Unless you have kids, this is a place most people just pass by on a nearby trail on their way to/from work. Definitely a structure that is typically overlooked.
Buddha
Buddha & Ganesha in Oslo
Category Archives: Art
You Wanna What My Moth? (Warning: Art Heavy Post)
A photoshopped version of a painting from a museum in Firenze. The original was painted by Agnolo di Cosimo (a.k.a. Bronzino (1503-1572)).
I wanna f**k your moth / Self-portrait as chubby moth molester and bird trainer. (Original painting: Agnolo Bronzino, Doppio ritratto del Nano Morgante (fronte))
Can you handle an art heavy post? Then keep on reading.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Anticipation
Dali | Saudek | Saudek | Warhol
Jan Saudek
In Prague I went to an exhibition with Salvador Dalì, Jan & Kája Saudek and Andy Warhol. Prior to this exhibition I wasn’t familiar with the Saudek brothers and I’ve always thought Warhol to be overrated (soup cans and Madonna, is that all he’s got?), but I’ve always liked Dalí’s work and that’s why it was Dalí that caught my attention and made me go masturdating. Being slightly hung-over, masturdating seemed like a good way to spend a few hours.
If you, like me, have no knowledge about Saudek, let me give you a small introduction with info I found on Wikipedia when I wrote this article (about nine months after seeing the exhibition):
Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech art photographer and painter. Saudek’s father was a Jew and this, coupled with his Slavic (Czech) heritage, caused his family to become a target of the Nazis.
Kája Saudek (born Karel Saudek, 13 May 1935 – 26 June 2015) was a Czech comics illustrator. He was one of the most important exponents of the Czech comics since the late 1960s. Kája’s father was also a Jew (perhaps not a big surprise there since Kája and Jan were twin brothers).
Many of their family members died in Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Jan and his brother Karel, or Kája, were held in a children’s concentration camp for Mischlinge, located near the present Polish-Czech border (Luža in Poland). Their father, Gustav, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in February 1945. Both brothers and their father survived the imprisonment and came back to Prague.
So, short summary of the highlights: Jan is the photographer, Kája the illustrator.
Kája died in 2015 at the age of 80. He had been in a coma for nine years following an accident in 2006 (so the way I see it, he died at an age of 71)
If you want to know more about the Saudek brothers, there’s plenty of material to read about them on Wikipedia. Jan Saudek’s work is not only artistic, staged nudes in black and white, he also used a hand-tint technique. Unfortunately I have no photos of the latter, but you’ll find some excellent examples in the link section.
Kája Saudek’s work is surrealistic, bizarre and erotic. Really brilliant.
Kája and Jan Saudek gallery:
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek’s studio
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Kája Saudek
Jan Saudek
Jan Saudek
Jan Saudek
Kája Saudek?
Jan Saudek
Jan Saudek
Jan Saudek
Background used by Jan Saudek
Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol gallery:
Salvador Dalí, Jan & Kája Saudek, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
When I exited the exhibition I was positively surprised that I’d discovered a couple of new artists. My favorites were the two Saudek brothers, (Kája, then Jan), followed by Warhol’s album covers and the works of Dalí were my least favorites. Dalí has a lot of cool paintings, but I didn’t fancy his works at this exhibition since it had this mass-produced feeling to it.
Trivia: I had that black Dalí perfume bottle once, but it disappeared somehow…
Trivia 2: I also vaguely remember now that I’ve seen some of Kája’s work as a teenager – probably in some obscure porn publications.
Some links to Saudek (check out Jan’s photos in the first link):
At a bar in Praha
Prague, absinth, Van Gogh.
This was shot in a bar in Prague. If you were having coffee, Mara and I would join with some absinth. We could have talked about Vincent Van Gogh’s landscape paintings, or the fact that he cut off the tip of his ear. Alternatively we could just get drunk and talk bullshit…
I participate in WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge 2016
Kjærlighet – Love
At school our teacher told us to play with fonts and gave us an assignment: replace one of the letters in any chosen word, with a symbol. (Yes, it was art school). Kjærlighet is what I came up with. «Kjærlighet» is the Norwegian word for “Love“.
Kjærlighet – Love
Ink/pen on paper.
