Young films from Gothenburg

A few days ago I saw three of the movies made by last year film students at Gothenburg University and I was happy to see their spirit to try and renew the Swedish film. Especially the film "Dark Side" by Emelie Lindblom had a very relevant story and strong conceptual approach in a short paraphrase to an English high-society soap opera. The film uses images from the TV-series to bring forward a story of a swedish young couple. It soon turns into a story of how reality and fiction can be mixed up and the difficulty of judgment in reality compared to a told story which is often simplified and clear. I was really happy to see someone seriously addressing topics concerning our own generation.

Beautiful bridges

I recently watched this lecture on Swiss bridgebuilders from MIT World and it is really astonishing to imagine the effort that went into those structures. I remember that Morten Lund gave a lecture including most of them during the last semester in Matter Space Structure Studio and now I really feel like stealing a car to head south and drive among those beautiful mountaintops!

Site synth

This is an interesting tool for ordering images spatially as they are taken instead of by name, I used it on the site for my masters thesis project in Gothenburg.

Medici Palace, Florence

I've been reading a book called Places of Performance, The semiotics of Theatre Architecture by Theater Professor Marvin Carlson which provides a historical review of theater buildings from the view of their symbolical meaning in the city and how it affected the performances played out inside. This is the Medici Palace in Florence which was concieved with some of the most advanced technology at the time in the creation of rennaissance society. The courtyard which was used as a theatre also denotes the split between street theatre and polite society theatre. From here and on, almost all permanent structures for theatre was located further and further into private settings for the higher classes. (I)

In order to make this particular perspective drawing, the architect Baldassare Lanci used his own invention, the Strumento prospettico-topografico, seen below. During this time, large perspective paintings were also put up in the urban space during processions where ideas of the future baroque city was depicted as part of the events. (II)

Fitzcarraldo!

Ikväll hälsade Erik på i min fjällstuga här uppe på masthuggsberget. Vi såg Fitzcarraldo, en film om en visionär galning som bestämmer sig för att dra en båt över ett berg i djungeln för att kunna bygga en opera. Helt fantantisk!

I was inspired by this movie, Fitzcarraldo decides to try and pull a boat over the crest of a mountain in the middle of the Jungle in order to start exporting rubber with the ultimate goal of building his own opera.

Masanari Murai Art Museum

This museum designed by Kengo Kuma displays works as well as the studio and chosen belongings to the Japanese artist Masanari Murai. Instead of making a completely new container for art, Kuma has let parts of the artist's studio remain to form a symbiosis with the added exhibition spaces. Worn out objects carrying stories about the artists life are carefully brought into the visitors focus on the minimalistic background of the modern construction in an overall informal atmosphere. Wood from the old facade and inner roof are collected and reassembled to form the vertical louvres on the exterior. The artist's beloved Toyota still stands up front now on a cor-ten platform filled with water. Inside the museum, the old wooden studio space is clearly distinguishable from the new L shaped room and completely packed with various art-pieces, rolls and old sketches in the warm evening light of a reproduced sun shining through the leftovers of the roof. A feeling of authenticity is created by the bohemian disorder of art-pieces in piles, among them an original Salvador Dali sculpture which is easily missed. This is one of my favorite buildings.

Tower House

This private house by Azuma Takamitsu in 1966 in Jingumae shows some of the ingenuity that can be found in Tokyo. This house is extremely small, only covering 11.8 sqm floor area on a site of 20.56. With streets on both sides the garage becomes a private passageway through the house that also gives it an almost threatening imbalance from certain angles. The architect with family has been living in the house for over 40 years.