Studio Peek Updater: IV and finalizing Nordic timeline

Studio Peek Updater: III

The final selections for the Oslo show with finishing touches of felt monogrammed cap ends, bronzed "failure" spots and copper bandwiths.

SPACE ||| TIME ||| CONTINUUM

Norway spends a lot of architectural design money on kindergartens here. Yup, really.

RØROS: at long last!

The fabulous filmmaking couple team of Nathalie King and Line Try honored me with an invitation to a family cabin in the Unesco heritage old mining town of Røros, practically untouched. 2 1/2 hour winding mountainous train ride from Trondheim, Røros= Deco Scandinavian coloring, slag heaps, and an inexplicable Twin Peaks feel. Accompanied by their 10 year old terrier Duffy , who eats anything you give him except bananas, who is amazingly sweet and is a glutton for lovin'. Good overall times, wining it up, hiking in 1/2 mile to the place thru slushy old snow, building fires, talking art and film. Great inspiring lady company, you can check out their work HERE.

Rustic Cabin

The cabin was originally in the town of Røros, but moved and reconstructed plank by plank. With no runnning water, electricity and after drinking wine, one must snowshoe in the blue dusk to the outhouse when nature calls. Lovely altogether.

Becoming Uber Snow Bunny

Walking like a duck comes rather natually, I've discovered, except when you really pick up the pace, and are just booking along, brimming with confidence and suddenly hit some "rotten" (soft) snow and sink to your hip!

en route to sweden: "Tacky Trip"

On the last day there, Line, Nath and I took their little car and went on a scenic drive across the border into Sweden. The landscape was still fighting the spring transition, but gorgeous with golden light and vast farmland dotted with alpine style cabins. We stopped at a Sami reindeer farm to buy the reindeer meat for the traditional stew they cooked for me that night- brown cheese sauce with juniper berries and reindeer chunks, served with cheap red wine purchased across the border. I got boot severely stuck in the tundra but it was worth it for the glorious vistas. They told me that this journey into the eastern country roughly translates at "Tacky Trip," as most people use the impetus of MUCH cheaper booze across the border to make the trip. We stopped at a cafe before we headed back and I had a bite of Reindeer Pizza, as I gazed at the skin on the wall. It's enough to make old Santa shed a few, but pretty tasty as far as game goes.

Norwegian Fun Facts: The Continuum

Did YOU know?...

* There is a contingent of local folks, mostly ladies, who are obsessed with fake tanning. You can recognize them a mile away from their orange sheen. The tanning/sun salons are open 365 days a year and often 24 hours! How is this possible? Two words: COIN OP!

* Graffiti = minimal in this town and harshly punitive if caught in the act. They try and dissuade this rarified street art with PSAs in the cinema that has an animation warning that if arrested for graffiti, the offender will NOT be able to go to the United States for 6 years! Impetus Culturus? Deterrents take on a whole new angle here in Norway.

*Diagonal Death Wish- The crosswalks here are plentiful and traffic READILY yields to any pedestrian. If you even gesture like you are going to step off the curb, cars screech to a halt. It's a little unnerving. Crosswalk buttons also favor the two legged traveller, with some intersections stopping both flows of traffic at once, albeit briefly, which causes the phenomenon of people scurrying diagonally across the middle in ant like formation. I tried to picture the profane wonderland that would erupt from such sights in New York City...

---Opening Frenzy---

Last Friday spawned one of those magical nights where everything happens at once. Neglecting to make time for Crispin Hellion Glover's performance at the former German submarine bunker DORA, friends and I traversed the city from gallery to gallery, injesting provocative works, Cava, waffles and wine. Cath and Ørjan's hard work paid off, with my favorites being the Slug Boat installation and Ørjan's captain of real time live action. Madeline gave them slug hats to don while they held court. If Erik showing off his chest eyeball looks menacing, it proved it later. After waffles and infinity boxes at Blukk, and Heather Passmore's exhibit at Babel, we headed to LKV for the 3 year anniversary party. I neglected earlier to mention that in lieu of smoking, people here stick pouches of tobacco under their lip. Ewww, right? The girls even have mini packs that come in cute boxes. Erik swayed me to try one, which only made me dizzy and start reading people's palms. Note to self: skip it! A good time was had all around, as usual here in the pleasant village of Trondheim, Norway. One week left.