Icelandic Walls
These were carved in stone. If you want to see these walls, you should visit Reykjavik, Iceland.
Stone art/wall art, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Stone art/wall art, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Stone art/wall art, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Mural, Reykjavik, iceland.
“Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you’re allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It’s like killing yourself, and then you’re reborn. I guess I’ve lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now.”
― Charles Bukowski
Good Things Are Happening
Next week I’ll participate in a photo exhibition. It’s a group exhibition with more than 70 contemporary Norwegian photographers and I’m looking forward to see what the others will exhibit and how they express themselves. The exhibition is held from Monday January 25th – Sunday, 31 January at 12-17 and it makes me feel optimistic about the coming week.
Another thing that makes me feel optimistic is when I see a nice piece of ass, like this one:
Self-portrait with son in a nice piece of ass.
The photo that I’ll exhibit next week is an improved version of one that I’ve posted in this blog before: https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/a-cardinal-dinner-party/
I guess that close to none of the readers of my blog will be in Oslo next week, but here’s more about the exhibition (and a couple of related links):
- Google map: https://www.google.com/maps?q=13+Jens+Bjelkes+gate+Oslo,+Oslo,+0562+Norway
- The catalog can be found here: http://issuu.com/cyangalleri/docs/2016_katalog
- Complete program for the whole week (in Norwegian only): http://cyanstudio.no/kalender/2015/12/1/cyan-stipendutstilling-2016
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cyan-studio-109548155779680/
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Optimistic: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/optimistic/
- Self-portrait in tits: https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/self-portrait-in-tits/
Woman at Ekebergparken
Sculpture at Ekebergparken
Ref: «self-portrait in tits» that I posted the other day.
“Human relationships didn’t work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death–in a cesspool.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women
Back pieces by Ozzfest Tattoo Club Thailand
Amazing back pieces by Ozzfest Tattoo Club Thailand. MBK Tattoo Contest Vol. 10, 2015. Bangkok, Thailand.
Ink by Ozzfest Tattoo Club Thailand. Photo: CardinalGuzman.wordpress.com
My entry for: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/trio/
The History of Tattoo quoted in an article
One of my articles about the history of tattoo have been quoted in another article on the same subject. It’s always an honour to be quoted, especially when it’s from an article that I’ve spent many hours researching and writing. It’s a while ago since both mine and the Gizmodo article was published, but I thought I’d give it a shout out anyway (better late than tomorrow, right?).
Facsimile from Gizmodo
If you’re interested, visit Gizmodo for their article and (of course) you can also read my article here in the blog. THis is the second time one of my articles on tattoos have been quoted. The first time was in a scientific paper.
- http://gizmodo.com/how-the-art-of-tattoo-has-colored-world-history-1532266381
- https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/the-history-of-tattoo-part-3-the-indians/
P.S. I’ve started working on a new article on tattooing now (it’s a combined travel report/tattoo article) and, thanks to some inspiration from David Bennett by a comment he left me here in the blog, I’ll also begin to work on my next article in The History of Tattoo.
Some portraits from Bangkok
Yesterday I came home from a week-long stay in Bangkok, where I met a lot of wonderful, talented, beautiful, sexy, creative, amazing, friendly and inspiring people. These are just a few of the photos of the amazing people and scenes that I captured there.
@ Artists Tatoo, 21 samsen road
Noon
Node @ Artists Tattoo
Emil
A blind baby crocodile
Natcha Plainche (Bubblebrain Tattoo)
Bank Tattoo
Ying Youngterk Hamc Nimnuan & Node
Amazing back pieces by Ozzfest Tattoo Club Thailand.
EST Tattoo
Orm Siamthirtyfive / ทศพล พวงเพ็ชร์
MBK Tattoo Convention
Beautiful models Chunya Tar Boonsri & JeanZa YimGang @Ying Youngterk Tattoo
Behind the scenes with Adia Braun & Rogue Seraphim
Rogue Seraphim
Rogue Seraphim
Rogue Seraphim
Rogue Seraphim
Muay Thai @Rajadamnern Stadium
Muay Thai @Rajadamnern Stadium
Vanja, Tom and the light hats.
Vanja & Tom
Night photography by the river. Bangkok.
Night photography by the river.
