Malmo Study Abroad

[im-in-sweden]

Shoutout 2 gabe

[hej-ak-blog]

Louisiana

I didn’t really enjoy Louisiana. After discussing it in class, I realized even more reasons I disliked it besides what I previously thought. I didn’t spend much/enough time going through the gallery. I thought it was ll the factors leading up to it. I was late to the gallery and so had to immediately orient myself to the gallery while also finding the rest of the group on my own. I was sleep deprived so I though I couldn’t fully appreciate what I was seeing among other things. After hearing others opinions, especially Jean’s and Gabe’s, I started thinking it wasn’t all environmental reasons. Firstly, navigating the museum without the group was confusing. I didn’t know what they intended me to look at first or what to give attention to which I wasn’t used to at all with a museum. Then I came upon the Africa exhibit. Too. Much. Information. I couldn’t keep my attention long enough to even finish a paragraph! Set aside fatigue, and setting aside the fact that most of it wasn’t too interesting or valuable for anyone other than the gallery themselves, I couldn’t finish because all I could think was “There’s way more to read! Must move on so I can touch base with everything!” Not a conducive gallery arrangement. The representation wasn’t helpful to the artists or the viewers and when I thought about being the artist whose work was on display I thought I would be so happy and proud! Even though I didn’t like what they did with the African artists I still felt I would be happy because I would have been put in a prestigious gallery. Nothing else would matter, which I can imagine is how they were able to exploit those artists so well.  Additional note about class discussion: I don’t think it is such a crime that they grouped all African countries together. Obviously, they are all different and should never be thought of as the same, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be grouped just as all of the states are different, but are grouped. Not only just as the US but as regions. We will say “They’re from the south, they’re conservative.” That’s not always true! Missouri and Florida: two southern states grouped together, but are quite different. The grouping does not both me as the other things did. 

[malmoljm]

But there’s the fact that outsiders as a whole very constantly refer to Africa as on entity. An entire continent is negated to one identity because it’s something we don’t understand. Yes there are obviously generalizations made about everything, but there has always been a stigma about Africa and the idea that it is the same throughout. Americans for example have a certain persona and stereotype, but break it down to LA or NY, or even continue to break it down to states and a lot of people who aren’t from America will recognize many states or yes, even the “North is more liberal and South is conservative”, very very broad blanket statement. 

I totally admit, I can’t even say that about Africa. I don’t even know enough to say anything about a region in Africa, only that Africa as a whole is a thing, and full of so many countries. But the issue for me is that Africa is always negated to a single entity to the point there people think Africa itself is the one and only country. This, paired with the whole “look at how much good we’re doing!”, colonialist impressions, and Euro-centric (not using the word I want but I can’t think of anything else, i.e., the video made by the actual African in the far far back corner) layout of the exhibit itself is what I think made the grouping much more offensive than it already is. 

(Also, with as much information as they felt the need to throw at you, they couldn’t retract some details and throw in a little more to notate the different cultures? Or it’s just easier to see Africa as a whole and “look how primitive they are”…)

[hej-ak-blog]

The perception of Africa as a whole has always been skewed and incorrect. I don’t deny that part of that reason is grouping it together as one entity instead of different people, communities, or countries. I just don’t think that in a gallery with limited space they would group it together. However, I more than agree with you that instead of putting all that information on the walls they could have separated it a little more or gave more information about the individualization of the artists. I think there are A LOT of things they could have done with that space that they didn’t do. That’s just one of them.  Looking at Africa as one entity is a problem stemmed from the fact that there isn’t enough access to knowledge about any of the continent. Limited resources, technology, and cohesion even in an individual country makes them more susceptible to the group/label problem. Maybe I’m underestimating the effect it has. In fact I probably am, but I just think there were more important problems they could have dealt with in the exhibit. 

