New Class, New World

Design and Society is over, Imaging Cities has commenced. I have to say DK has been lovely, but it's getting stranger (and more interesting) by the second. The first three weeks were useful, since they were spent pretty much just absorbing anything and everything - it got to the point where I was either sleeping or actively "experiencing" Copenhagen, and it was this very enriching, Academic with a capital A kind of deal. This new course is different. I discovered yesterday, for instance, that the majority of my next two weeks here will be spent in an enormous empty storefront in the country's largest mall. We will be making things there, which should be excellent, and it seems like an awfully odd place to plug in a studio project but that's the point - nothing says "urban intervention" like staging artistic disruption in a shopping center, eh?

The professors are American and most of the class started preparing for this trip to Scandinavia five weeks ago with a precursor course at UC Denver, so in addition to the material and approach the make up and progression of the class is considerably different from D+S. Even though it's only been one day, I can already feel the tides turning. I feel completely in my element as far as the proposed projects even though this is my first real studio-based class, and my impression is that there's some serious competence, talent, and good vibery here.

Today is our first "event," which involves hosting members of the community at the storefront (the space is called Work/Shop: what can I say, it's a punny world we live in), interviewing them, and doing some sort of installation. I'd talk about it in more detail if I could, but that's as far in the planning stages/execution as we've gotten. It seems like a lot of the projects we're going to do will be conducted in this manner - largely, that is, on the fly. This aspect is terrifying. But also kind of cool. So LOOK OUT! Something definitely weird and potentially awesome is afoot.

The Black Diamond

Though I know that whoever is reading this is more than likely and observant enough bean to notice that I've changed the picture in the heading of this blog from some random skyline from google images, just for the heck of it I thought I'd give it a little context. This big beautiful hunk of modern design, nicknamed the "Black Diamond," is in fact the Royal Library of Copenhagen. I took the photo on the DIS boat tour, which is fortunate because the unique reflection of the old mills and breweries across from the library can really only be captured if you happen to be sitting in the middle of the canal. The area across from the library, in fact, looks like a slightly larger, spiffed up, and busier version of the view of Lewiston/Auburn along the Androscoggin. (If you're unfamiliar with my interest in Lewiston, here is some visual evidence.)

Tomorrow I leave for a three day study tour of western Denmark. My only expectation is to have my mind blown.

Corrections and Other Things

Number one: I was dreadfully misinformed/unobservant of the fact that Danes do, in fact, lock their bikes. This truth was revealed upon having a conversation with a classmate on the subject, who, too, had believed that the Danes seemed a little too trusting to behave in such a way - until the dude she rented her bike from set her straight. IN FACT, while it looks like all of the bikes are left on the street footloose and fancy free, there are actually these super effective, ingeniously subtle padlock-esque contraptions that close around the wheel of a bicycle so that the rider a) can simply set the bike into a nifty upright bike stand on the street and b) lock the bike extremely quickly in a way that there isn't an unnecessary amount of time spent in the bike-securing process. Voila!

For someone who was never promoted to a two-wheeler (sorry, publicly outing yet again Mom and Dad), I sure seem to be spending a lot of time writing about bikes. The fact remains that while there are other things to talk about, this is the one subject that is most recurrent in casual conversation among DIS students. Things that I´ve actually been doing, not just observing or thinking about, include:

+Visiting the Louisiana Museum, Denmark´s MOMA, which required taking the regional train line along the beautiful Danish Riviera, which obviously I ADORED because TRAINS and ART are the two best things
+Paying my regards at Kronborg Palace, also known as the castle associated with the Hamlet myth, which was actually a very boring historical site even for a person who normally geeks out over such things (SHAKESPEARE WALKED THESE HALLS, FOR CHRISTS SAKE! But I digress)
+Visiting the flagship studio at Louis Poulsen, the quintessential and highly influential (apparently) Danish lighting design firm. Batesies, for reference - the cool giant lighting fixtures in the P.Gill atrium? Imitations of the PH Artichoke, the 50th anniversary of which Louis Poulsen is celebrating by releasing an edition of 50 24-carat gold plated versions of the classic design. It'll set you back €70,000, but apparently it's worth it! My professor and the LP evangelist who was leading us around kept talking about how these lighting fixtures were objects with investment value, like modern art or real estate. Okay
+ Attending a lecture by Kenneth Frampton (no relation to recording star Peter), an ancient architectural historian who teaches at Columbia University and was at the Danish Architecture Center tonight to give a talk entitle "Global Danish Architecture - Tradition and Crisis." Coincidentally, he didn´t seem to know anything about Danish architecture, eventually admitted as much, and as a result had nothing much more to say on the subject. Oh well
+Writing my first group paper. On open space edge effects in a city I've been in for a grand total of five days. Womp womp
+Looking for decent food. The count so far: one good coffee shop, one reliably delicious bakery, and one truly excellent Indian restaurant. I also ate one of the famous hotdogs from a street vendor, which, like pretty much all street food I've ever eaten, instantly made me feel sick. But it still tasted awesome.

