Continuing from my previous post on Louisiana, the Entry fee was surprisingly cheap at only 115 DKK (£11.50) for Adults and 100 DKK (£10) for me, a student. It lets you into any of the exhibitions and the numerous permanent collections. One thing I am unsure of is whether you can see the permanent pieces for free – but to see Kusama, it’s well worth it.
I’ve known about Kusama’s work for ages, but it wasn’t until a documentary last year on BBC4 about her & the Pop art scene had I really started to tune in with her and her work. The documentary was both brilliant and harrowing. I hadn’t realised that her life is governed by these polkadots, a symptom of her depersonalization syndrome, which made seeing it in real life all the more poignant and thought provoking.
The exhibition follows Kusama’s life work and the development of her life from her beginnings in a conservative, restrictive Japan, to her revolutionary body of work and performances in New York, to the work she has created from the hospital that she resides in in Tokyo.
One of the installations in the exhibition is a red room lined with mirrors, with big statues of red spheres all festooned with Kusama’s dots. It truly is a sight to see and experience. The exhibition is on until the 24th of January, so if you’re in the area I’d urge you to see it!
At the time there was also an exhibition looking at Lucien Freud’s sketches. Accustomed to his vast paintings, this exhibition gave an insight on the artist, his process and made me appreciate him more than I already did (which is hard).
Louisiana itself has amazing pieces of its own right from famed Danish artists like Asger Jorn, Karl Isakson and Richard Mortensen to International artists like Giaccometti, Klein, Warhol, Oldenburg to name a few. The place is chock full of great pieces such as their sculpture Garden, which features works by Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder & Max Ernst.
I was in art heaven! I hadn’t been this close to a piece of Giaccometti’s work before. After studying his use of forms in my life drawing classes, I could see every contour in the sculpture. It was great! It had made my day, and it was only the early afternoon! It was also great to see a school, out on a trip sketching and studying the sculptures.
Before we set off again (with some new art books in tow) we just marvelled at the view from the building. It was a glorious day and I swear you could see Skåne/ or a part of Sweden across the crystal blue water.
We made our way back on the train southward. It was past 2pm by this point and the breakfast had long vanished. I was ravenous. When we got back into the bustling capital, leaving the quiet suburbs behind, I had to grab something to eat. That was where the famous and trusty Danish hotdog stand or Pølsevogn came in handy.
Say hej to the famous Rødpolse. A hotdog sausage by nature, this foodstuff is something that Danes hold close to their hearts, and I would too. You can have it on its own, in a bun or ‘french style’, which is in a baguette style bun with a hole cut in the middle. Then come the toppings. The Danes love their toppings! You can have crispy onions, raw onions, mustard, ketchup (although different from Heinz), a Danish condiment called remoulade (is something else close to the Danish hearts) which tastes creamy with mayo and tart with a pickly bite. Or do as the Danes do and have them all or ‘alle’. It costs under 50 DKK, which makes it the cheapest form of fast food (considering the likes of McDonalds and Burger King are far more expensive than here in the UK) you can see how its a revered symbol of Denmark in the same way that wurst is a symbol of Germany.
With the motor up and running again, we dropped back our stuff at our host’s apartment then it was back out again. Since Copenhagen is the city of bikes – seriously like everyone cycles – it’s weird seeing hundreds of bikes outside office buildings, essentially the equivalent of a car park. We just had to give it a go. We had a plan of moseying on down to the Normann Copenhagen store on Østerbrogade, and whilst we were at it we’d soak in some of the scenery. Now bear in mind, other than exercise bikes, my feet hadn’t touched bike pedals since I was 14. We rented out some of the city bikes which weren’t too bad a price 25 DKK per hour, but I definitely know it is cheaper (and probably better) to rent a bike from a bike shop, as they were damn heavy. Heavy and cumbersome to move, they definitely weren’t getting stolen any time soon xD As I mentioned, being inexperienced I was a bit wobbly at first but I soon found a steady rhythm (my hands hardly moving away from the brakes and always behind Tom.) It really is a nice city to ride in, very scenic as you pass the lakes. Before long we had arrived at our destination.
The flagship Normann was huge and beautiful. Situated in a building that used to be an old theatre and water distillery, it is 1700 m2 of pure Scandi, stripped back design. I was loving it! All of my favourite Normann Copenhagen products were set in amazing geometric displays. They even had the beautifully designed (but hard to find in the UK) Normann Tea range. What I loved the most were the little Form Chair miniatures peppered throughout the space, it gave it a sense of fun and whimsy. Like finding a hiding Little My from the Moomins. With some chai tea, in a beautiful citrine tin and a Skandinavisk KOTO candle (co designed by my favourite little Irishman Mr Walnut Grey, as part of the Design Bloggers United) . Now, somehow we had to get it all back and it was rush hour. Err, we hadn’t really thought this through. Tom being the hero that he is managed to carry the bag on his arm and cycle. This is nothing compared to the Danes though, being so used to cycling you see people having a morning chat, carrying a baby, carrying groceries all whilst cycling. From having little/ no confidence at the beginning, I was starting to become a bit cocky. I wanted to chat side by side with Tom, but in practice it was a distaster. Forgetting that they also use the lane to overtake and in rush hour, here was me going a nice steady pace chatting away with my partner before being sworn off the road by an angry Dane. The Danish are a lovely people but don’t be stupid and mess around with their cycling IN RUSH HOUR!
Finally getting back to the apartment, we chilled for a few hours before heading off for my birthday feast with my childhood friend, Rhianwen (IG @adashofplants) and her partner, Trine (IG @milkingalmonds) who runs the amazing vegan food hub that is Milking almonds. I couldn’t wait! Reading their blogs had got me into food blogging myself plus I hadn’t seen Rhianwen in years, I just knew it was going to be amazing.
We started off with a simple dressed bean & chilli squash salad with raw onion to give it some bite. That made way for the main event… Pulled jackfruit tacos with more chilli spiced squash, a piquant creamy sauce, vanilla infused pickled onions and plenty of fresh coriander. All washed down with a number of Cuba libres and bottles of Corona. It was off the scale tasty and jackfruit is such a convincing meat alternative, that an omnivore (albeit I like to embrace many plant based recipes in my diet) I could not tell the difference. Either that or it’s the cooking 😉
We finished the night off with some cinnamony sweet churros with a deep, dark and really spicy chocolate dipping sauce. It was the best birthday present ever, thanks/tak/diolch!!
Full and slightly tipsy from the rum, it was time to say goodbye and head home back to the apartment.
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