[hej-ak-blog]

Louisiana

I didn’t really enjoy Louisiana. After discussing it in class, I realized even more reasons I disliked it besides what I previously thought. I didn’t spend much/enough time going through the gallery. I thought it was ll the factors leading up to it. I was late to the gallery and so had to immediately orient myself to the gallery while also finding the rest of the group on my own. I was sleep deprived so I though I couldn’t fully appreciate what I was seeing among other things. After hearing others opinions, especially Jean’s and Gabe’s, I started thinking it wasn’t all environmental reasons. Firstly, navigating the museum without the group was confusing. I didn’t know what they intended me to look at first or what to give attention to which I wasn’t used to at all with a museum. Then I came upon the Africa exhibit. Too. Much. Information. I couldn’t keep my attention long enough to even finish a paragraph! Set aside fatigue, and setting aside the fact that most of it wasn’t too interesting or valuable for anyone other than the gallery themselves, I couldn’t finish because all I could think was “There’s way more to read! Must move on so I can touch base with everything!” Not a conducive gallery arrangement. The representation wasn’t helpful to the artists or the viewers and when I thought about being the artist whose work was on display I thought I would be so happy and proud! Even though I didn’t like what they did with the African artists I still felt I would be happy because I would have been put in a prestigious gallery. Nothing else would matter, which I can imagine is how they were able to exploit those artists so well.  Additional note about class discussion: I don’t think it is such a crime that they grouped all African countries together. Obviously, they are all different and should never be thought of as the same, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be grouped just as all of the states are different, but are grouped. Not only just as the US but as regions. We will say “They’re from the south, they’re conservative.” That’s not always true! Missouri and Florida: two southern states grouped together, but are quite different. The grouping does not both me as the other things did. 

[thecityisee-blog-blog]

Why I Do Not Photograph

(So I apparently saved this as a draft instead of posting it weeks ago? Forgive me, I’m an inexperienced blogger.)

Every time I go somewhere new my mom gets angry at me for returning with no pictures to show her. But I just cannot do it. I cannot fathom the idea of seeing my reality framed through a camera lens when the view is all around me. I don’t want to be constrained to a frame when life is happening 360. I’m afraid to miss out, and I’m not worried about not remembering because I know everyone else around me is taking pictures that will be up for the public to see at any time. I keep a journal with me of any interesting events that occur or thoughts that I have, and I feel so safe with it because it is tangible. I can touch it and keep it safe. But on the internet these pictures and words are out of my control. Who knows what could happen to them. I will write in my journal and I will sketch in my sketchbook, but I will not trust that the words I write and the pictures I see will always remain. And I believe that a sketch will show more emotion than any photograph on the internet. I will try to post sketches, but no promises - sometimes I am too excited and overwhelmed to sit down and draw.

‘Loss of the Creature’ touches on this idea. Talking about those who waive their “right of seeing and knowing” by instead documenting with their cameras, Percy writes  - “For him there is no present, there is only the past of what has been formulated and seen and the future of what has been formulated and not seen. The present is surrendered to the past and the future.”

If I learned anything in Croatia, it was how to be present. There were very few places with wifi, so it forced the group to really take in each place we visited, every detail of a place and the personal reactions and emotions we all felt. I never knew having no wifi could feel so good. It’s liberating, really. I was no longer hidden behind the small screen of my phone, but exposed to the enormous world surrounding me. This past experience has already shaped my experience in Malmö, because I will be rid of my phone and other technologies while viewing a land I have not yet seen. 

So this is why you will see no pictures of my own throughout this blog. I will and have blogged/reblogged the photos that others in my group have taken, in order to help others visualize what I may fail to put into words. I cannot deny that words often fail in the description of wonderful things, and I can promise you I will be seeing nothing less than wonderful in this beautiful country. I will depict my findings to the best of my ability.

[malmomalmomalmo-blog]

This is great, I love this so much (especially as a photography student). There is this idea in photography of everything that you photograph being dead. Essentially every time you take an image, every time the shutter clicks, you’re killing a moment by creating this version of it that will literally never be able to exist again. It’s kind of heady, but something that I’ve really taken to heart in my studies.