In case you can't tell, I'm already a little overstimulated and burnt out from being in a new place in this very odd and unfamiliar academic setting. So I'm resolving to take it a little easy, or as much as I can, over the next couple of days at least, to try to settle in a little bit more. It's very strange and exhausting to try to make ever waking second "count" in a recognizably meaningful way, just because I am traveling and by definition such an experience is categorically thrilling and dizzying (and I haven't even been to Tivoli yet!). It's difficult to remind myself that I've been here for less than a week, that there's plenty of time ahead of me to make my time here what I want it to be - once I figure out what I mean by that, of course. I guess I need to accept the fact that I am resistant to blatantly touristic activities by nature and yet have been spending the majority of my time so far in places where tourists go and doing things that tourists do and this is just part of the experience - it's meant to help me get situated, contextualize the rest of my time here, yada yada. So okay then. HEY THERE CULTURE SHOCK! I now welcome you with open arms.

Velkommen til DANELAND!

I am here! Sort of. The DIS orientation has been keeping the entire program busy (excessively), and because we have three weeks to cram in an entire semester's worth of information my class has been heavy on the information overload, so it's been difficult to situate myself. I realized today, talking with students in other DIS classes while participating in a "scavenger hunt" that was part of the official capital-O capital-P Orientation Program, that I am taking the single best course in terms of learning practical things about local culture. I've already learned more about the Danish political system than I will ever know about its American counterpart, and been introduced to this design ethos that is simultaneously comprehensive and detail-oriented to a ludicrous degree. Quick facts: the minimum wage in Denmark is the equivalent of eighteen U.S. dollars, 34% of Danes commute by bike every day, and there is no majority party in the Danish parliament which means every political decision must be made through consensus. Sounds dreamy, eh?

Not so fast. There is some serious cultural tension in Denmark related to an influx of immigrants, particularly Islamic immigrants, who generally try to insulate themselves and resist Danish assimilation, which has created a unique brand of subtle (and rather petulant) racism among ethnic Danes. Furthermore, the process of acquiring Danish citizenship is even more complicated and difficult than it is in the United States, and it requires 9 years of residency before you can even be considered. Immigration is thus an extraordinarily touchy subject, related, I think, to the historical pattern of Danish political power being usurped, again and again, by its regional competitors; the Danes have created the welfare state and a consensus-based social structure precisely because of its political weakness, and the presence of new populations that opt for non-participation or don't play by the rules is thus, in a sense, politically threatening. Apparently, if anything, though supposedly so free thinking and progressive, the Danish are not only proud but extremely protective of their cultural identity. But what do I know, I've been here three days.

In terms of pure tactility and aesthetic pleasure, I am, of course, beside myself. The metro system is seamless: easy, attractive, comfortable. There are beautifully oxidized bronze things everywhere, cobblestone streets, and, of course, some seriously interesting contemporary architecture. Transportation planning is out of this world, it's absurdly easy to get around on foot, and, furthermore, to bike; while doing a field study on bike culture yesterday, it dawned on me that I never realized how inconvenient it actually is to ride a bike in the United States until I saw how easy, safe, and expedient it is to get around Copenhagen. Social trust is a huge thing, too - In the sea of parked bicycles that is this city, I have yet to see a single bike lock.

So that's what I've learned so far. At this point my main activity is pretty much just observing, taking as much in as I can without drowning in the cultural onslaught, and class helps. My assignments, every day, are simply to draw, take pictures, and "reflect." It's definitely been more orienting than Orientation.

P.S. In case there was any question - it's beyond cliched, but true: DANES. ARE. BEAUTIFUL. And stylish and friendly and vain. I have seen more HBOBs than you could presume to shake a stick at, even in hometown Portland. HEYO!

The Beginning: Bye Bye Boston

Like most good ideas, this one - to blog about my mini (I've stopped calling it "fake") study abroad experience - was not mine. After it was suggested for the 27th time, I decided to make it a thing. Ta da!

Currently sitting at gate E8B in Logan, I'm pretty much delirious with excitement (and the flu) to be embarking on this long awaited trip to Europe. Yesterday, the possibility of the trip actuality happening looked bleak; all flights into Reykjavik from the U.S. were cancelled due, of course, to that blast (excuse the pun) volcanic ash loitering in the skies above the European continent. Lucky for me, the skies cleared long enough for me to get out of the Northeast, so here I go. CPH. Tomorrow. Some of you may not know this, but I've been planning to do this for the better part of three years. Studying architecture in the land of aspirational conscientious design has been a primary academic goal of mine since before I transferred, so writing about it while doing something as mundane as sitting at an airport gate waiting to get on a plane seems a little absurd. Oh well.

A reminder: please please please send me your mailing addresses! I want nothing more than to send you a postcard or three. e-mail:lilyjoz@gmail.com. Tak!