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Ahead of the election on Sunday, I was surprised to see two of the parties cosying up together on Vagnhärad station this morning. I admit that I don’t know a lot about Swedish politics (though I do know who I’ll be voting for) but I do think these sorts of apparent underhand and secretive meetings could be misconstrued.
I was on Vagnhärad station this morning because I was heading for Norrköping, in a bid to see an exhibition at the art gallery.
Back in April, during the Easter weekend, which we celebrated along with KSP, Jonas, Josefine and Karl-Fredrik, Josefine told us about an exhibition they had recently visited called Subterranean Hunger by artist Sara-Vide Ericson. She passed around the brochure and, I have to say, I found the works and the artist quite intriguing.
I was determined to go and see the exhibition before it ended in November.
I had planned to go on the Retreat weekend but my Freya Minding Services were required. There was no such barrier today so I headed for the station and sat for the hour-long trip. And, boy was it worth it. I even got to enjoy a short journey on a tram.
The pleasure at this was merely increased at the art gallery. What a splendid place. Big, open, bright and, possibly best of all, empty except for me and three staff members.
After a short but delightful chat to the woman at the counter, I headed into the exhibition. And, I have to say, it was superb. And not just the works. Each one was given a lot of empty space throughout the three areas on the ground floor which let each work speak for itself.
I can’t remember seeing anything by Ms Ericson before. Her works are quite distinctive so I think I’d remember them.
She works in and around the Hälsingland area of central Sweden, an area that is quite clearly, a pretty wild wilderness. At least that’s what her paintings depict.
She likes including herself in the works, and it is one of those that I particularly loved. Actually, there were two, including this one, that I liked the most but, given my own set of weird rules, I can only include one so this is it.
Such an enigmatic painting. I think it is beautiful in a wild and rugged way. I absolutely love the use of bright red which separates the figure from the muted landscape while she sits within it.
Overall, I loved the exhibition and am really glad I went. but that wasn’t all that the art gallery had to offer. There was also the collection to visit upstairs and an exhibition about water downstairs. I spent a long while checking out everything.
Curiously, I spotted a few works in the collection that I recognised from the art lectures I attended recently through the National Gallery in London. In particular the very odd Star Wars cabinet.
But, as I said, it wasn’t the only one I recognised. There were quite a few which surprised and delighted me.
Sadly, eventually I had to move on and, following a fun encounter with a woman in Wayne’s Coffee who I made laugh out loud by suddenly declaring, mid-order that I had run out Swedish, I headed for the Museum of Work.
This building was once a textile factory sat on an island in the middle of the Strömmen River which flows through the city. It was called the Flat Iron and, in fact, it still is. I reckon it would have been a horrendous place to work but, according to the exhibition about Alva, who worked there, it wasn’t so bad. Mind you, I’m not so sure that she thoroughly enjoyed her living conditions.
Alva Carlsson worked in the factory from 1927 until 1962. She didn’t want to be a housewife and, according to the exhibition, she quite enjoyed her working life. I don’t know that I would have.
Lots of spools of cotton, lots of big, heavy machinery, too much dust. The city was known as Sweden’s Manchester and for good reason.
Anyway, the Museum was full of interesting stories and exhibitions and, surprisingly, it was absolutely free. As was the City Museum almost next door which I visited next.
Now, as you can see from the photo above, the Museum of Work translates information from Swedish to English. Sadly, the same is not true of the City Museum. I had to make up information for a lot of the stuff I saw.
Like this intriguing rune stick I spotted in a cabinet. It was twice as confusing.
To be fair, there were some English language boards hanging from leather straps but they were, generally, not particularly convenient.
That sounds like I am having a moan but I’m really not. It is my fault entirely I don’t read Swedish and, after all, why should a Swedish museum have anything but information in Swedish?
Anyway, I did not need any explanation of what I was looking at when it came to the Jacquard machines. This section of the museum had me enthralled. The beginnings of computer cards for programming. A delightful collection of the most amazing invention since textile manufacturing went all mechanical.
I read a biography of Jacquard many years ago and the genius that was his machine has stayed with me ever since. And this marked the first time I have ever seen a real machine, in the flesh. And, actually, there were more than one.
A couple of women were there as well, discussing the patterned material. I think they must have thought I was a typical male, admiring the machinery and not the resultant textile. I couldn’t help it. I was delighted.
Then, of course, I’d had enough and headed for the station to catch the train back home. Naturally, there were a number of hold ups because of the single track issue but, I didn’t mind. It had been a splendid day full of splendid things to see and learn.
And I discovered that I really like Norrköping.
It helped that it was a beautiful day.