Photographing something is a very traumatic action, and not many people are aware of that.

[malmoljm]

I realized how much I felt this too while I was in Paris, the Louvre to be specific. I did take some pictures, yes, but a large majority of it I couldn’t bear to bring out my phone, as I’d spend the entire time snapping a shot, and moving on to the next, frantically trying to document everything. I did something very similar to that in Moderna Museet, and promised myself I’d go into the Louvre differently. 

By taking photographs, you try so hard to show others what you are seeing. But they will never see it, as they are neither you nor exactly where you are standing and seeing. Pictures can only express so much, and they will never be as good as reality. That’s why I rarely bring my actual camera anywhere, otherwise I’d be so focused on adjusting every single thing so that the picture comes out “perfect” (even though there is no such thing). 

Living in the moment is so much harder than we think it is.

[hej-ak-blog]

This was really interesting. Coming from a person who takes photos of everything, it’s fascinating to hear the other side. I was writing about my view on photos in a journal, here’s what I wrote: It’s reasonable to fear taking photos. Snapping a moment can kill it for the photographer. It’s also reasonable to love it. Photos can bring the moment to life for others including the future self of the photographer. While there is no way of capturing certain sensory inputs, such as smell, it does not negate the value of photos and their record of information. Viewing a photo is an act of imagination. You imagine what it was like to be in that moment (whether you were actually there or not). If you think about photographs from the mid 1800s during the birth of the technology, you realize the value they have, the form of documentation they give for a time and place you will never experience or people you will never meet. For these reasons I think photography is a fascinating process. Additionally, video takes this a step further by recording sound. Sound gives a sense of environment that isn’t provided with pictures, thus restricting the imagination while also filling in holes. Video also shows movement which gives character to the objects, people, or places. It shows how the subject reacts or handles the environment. While the art of taking a photograph can kill some sense of presence, it can provide much more. 

[hej-ak-blog]

View from Above

While I was in Berlin we went to the top of the TV tower. This tower has a 360 degree view of Berlin. Whenever I’m in a position to view from above I always get an existential cirsis. I start thinking about what this city has been through. You can imagine how it was built up over time. I think about all of the people who put work in to make it look how it does today. The buildings, the streets, the parks, everything was man-made by tens of thousands of people at a minimum. Then I think about the people there now. All of the people who are inhabiting these buildings, working here, making memories, building futures, having problems, confronting death and birth and knowledge and skill. Having pain and happiness. The complexity is overwhelming and it begins to make me feel quite insignificant. On the other hand you could look at it as making you very significant because here you are looking down on them. Being up so high that you can watch them live their lives no matter where they go. From the readings we found that there are different ideas formulated about a city when viewing it from different angles. From above I felt like I was one in a mass. That the city had total control over me and there was nothing I could do to control it. On the ground I felt like the world was my oyster, I could choose where to go and what to do and I was not part of some complex system I was just me. 

[hej-ak-blog]

I take a picture of water almost every day.

[hej-ak-blog]

Art right next to Ronnen

[hej-ak-blog]

This exhibit in particular from the castle really showed how Malmo was in the forefront of sustainability. It was kind of funny to read this sign in particular and see them urging people to take action and then showing that Malmo is basically covered. Obviously, I’m not being completely serious, I realize that the message was more can be done. But I think that it should be more widespread, and other cities would do well to follow the example.

On another sign (not pictured-wish it was) they said that women have been shown to be more aware of the need for sustainability implementation on average, but the actual implementation never happens because men are the one in higher power. They then suggested that we spread the word more about environmental issues so that men too can be knowledgeable and change can begin. Why is that is the solution? Women could also just have more equal power. Also what is to say they don’t know about it, they may just care less. And if they did care who is to say they would implement it. Why would women make things happen for that matter. Everyone has heard about environmental issues. It’s not under the radar any longer, and yet even with the knowledge we do nothing. Why is that?

