for the last 11 years of his life.

In connection with the Ibsen centenary celebrations ten years ago, the apartment was refurbished with the colors and interior details of Ibsen’s own day.

The workroom, where many of his plays were written, is still intact, and stands just as he left it.

John Gabriel Borkman (1896)and When the Dead Awaken (1899) are the last works Ibsen write in this room.

The World Celebrates a Fine Old Gentleman, written by Tor Kjolberg

How to Save for Your Next Vacation…

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January 15, 2016

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Do you know how long habits take?

According to the University College London (UCL) on average it takes 66 days to change a habit.

But it all starts with the first step…

To break bad spending habits and start saving for your next vacation, here are four simple tricks:

1. Set up an automatic transfer to a savings account. An automatic transfer of just $85 per month will save over $1,000 annually for your next vacation.

2. Skip the small stuff like $5 coffees at Starbucks or $70 mani/pedis. Those small frivolous expenses add up fast and aren’t worth it. Besides, it’s easy to make your own coffee and paint your own nails.

3. Keep a change jar in your kitchen as a daily reminder to control your spending. Just before your trip, cash in the coins at a bank or coin machine.

4. Negotiate all the time. I used to be a professional buyer and everything is negotiable, from groceries to cars. Simply ask “Is this price negotiable?” and you’ll be shocked at the number of “yes” responses you get.