Art and Akershus Fortress

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Last week we spent an afternoon at the National Gallery of Contemporary Art. It was really nice, took only a few hours to see the current exhibits, which included some interesting stuff. Of course much of it went over my head, being modern art and all. But it was free, which was the important part. 😊

My most favorite piece was part of a series from an artist who worked as a hotel housekeeper. It wasn't clear whether she had to take that job out of desperation, or if she did it for the sake of art (haha). But anyway, she would basically rifle through the rooms she cleaned and document what she saw. Take pictures. Write a little commentary. It was funny and interesting and perfectly appealed to my nosy side. Which I must say, constitutes a large part of my personality.

The worst thing we saw was this inexplicable video made by a painter about painters. It had the worst production quality...besides the fact that it was just...damn weird. I don't even want to go into it, it sucked. So I don't really know why I told you about it, oh well.

There was also some nice painting (all abstract, but some of it was fairly compelling). Can you tell yet that I have no idea how to talk about art?

On the top floor there was a permanent installation that I liked pretty well. Dan thought it was boring, but again, it appealed to my inner voyeur. It was made to look like an attic or a storage room of a person who never threw anything away. In fact it was called "The Man who Threw Nothing Away." In it there were rows and rows of meticulously labeled bits of trash pasted on the walls, and just a bunch of rubbish and old clothes and furniture. Kind of boring, yes, but...I still thought it was interesting. At least an interesting idea. And isn't art about the concept anyway??? Right??

Sadly I couldn't take any photos because the museum didn't allow photography. The area was pretty, and the gallery was in a cool old building. But after we left we went to the CASTLE!

Yes, I said CASTLE! Akershus Festning (fortress) is right on the edge of the water and it's a bit more than 700 years old. It was built to protect Oslo from attack back then. Mostly served to protect against those vicious Swedes but was built first as a response to some pesky Norwegian nobleman who I supposed wanted to mess with Oslo. In the 1600s a castle (or in norsk, "slott") was built.

I didn't get great pictures of the structure itself because it was sunset and the light was coming in from a bad angle. But the entire area enclosed by the fortress is really lovely and quaint. Very cobbly stone roads and lots of big old trees and old buildings. Now it holds Norway's military administration as well as a military college and some museums, including the Norwegian Resistance museum (this is a very...touchy issue for Norwegians because of the German occupation during WW2. I think that was the only time the fortress has been occupied by enemy forces, but it's never been captured by force. When the Nazis took Oslo, the Norwegians had surrendered it, I think.

Anyway I don't know much about the German occupation of Norway, but I know it's kind of a controversial issues for Norwegians and they are kind of embarrassed about it. And that's why I need to go back to that museum and learn more about it, though I'm sure since it's operated by the government it will paint a very nice picture of Norwegians.

Back to the photos. I got some nice ones. So I will post them now. 😊 I hope Dan's family is reading because I basically got to take a photo shoot of him.

-Danielle

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Photos

so you can see the cobblestones
and our darling faces

Comments

[hannah]

scandis
the primary point of pride for danes is that germany never occupied them. i guess the paper clips didn't work?