[hej-ak-blog]

I really like this idea of the new next to the old. I’m pretty certain I have said this before, but it’s a great comparison between different ideas and perspectives about the city. It reflects plans more than anything. The idea people had for the city has changed very dramatically. It goes back to class in the idea of Malmo being this heroic city that has been born again from the ashes like a phoenix and so they keep the old to remind the viewer of the past along the new to show them the future. The combination in itself becomes a selling point for the city. 

[hej-ak-blog]

Hometown Comparison

 I think closer friends will want to skip this post because I’ve said this many times.

I come from Portland, Oregon. I never thought much of it, but I don’t mean to say I dislike it or even that I’m bored of it, simply that I thought it was not any more special than other cities. The first time that changed for me was when I went to college. I suddenly missed home, but I also missed my city because it was so different than Rochester or San Diego (the first university I went to). After being away from home I realized that it’s much more, what many call, hipster in Portland. We have lots of small businesses and farmer’s markets, people are more open about drugs or their quirky past times, they enjoy planting and the sustainable lifestyle. 

After coming to Europe, I saw cities that are similar to Portland finally and I have a sense of familiarity. After coming here I think it’s fair to say that Portland is the most “european city” in the U.S. I only say this because I’ve been to all of the major cities in the country from Seattle to LA and from Boston to Miami I’ve seen them all and none of them are quite like the cities you see here. For the purpose of the class I’ll just use Malmo. This city prides itself on the sustainable living. The main form of transportation is biking. If you’re not biking you’re walking. If you’re not walking you’re using public transportation. That is not the case in the US. Everyone drives. You rarely see people doing anything else and if you do it seems to often times come with judgement, like they must not have the money for a car. Portland is not like this. They definitely use cars more than Malmo, but the use of the three forms (bike, car, and bus/train) are very even. We have bike lanes, just as Malmo does that run on our streets, with boxes for them to pull in front of the cars so that drivers give them the right-of-way. The transportation system is one of the best in the country. It’s logical, goes every where, and is on time. One similarity in particular I have noticed which seems to be the same in Malmo and Portland but not other places I’ve seen like Copenhagen or Amsterdam for example, is the generosity of the drivers. They will wait for you to cross no matter what, almost to a fault, because they will hold up traffic before they rudely press on their gas to threaten you. 

Other similarities include the common gardens/composts and the nature being intertwined with the city. It’s very common to have trees line the streets in Portland, and I heard some very confounded at this idea when walking through Malmo or Amsterdam. It’s a weird sense of home I get when being in Malmo, like Portland could just be the next city over. Then I notice the differences. Like the fact that Malmo only has the Turning Torso which looms over the city. Portland is full of sky scrapers. There are no mountains or hills in Malmo whereas in Portland we have Mt. Hood which you can see from almost any point. It is less crowded in Malmo. It is more spread out in Malmo. I think it’s interesting to compare them side by side. I also would like someone who has visited Portland and has visited Malmo to tell me what they think because I get the sense I’m extremely biased as it’s my hometown. 

[a-heidarsson]

Memory is redundant: it repeats signs so that the city can begin to exist.

From Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”.

I felt like this quote would be of use in the future so I just wanted to write it down for myself.

(via a-heidarsson)

I found this really interesting because I read somewhere that (not sure i how factual this is though) the reason the trip back from somewhere always feels shorter is because the way there, your brain is taking in the information and new images, but if you take the same way back, you don’t take in as much because you’ve already seen it. The redundancy is why we don’t notice time passing as much, which is actually opposite than the redundancy in this quote leading to a more solidified presence.

(via malmoljm)

It was also interesting that when describing visiting the city, each of the author’s travelling companions remembered it differently. Certain details stuck in the author’s mind. They repeated themselves to form a distinctive memory/impression of the city. Repetitions gives a city a story. 

(via ari-sees-theworld)

[ari-sees-theworld]

Maps are not an accurate, perfectly proportioned representation of the world. There’s a shocking truth to start this out with. Mapmakers take liberties when creating maps. They select what is important to their project, and place that in a prominent way. A single map is part of a greater...