Rudratcha
During one week in Bangkok, I spent most of my time in tattoo shops and hanging around with other tattoo interested people. It all culminated in the MBK Tattoo Convention 2015 on my last day, where most of these photos were taken. For me, as a person who’s probably more than average interested in tattoos, being at a tattoo convention makes you feel at home: You meet lots of people who all share the same passion and love for the same kind of artistic expression. It makes you feel like you’re a part of an international society. I’ll post plenty of photos from this magnificent event later. Because I had a flight, I couldn’t stick around to find out who won in the different classes, but for me it wasn’t important to find out who came out victorious or not – the important part was to be there, feel the vibe and be a part of the event.
The Muay Thai boxing photos were shot at Bankok’s Rajadamnern Stadium (which will also be covered in a separate post) and, since I was already in Bangkok, of course I made sure to arrange a photo session with a local model: Rogue Seraphim and make-up artist Adia Braun (the photo session will also be covered later). I haven’t had the time to go through even a small fraction of my photos yet, but I probably have some interesting street photos to share as well.
I hope you all (my readers) have been having a good time and enjoying life lately and I hope that I get to visit Bangkok again soon! The sooner the better!
Today I’ve learned: Cyanotype
Today I attended an exhibition where you could learn Cyanotype – a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print.
The event/exhibition was held by Emma Gunnarsson and Britta K. Bergersen. In the same gallery, there was an exhibition of a few ball-jointed dolls (kuleleddsdukker) made by Therese Olsen and photographed by Britta. I liked the pop-surrealistic style of the puppets and Britta’s photos and presentation of the puppets were smashing: as you can see from the photos, Britta tastefully presented one of them as a Madonna.
From Every Angle: Self-portrait in plaster
Self-portrait in plaster | Selv-portrett i gips
My internet acquaintance Shane, is the lucky guy that gets to host of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge over at WordPress. He came up with the idea to shoot a subject from every angle. This image is three photos merged into one. The subject is made out of plaster that’s been poured into a mould shaped after my face: an advanced, ancient form of self-portrait.
Surrounded By Darkness
From the sculpture park at Ekeberg.
Check out Leanne’s post: http://leannecolephotography.com/2015/08/12/mm-2-23-monochrome-madness-2-23/
On the way avant-garde appeared
I was on the way home after a long day of continuous shooting downtown, taking photos for my monthly photo challenge with a new camera that I had to learn, when I came across Nina and her friend. They were filming for an art project they had at Strykejernet (an art school in Oslo).
Unfortunately I didn’t catch the name of the girl who was filming, but the name of the model was Nina. They didn’t mind me taking some shots, so I hung around and took some photos while they were filming. I came home with a bunch of photos that day (I’ve deleted a lot but I still have 408 photos shot on that same day).
An avant-garde, sci-fi scene.
When I was looking through the shots with Nina, I decided to merge these two photos into one. I’m pleased with the final result and I think it has some sci-fi, avant-garde feeling to it.
This is my entry for the weekly photo challenge this week: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/on-the-way/
Enjoy this song by King Missile: “Sensitive Artist”.
“Sensitive Artist” by John S Hall (King Missile)
From the album King Missile (Dog Fly Religion)* – Fluting On The HumpI am a sensitive artist.
Nobody understands me because I am so deep.
In my work I make allusions to books that nobody else has read,
Music that nobody else has heard,
And art that nobody else has seen.
I can’t help it
Because I am so much more intelligent
And well-rounded
Than everyone who surrounds me.I stopped watching tv when I was six months old
Because it was so boring and stupid
And started reading books
And going to recitals
And art galleries.
I don’t go to recitals anymore
Because my hearing is too sensitive
And I don’t go to art galleries anymore
Because there are people there
And I can’t deal with people
Because they don’t understand me.I stay at home
Reading books that are beneath me,
And working on my work,
Which no one understandsI am sensitive…
I am a sensitive artist…
Street Portrait: Rebecca Goldberg – The Painter at Mahane Yehuda
הציירת משוק מחנה יהודה
Many years ago I shot this photo of (for me) an unknown painter at the Market (Shuk Mahane Yehuda שוק מחנה יהודה) in Jerusalem. If you’ve been to Jerusalem a few times, I’m pretty sure that you’ve seen her too. Perhaps a year or two later, I stumbled across an article on her in a Hebrew newspaper and I thought to myself that I should keep it, because the info in it might be useful for the photo that I took.
