Bits and pieces

 

Basco5

 

Du som gæster vores vej, her er et stativ til dig. / A parking rack for those of you who visit our street.

  

Please. No more hipsters.

 

Bring it on!

Ah, remember last year around this time? When the air was pink and some were still in flip flop's? Yeah, that show is cancelled, because we had such a great summer, and we all know you can't have everything. The funny thing is, I am in a really good mood. With the dimming lights and milky sky, it may take a little longer to dig out the yum, especially with a camera that bails at the first whiff of twilight, and/or humidity. But one way or the other we will all survive another trip to the dungeon. Bring it on, weather man!

Postersized beer label from local bar Props, who named a beer after Ole, a regular customer. (Reads:) Grab an Ole while you wait.

 

Frantz Flottenheimer moth.

Mmmmmm, macro that:

The Copenhagen Street Animators Littlebrother project. 

The dungeon season also announces the return of Dutch book markets at the Helligånds church. I have already splurged on vinyls and vintage cook books. For drooling purposes only, having zero patience for the fine art of cooking. Dammit. How can a food lover not like to cook? 

Religion is not big here, and recently they decided to shut down a number of churches. Using them for different purposes is not popular with the believers, who would rather see them demolished that put to alternative use, like the Dutch book market. I can't think of a better way to further alienate a non-believer.

 

Nice try, God! 

 

Clean up time

There is something that I have been wondering about: how do you read this? I mean, do you get it in your email, or do you read it in the slim version on your phone, or by another strange option that I am not even aware of? Not all of you enter the blog, so there is a lot of fringe stuff on the page that goes under the radar. I think.

I am going to clear some space in the "pages" section right below the header, and make a few changes. Ah, there is a project I am itching to tell you about. I'm hoping that if I make space for it, it will happen soon. But I don't want you to miss out on the postcards, so they will get a post of their own, right below this one.

It's clean up time.

Pardon the mess.

♥

Vintage Copenhagen postcards

Rådhuspladsen / Town Hall Square: 

Nyhavn / New Haven:

Rundetårn / The Round Tower:

Gefion Springvandet / Gefion Fountain:

Botanisk Have / The Botanical Garden:

Kongens Nytorv / Kings New Square, Hotel D'Angleterre:

Gammel Strand:

Frederiksholms Kanal:

Vesterport:

Christiansborg / Parliament:

Den Lille Havfrue / The Little Mermaid:

Tivoli:

Bellevue beach:

Dronning Louises Bro / Queen Louises Bridge:

XXL, the Paris report

The way I travel has changed, somehow. Shopping has entirely been replaced with taking pictures and doing research. My latest Paris trip was no exception, I checked out everything from street art to my current obsessions bike parking and garbage solutions. Stocking my archives with photographic evidence proving that we can do better in Copenhagen.

The bikes:

In Copenhagen there are only a very few and scattered areas in the residential neighborhoods designated for bike parking, we are forced to leave our bikes on the sidewalk, pressed up against the houses. In Paris they have made space for the bikes in the street. Offering sturdy centered railings that you can properly chain your bike to. A single car space holds about ten bikes. The needs of ten, outweighing the need of one, it makes sense. I'm still holding my breath for the city planners of Copenhagen to embrace that one.

Simple as that.

The trash:

Compared to Copenhagen, Paris is clean and littering is kept to a minimum. If people can't find a place to leave their trash, they will go to great lengths to avoid leaving it on the ground.

Seriously.

Everywhere.

It is almost an art form.

And with the smoke-happy French, you would think there were cigarette butts everywhere, right? Not so. Every other house has the butt disposal mounted on the wall. They are all different, leading me to believe that every single house owner have taken responsibility in the matter. If you have an office, and send people outside to smoke, you offer them an ashtray. Which fits my theory that it is all about providing the option to do the right thing.

The street art:

On my first day I spotted these giant footprints. Leading all the way from the metro, down a narrow street and into the small art gallery Galerie Nivet-Carzon. Recently opened and currently showing street art. At first I was confused, inquiring if it was a "regular" or a street art gallery? The answer was both, of course. Now I feel embarrassed for even making the distinction, ugh.



The group show starred names I was already familiar with, like Fred le Chevalier, Diamant and Nemi, and introduced me to Lor-K, who creates sculptures out of abandoned stuff she finds in the street. I would give anything to have come across one of her pieces live, but we have to make do with her own pictures:

(Ah, it always feels a little bit like cheating, taking a picture of someone else's picture...)

And since they all shared the small space, a micro contribution made total sense: tiny drawings by Michael Beerens, served with a magnifying glass.

Crazy. Good.

But Paris is one big street art gallery already. There is so much to see in every crack and corner, it is insane and ever changing. Somehow Nemo (and here is where it gets confusing: is Nemo and Nemi the same person?) have become synonymous with Paris to me. Everywhere you look, you find his trace.





As I was taking this picture, a man right behind me projectile vomited. It is all I can think of when I see this picture. Does it work the same for you now?

Haha, sorry. Let me erase that with a nice cat detail.

Space Invader and GZUP.

And Clet Abraham, teaser of traffic signs.

Painted shutters. Can we please get at little wilderness in Copenhagen? Ready, steady, paint!

Groove.

 

And an OAK1 girl, right next to the metro entrance, apparently inviting people to kill their cigarettes in her mouth. Street art finds yet another use. 



Le Cyklop bonanza. Caught in the rain, this was the best I could do, dammit. Imagine if you can, me hovering like the hunchback of Notre Dame, trying to cover my camera from the rain, without obstructing the view. In suede shoes. Yeah, it was not graceful. I'm sorry you had to see that, Paris.

(The end of the longest post ever, haha, I thought I owed you an extra large today.)

♥