[hej-ak-blog]

Wow. I just wrote my own response and then read yours and especially in your second paragraph we took completely different stands. I said that maps could be anything they don’t have to just be geographical and you said that they must be. I think that’s interesting. Do you think that maps can’t be art? or that maps can’t stress certain things? Or maybe you just didn’t get to mentioning that which I get because I’m tired and you must be :p. I was just saying that maps can be different but if they claim to be geographically accurate then that is what they should be. They should not have disproportionate sizes like Africa or Alaska often do. I’m curious about what you think.

[hej-ak-blog]

Map Lies

In the reading there was a lot of dialogue on the way maps can give false, exaggerated, or even inhibiting information to the viewer to serve some kind of purpose. Monmonier made it sound like we were never educated to critically think about maps but in fact I have been told/heard that maps are incorrect in several different formats. For example, I have heard of the ‘paper towns’ concept where towns don’t exist but are placed on maps in order to prevent copyright law infractions from books. I have heard about the distortion of map on the latitude - longitudinal scale from a show called The West Wing (Great show, highly recommend. The episode specifically is Big Block of Cheese Day) And finally I heard about the misinformation the military/state provides which Monmonier mentioned, just by word of mouth. It isn’t unheard of, but more importantly, it isn’t unethical. Before satellite technologies existed it was common to make maps simply as an art piece, and it is only more recently that some artists have taken it upon themselves to return this tradition. Nationalist priorities provided maps that were centered around themselves. I think that maps are a great resource for many things not just geographical location or directions. They come in many forms. I also believe, however, that maps which are made for that purpose should be as true as possible to reality. Albeit, perhaps missing certain details due to symbols and markings as long as they still enhance the understanding and strive for the same goal. 

Maps, just like everything else in the world, comes with a grain of salt. The information isn’t always accurate, but that does not mean they cannot be trusted. 

[hej-ak-blog]

Copenhagen Impression

I must say that my impression of Copenhagen wasn’t great, but it was also short lived. We were only there for a few hours exploring the palace before heading back. Right off the train, we were bombarded by a noisy train station, which was odd considering the airport was so quiet, and homeless people surrounding the station outside. This took me by surprise because they are said to be the happiest nation in the world in large part due to their economy and I figured they would have few to none homeless. I think that the expectation card comes into play again because I have had high hopes for Copenhagen and all of Denmark for a very long time. I truly believed they were the happiest nation in the world and I was so interested in the political and economic policies that brought them to that title. If I did not have these expectations previously I don’t think I would have disliked it so much because it seemed like an average city. There was something about the pouring rain, the graffiti on the walls, the homeless on the ground, and the drivers on the road that made me a bit depressed, though. I will certainly be going back, hopefully with new eyes, but this was my first experience.

[hej-ak-blog]

Rosengård

Side note: Did anyone think Isengard when they first saw the name of this place? I think I internet too much. I also thought of Rosencrantz to be fair though. 

Rosengård was supposed to be a underemployed, high-immigrant population part of town. It was implied that there was less income here AKA it’s poor, and the buildings would be run down. Now I’m starting to think that even the lecture jaded my perception. Did he actually say it would be like that? I think we immediately felt that way because we were told of all the plans to revamp the area and bring it “up to par” with the rest of Malmö. In actuality though it wasn’t that bad, the immigrant population was obviously high, but there were not many signs of poverty or crime. We immediately associated images of this (or at least I did) when I heard that it was lower income. Obviously this isn’t good, and speaks a lot to how we see things. Except he also implied improvements that had already been made. Such as the compact housing, the name of which is escaping me right now, and the oriental lamps as seen in the pictures above. They have solar powered trash compactors, and a park made especially for girls in order to counteract the number of activities made for boys. You can see the manipulation that is happening. I noticed the posters of happy racially diverse people on the buildings as if saying ‘look they’re happy and you can be too!’. Pretty Big-Brother-esque if you ask me. Therefore it’s possible that the reason it did not match my expectations is because changes had already been made, I’m just assuming that the changes have not been significant enough so far.