רבקה גולדברג – Rebecca Goldberg (Rita)
Unfortunately my photo isn’t the best, because I didn’t have the photographing skills back then that I have today and also because I didn’t have the guts to go up to her and ask to take her portrait (I will definitely do that the next time I see her!). Of course, my copy of that newspaper is long gone and the only thing that’s left of it is a vague memory of the fact that I once had an article about her somewhere. When writing this post I tried to look up the article on the internet, but had no luck when searching with English search phrases. Once I switched to Hebrew I managed to find a couple of photos of her, but without her name mentioned. Then I decided to do an image search in Hebrew and by comparing the photos that I found of her and her art, I found a Hebrew article on one of her art shows that contained her name and other relevant info.
Here’s pieces of that article translated to English. The article was written by Amos Rabin and you’ll find a link to the full article in the link section.
Rebecca Goldberg (Rita)
Rebecca came from England in 1975, she has lived and painted in Jerusalem for about 35 years.
Jerusalem is the main subject in her paintings. The scenes in her paintings, takes place in the present and Rebecca documents the process of change. Her style also highlights the typical and special affection for Jerusalem: intimate, everyday life in the older neighborhoods.Sometimes the people, the environment and the connections between them are swallowed up in the environment and become part of it and sometimes they are the center of the drama.
Rebecca’s paintings evoke the visual attention of viewers, to find beauty in the unexpected fabric of the city. (source: http://www.art.org.il/)
Rebecca Goldberg is expressing herself through paintings.
Check out these links for more info and photos:
- http://www.art.org.il/?exhibitions=%D7%A4%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D
- http://www.art.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/aw2160l1.jpg
- http://www.y-adama.co.il/site/detail/forum/showMsg.asp?forum_id=14905&message_id=762558&depart_id=84758
- http://www.photolight.co.il/show_photo/188467
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahane_Yehuda_Market
The following info is unrelated to the post, but I thought I'd share it anyway: This post is one of many drafts that I had saved. These days I'm not very active in the blog world, simply because "life got in the way". I'll try to keep on posting more or less regularly, but don't be disappointed if you don't get any return visits or if I don't answer your comments. I'll hopefully be back on track as soon as things settle down. For sure I will keep my Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons going (and please feel free to join, it's never too late!), but other than that I can't promise that I'll be as active as I've been lately. I'm sure you can all understand and relate to this. Have a great weekend!
Female Photographers
Why is it that Nikon & Canon focus (pun intended) mainly on male photographers, even if the ‘female market’ obviously is large and fast growing? A huge chunk of the market, regardless of gender, is of course the typical amateur photographer whose main focus is family and holiday memories, while the professional organisations still have more men represented than women.
Grete Stern
The sentences above were discussed in Leanne Cole‘s blog a while back. I commented on her post and later decided to write my own post about it.
I’m not a camera salesman, so for me the market part of photographing isn’t interesting: who’s buying most cameras – women or men? This doesn’t concern me. The only thing that concerns me is what they produce with the cameras. The big majority of people take pictures to produce family memories, boring pictures of their cats, plants and so called ‘Facebook-moments’ (previously known as Kodak Moments). They’re also using their phone cameras to document whatever they’re having for dinner at some restaurant.
Many professional organizations largely consists of press photographers and in this line of work, the photographer is often ‘out in the fields’ in different war zones – a job where you’ll mostly find men, probably because of mental and physical differences between the sexes (men are often more adrenaline seeking, careless and violent than women). A lot of war photography is just about being at the right place at the right time or faking a scene – and it’s more often than not political propaganda. Of course this is just a matter of taste, but in my opinion male photographers such as war photographer Robert Capa and street photographer Henri Cartier Bresson are wildly overrated.
Many (most) of my favourite photographers are women.
