Art, sound, and spring flowers

In contrast to the weather forecast yesterdays morning was sunny and sky was blue. I’ve been in Umeå the weekend and after the breakfast Annika and I decided to make just a small trip before weather would get worse.

We drove to Baggböle, 8 km west from Umeå. Here’s the “Arboretum Norr”, a tree collection (or arboretum) along the river Umeälven. We enjoyed the springlike temperatures and the many small flowers that started to blossom everywhere.

It was a bit too early for an extensive visit, since many trees just started to get their leaves, but we had another destination anyway.

In an abandoned turbine sump you can find an orange figure sitting cross-legged just as a statue of a meditating monk. The figure is reflected in the shallow water. This artwork is part of the Konstvägen sju älvar, a 350 km long tourist and sculpture route in Västerbotten. Sju älvar (seven rivers) sounds almost like sju elva (seven eleven), that’s how this artwork got its name: 8 11. Outside it was warm and sunny, inside it was dark and chilly. The ground was still frozen.

Probably the weather missed the forecast, because outside it continued being warm and sunny. So we continued our car trip, first toVännäs to visit another artwork: Eldsoffa (fire sofa) – a brick sofa that you can heat by fire (no picture).

After that we took a detour via Pengsjö and headed to another artwork between Vännäs and Bjurholm: Hägring (mirage).

A model of a church built of pieces of mirror glass seems to hover above a bog. It reflects it’s surroundings and if you go there over the wet boggy ground it reflects you yourself.

If you want to go to that artwork: Take rubber boots with you or you’ll get wet feet, at least in May.

After going round that artwork we continued our tour, had a brief look to Bjurholm and after that we started to return to Umeå again. We took the 353 southwards and would have been in Umeå one hour later if not my curiosity made me turn right into the road to Ågnasbacken, a local ski area. I love standing on hill and mountain tops and enjoy the views, but we discovered something better: The klangvägen (the sound path), a 1.5 km long path on two of the ski slopes with sound objects. Especially Sofie Weibull’s Klockspel – a wind driven installation of metal pieces sounding like bells – fascinated us very much. I did not make any photos because in my opinion it was sound that mattered, not the optical appearance of the installations themselves.

Anyway, I made a photo from one of the ski slopes and the view. And some leftover snow …

We came back to Annika’s flat eight our nine hours after start. Sometimes a short trip can get out of hand a bit …

3 comments to “Art, sound, and spring flowers”

  1. Martin 2016-05-19 12:17

    Hallo Olaf,
    jetzt kommt der Frühling bei Euch ja in großen Zügen an. Der Sauerklee mit seinen blaugeäderten, zarten Blüten ist wirklich immer besonders schön. Und mit den Weidenkätzchen habe ich mich in diesem Frühling auch wieder stundenlang beschäftigt, allerdings mit Bildserien fürs Focus-Stacking, wobei die Zweige minutenlang stillhalten müssen. Das geht nur mit einem 2. Stativ und Pflanzenklammer – aber dann gehtes – machmal!
    Bei Ågnäsbacken möchte man sich in die Sonne setzen und den Rotdrosseln beim Singen zuhören !
    Gruß Martin

  2. way-up-north 2016-05-20 15:56

    Hej Martin,

    ja, der Frühling ist hier längst angekommen. Fast ein bisschen schade. So viel Mühe und Aufwand habe ich bei den Pflanzenfotos oben – wie man sieht – nicht getrieben. Es sind alles Freihandfotos mit meinem Tamron 90mm.

    Schöne Grüße,
    Olaf

  3. Daisy Russel 2018-09-25 00:31

    What a lovely flower indeed! Great experience. I just love springtime.

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