I didn’t think the town seemed so bad off. In fact it looked like any average town you would find in the states, if not more compact especially in the housing. I suppose it looked worse than the center city or western harbor, but it didn’t seem like it needed to be like that either. I think that diversity is important and while there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve places I think that the inhabitants need to be taken into account. Magnus (sp?) mentioned that there was only a small committee involved in deciding what would happen to the city and that really isn’t fair. The entire urban planning group should be made up of those that live there. It doesn’t need to be just like Malmö central. 

[hej-ak-blog]

Response to Walking in the City

I was really struck by his comments about travelling. How we travel in order to see the past and revisit our own. That there is no place interesting except for home. I found myself not understanding a lot of the analogies he was making and it’s possible I’m misunderstanding this one, but in case I’m not: Travelling isn’t about revisiting your past in my mind. If anything I think that travel is more about expanding your future. I travel in order to get out of a bubble that either I or someone else has created for me and I fear that if I stay in this bubble long enough then I will fall short in my understanding of the world before me. If I don’t meet new people with different perspectives and see different systems in action how will I know where to improve? Furthermore, I think that it expands you in your self-sustainability. The trend among college students to study abroad or take a gap year of sorts is not only about creating memories and expanding it’s proving to yourself that you can take care of yourself. We grow up being taught how to live in one kind of society, but it’s a whole other thing to be put into an unfamiliar place and use a combination of previous knowledge and intuition to survive or fend for yourself. As globalization increases and the internet ties us closer and closer together I fear we’ll lose that luxury. Different places become more similar when they are not isolated from the rest of the world.  In reference to the home, I think that the home is the most interesting place in the world. If not for the safety that one feels there then for the past that was created. Associations that we spend our whole lives creating resurface when we travel. Perhaps that is what de Certau meant when he said that we revisit our past. Both home and travel may be nostalgic but at the same time are new. It’s impossible to escape your past and its omnipresence, but it is possible to shape your future which I think he may have been hinting at. 

[hej-ak-blog]

Planned Vs. Unplanned

The extent to which a city is planned is so hard to discern. I’ve been reading other posts and many think that cities are very planned. I seem to think the opposite. I suppose I don’t have a lot of background in urban planning, but it seems to me that when cities begin it’s because there is some resource they have that draws the population in. For those familiar with photoshop, it’s similar to a pinching effect. The resources vary, whether it’s clean water, increased opportunities, or transportation. Various factors can initiate the move, but once it’s happened companies and individuals begin building up from whatever is available. I think it’s most commonly seen in stores that have apartments or offices above them. 

In Malmö specifically, you can’t look anywhere without seeing construction. In the pictures I included above you can see cranes and base structures being built within what would already be considered a city. This suggests that a city, that was already developed, has moved for a wider infrastructure most likely in order to flourish or improve. I think this should be taken with a grain of salt of course because there is not zero planning involved. After a city reaches a certain capacity I think it’s imperative to plan and prioritize what else to include. For example, most cities include parks. These would not be there unless someone said ‘if there is no nature people will suffer’. I think it came into play in the allotment gardens that Fredrik showed us. The gardens were created to bring release to the workers and in doing this created a sectioned off part of the city. Furthermore, cities yearn for attractions because attractions bring more business. If there is something ‘cool’ in a city like Broadway in NYC for example, word will spread about how awesome it is and then people will come just for that reason. This also references back to the Loss of Creature reading because tourists produce tourists. The city ideally would be reaching to attain a balance between attraction, sustainability, and business.  In conclusion, I think cities are a mixture of the two. It is neither one or the other. Urban planners can organize several developments at once to improve or sustain a city, but there is no way of knowing if what they have organized will be used in the way it was intended, or if what they are planning will actually be enjoyed by the people. A city is too complex to be truly either way.