- Daniela Rossell: I wrote an article on Daniela Rossell’s wonderful series «ricas y famosas». I really love her her ethnographic look at the Mexican upper-class’ tastes and lifestyles: she has a closeness & intimacy with her subjects. https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/daniela-rosell-the-rich-andfamous/
- Graciela Iturbide: Another great Mexican, female photographer is Graciela Iturbide. Some of my favourite works are Zihuatanejo, Ciudad de México, Desierto de Sonora and Juchitán (from the series named after the photo Juchitán)
- Grete Stern: a lot of great surrealist works and double exposures. She made 150 photomontages, called Suenos (dreams). Fantastic!
- Herlinde Koelbl: German photographer Herlinde Koelbl had some interesting photos in her exhibition “mein blick” where she took portraits of people in their apartments: a wonderful glimpse of homo sapiens in their natural habitat.
- Madame Yevonde: Madame Yevonde’s portrait of Lady Bridgett as Arethusa. A classic!
- Wanda Wulz: Another of my blog posts was inspired by another female, Wanda Wulz. Her photo «The Cat and I» is double exposure at it’s best! I made some double exposure collages inspired by that photo: https://cardinalguzman.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/when-the-kitty-gets-the-cream/
- Shirim Neshat: Iranian born Shirim Neshat has some interesting photos as well. Rumor has it that her photos are very provocative in Iran.Then again most things seems to be very provocative in Iran. Unfortunately I don’t know her works that well and I’ve never been to her exhibitions, but what I’ve seen so far has been very interesting.
Enjoy this gallery with some selected photos of the mentioned photographers. Disclaimer: I have no rights over these images. I tried to contact the photographers that are still alive to get permission to publish these photos, but some didn’t answer and I was unable to find contact information for the others. I’m assuming that they won’t mind having their photos published in a non-profit, personal blog like this.
Daniela Rossell – Ricas y famosas
Daniela Rossell – Paulina with lion
Ciudad de México by Graciela Iturbide
Zihuatanejo – Graciela Iturbide
Desierto de Sonora by Graciela Iturbide
Grete Stern – Sirena del mar (Sueño Nº 16). ca. 1950
Grete Stern – En el andén (Sueño Nº 2). 1949
Grete Stern
From the ‘Schlafzimmer’ series of Herlinde Koebl.
Walter by Herlinde Koebl
From the ‘Schlafzimmer’ series of Herlinde Koebl.
From the ‘Schlafzimmer’ series of Herlinde Koebl.
Lady Bridgett Elizabeth Felicia Henriette Augusta Poulett as ‘Arethusa’- By Madame Yevonde (1893-1975)
Lady Bridgett Elizabeth Felicia Henriette Augusta Poulett as ‘Arethusa’- By Madame Yevonde (1893-1975)
One of Madame Yevonde’s portraits from her “goddesses” series.
Io + gatto (Cat + I) Wanda Wulz (Italian, 1903-1984)
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat writing Persian poetry on the image of a young Iranian.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside
This deer was in a hallway near the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo. HDR, with 3 bracketed shots.
See more entries for the weekly photo challenge over at WordPress:
dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/weekly-photo-challenge-inside-2/
Couple
Gallery: Details from the Oslo Opera
The Oslo Opera is and the surrounding area is, as you’ve probably noticed, one of my favourite places to take photos. I think the building itself is very nice and there’s also a lot of interesting photo opportunities in the neighborhood. On top of that it’s also in proximity to where I live and I’ve helped to build the Opera House (I worked in construction at the time).
Ceci n’est pas une pipe
Oooh, The Treachery of Images (La trahison des images). I love it when I get to pretend that I’m a bit of an intellectual. René, this one is for you!
Ceci n’est pas une pipe. Angra do Heroísmo; Terceira, Açores
Skuffende Alegria / Alegria Rip off at Oslo Spektrum
Jeg var på Cirque Du Soleil’s show Alegria i Oslo Spektrum i går.
Showet var ok, men det var endel ting som var skuffende og som gjorde at jeg følte det ikke var verdt prisen.
Artistene i Cirque Du Soleil har en del interaksjoner med publimkum, men dette gjaldt kun de som satt på venstre side av salen (når man ser mot scenen) og de som satt foran scenen. Vi som satt i høyre del av salen fikk ikke ta del i dette, selv om vi også har betalt i dyre dommer for billettene våre og satt av tid for å komme på showet.
Oppbyggingen av scenen var ikke heldig: setene er rettet fremover, mens selve scenen var plassert langt mot venstre. Alle som satt på høyre side av salen måtte derfor sitte og vri seg mot venstre i de timene forestillingen varte. Ganske ubehagelig etterhvert.
Forestillingen ellers var bra, selv om det også i denne forestillingen var litt for mye klovneri og litt for lite akrobatikk. Kostymene så bra ut, ihvertfall på avstand (tips: ta med deg kikkert dersom du skal se en av deres forestillinger fredag 01.03. eller lørdag 02.03).
I det hele vil jeg si at showet ikke var verdt pengene, men du får sikkert et annet svar om du spør noen som satt i den andre enden av salen eller like foran scenen.
En ting er sikkert, akrobatikken satt som spikret, bortsett fra en liten blemme som du ser i det første klippet.
Blooper at Cirque Du Soleil’s overpriced show Alegria in Oslo Spektrum.
It was a nice show, but the seats we had were not worth the price and the entertainers only communicated with the audience in front of the stage and to the left of the stage. They hardly ever communicated with the people on the other side of the stage. Extremely annoying, because we’ve also paid a lot of money for our tickets and took our time to come see their show as well.
Another thing: Our seats was facing forwards, while the front of the stage was turned away from us – far over on the left side, so we had to sit in a twisted position during the whole show (and this was after I went down to the ticket office to make sure we got some good seats so we didn’t end up being screwed like last time!)
Except from these things, the show was decent: a lot of clowns and some acrobatics. The costumes looked good, but from where we sat I can’t really say much about them. If you’re going to see one of their shows tonight or tomorrow and your seat isn’t right in front of the stage I suggest that you bring your binoculars.
P.S. Sorry for the poor quality in these clips, but Canon Ixus 130 is not a good camera in such light conditions (I also apologize for the shaking in the 30 first seconds of one of the clips).
Related Posts:
The Wooden Box
What’s in the wooden box?
Obviously it’s a box meant for keeping playing cards.
The further content will be revealed on a weekly basis in the new photo blog:
http://artishorseshit.wordpress.com
Cirque Du Soleil returns to Oslo
Photo: Cirque du Soleil – Alegria
The enchanting circus Cirque du Soleil is returning to town! This will be Cirque du Soleil’s third show in Norway: they performed their show Delirium in 2007 and sold out both nights in Oslo Spektrum. The second time around they had extended their stay and performed Saltimbanco during 4 nights in October 2009 (I believe they also had one or two shows during daytime during the weekend). Now they are returning again with Alegria in the end of February/beginning of March 2013.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:
«Cirque du Soleil (“Circus of the Sun”) is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a “dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.” Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Cirque du Soleil put a lot of work into the music, props, costumes and choreography in every production.» (Wikipedia)
File sharing and Delirium
In 2007, I totally surprised my wife with Cirque du Soleil’s show “Delirium” at a scene called Oslo Spektrum. She had no idea what we were going to see before we were sitting in our seats! The tickets were costly, but her reaction was priceless!
A year or two prior to the show we had downloaded some torrents/DVDs with Circque du Soleil from www.ThePirateBay.org, so we gladly paid the price to see them live. Actually, if it weren’t for the torrents that I downloaded, there’s a possibility that we wouldn’t have known about them or bothered to spend a lot of money to see their show live.
The first time around the price was 600 (Norwegian kroner) per ticket (1200 for both), the second time we decided to sit closer to the stage and paid 2000 all together. This turned out to be a bad idea and NOT worth the extra money. Why? We sat on the fourth row from the stage, which is pretty close, but when you’re this close to the stage your seat is placed on the flat concrete floor. It’s just fucking annoying, especially when there’s a tall woman in front of you on row 3, with a kid on her lap. You don’t want to pay thousands to stare in the back of some random womans head (after all you can do this every morning nearly for free as you’re commuting to work). Luckily, there were some available seats on row 5 (which is elevated) and ironically the cheaper tickets had a better view, so we moved over as soon as there was a break (kind of like the Favelas in Brazil and the slums of Peshavar, were the poor people have the best view).
Sitting on fourth row reminded me of some tragic, Norwegian Village Cinema were you sit on foldable chairs on a flat floor in the gym of the local primary school or something like that.
So, if you’re planning to go see the next show in Oslo Spektrum and you don’t like to stretch your neck for two hours: make sure you don’t get tickets on the 3rd or 4th row!
Note: When we bought tickets for the show in 2013 I noticed that the ticket system for Oslo Spektrum had been changed – now it wasn’t possible to pick your seats from a digital map (like you used to be able to do, and like you can do at all the cinemas), so to make sure we didn’t end up on the floor, I went down to the ticket office, got my tickets and told the guy that their new system sucked ass & balls – He totally agreed.
For this next show (Alegria) we paid 1310 for two tickets, so all in all we’ve spent 4510 NKR (1200+2000+1310) thanks to The Pirate Bay.
I no longer remember the details from the previous shows – I only remember that is was fucking awesome! According to my own notes and after having refreshed my memory via the internet, I can reproduce some of the impressions and facts of Delirium in 2007: Delirium was a show that was based on multimedia and the theatrical parts consisted of remixes of existing Cirque du Soleil’s music and performances. The show was choreographed by Mia Michaels (who you may remember as a judge on the U.S. TV show «So You Think You Can Dance»?
Unlike other Cirque du Soleil shows where the musicians are on stage but largely out of sight, the musicians in Delirium played an active role in the show.
Unfortunately, the music wasn’t as mysterious and captivating as it tends to be in their shows, but this is probably due to the fact that the music consisted of remixes. They had also added vocals to some of the music – not a very good choice if you ask me.
The music plays continuously during Cirque du Soleil’s shows, and helps to create and reinforce the magic and drama that so often occurs. The acrobatics are – more often than not – breathtaking, and if you during the show take a sneak peek at some of the other viewers, you’ll most likely see wide-open eyes and mouths. That’s how impressive these shows are!
Saltimbanco – to jump on a bench
Here’s a clip from Saltimbanco:
Delirium was, as mentioned, more music-based than the other shows of Cirque du Soleil where you usually follow a story from beginning to end and where the narrative plays a greater role than the choreography. Saltimbanco comes from the Italian “saltare in banco” which, according to rumors, means: “to jump on a bench”.
Photo: Cirque du Soleil – Saltimbanco
Saltimbanco explores the urban and its myriad forms: the people who live there, their distinctiveness and equality, families and groups, the hustle and bustle of the streets and the stupendous height of skyscrapers. When it comes to busy streets and skyscrapers, the citizens of Oslo will have to rely on their memories from a trip abroad, or their imagination, because you won’t find any of these in Oslo: ‘Trygge Oslo, stygge Oslo’ (‘safe Oslo, ugly Oslo’) like the Norwegian musician, junkie, alcoholic and poet named Jokke once said.
After Saltimbanco, my wife said that she thought: «it was fine. The previous show had more effects and was more fascinating, but this show was very colorful and humorous. The thing I like about Cirque du Soleil is that every show is different and surprising».
My opinion is that Saltimbanco lacked the great acrobatics I associate with Cirque du Soleil, but the acrobatics that were in the show was performed well. The scene in Oslo Spektrum is also a bit too small for any major stunts.
Particularly I enjoyed the part with the balancing bike, and the part where they used a swing to jump and bounce of each other. Also the part where two men balanced on each other. The costumes were artistic, colorful and bright, but I couldn’t catch the story of the show (was there even a story to it? – According to some stuff I read Saltimbanco was supposed to:
«take the spectators on an allegorical and acrobatic journey into the heart of the city by means of a visual vocabulary and baroque, eclectic characters – an imaginary city where diversity represents hope»
Where the hell did the publicist come up with such bullshit? And why didn’t anyone stop him…? Also, on the negative side: the show had too much pantomime – probably hilarious if you’re 5 years old or a retard.
Anyway, even with the negative things that I’ve mentioned, both the shows have been worth the money: the acrobatics, the costumes, the music, the dancing – it’s all enchanting and hypnotic!
The best thing about the circus is perhaps the fact that no animals are being harassed and forced to do unnatural things. There’s no animals in their shows, only people. Highly skilled and trained people.
If you ever get the chance: go see Cirque Du Soleil – I’m already looking forward to see their show Alegria.
You can check them out on their website:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com (warning: flash-based website)
or look them up on YouTube or Wikipedia.
