The Weekend Roundup N

1) Starts with N: 

Modern Nordic Necklage design

1) Starts with N: 

Nice looking Navy guy

3) House Number at Nervanderinkatu, Helsinki

A favourite: Nude Nymphs by František Kupka

// THE WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Friday Bliss # 56 - Florence on my Mind!

The autumn colors have bursted in a few days. 

The scenery glows in yellow, orange and red. In the sunshine the colors seem unreal.

But I have Florence on my mind :) Finnish author Mia Kankimäki has written a book about exemplary women in history - The Women I Think About At Night. Her writings of the women of the Italian Renaissance mesmerized me totally. She tells of the exquisite beauties staring from the walls of Uffizi, who - as a rule - died at childbirth at a very young age. The noblewomen of the Renaissance were not much comforted by luxury: these birthing machines had a child almost every year since the age of 13 - until the death had mercy on them at childbirth. I’ll quote a few lines from the book.

Beatrice d’Este by Alessando Araldin. She died at 2. childbirth at the age of 22 in 1497.

"Her braid is pretty, but Beatrice looks a little fed up to me. 

In the profile her mouth is squeezed into a fucking-bored look, her eyes staring at nothing. 

To me, her being is crying silently: oh Satan!” - Kankimäki

Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo. She died of tuberculosis (probably)
at the age of 22 in 1476. She had no children, even if she was married at the age of 16.

"Babies did not plop out of women in the 16th century somehow easier and more routinely, 

like on an assembly line or in an accelerated cartoon - childbirth, plop, childbirth, plop, 

baby died, oh no, oh no,  so unfortunate, new bun into the owen, plop, plop, plop. 

On the contrary, every woman's body had to go through the process in a very concrete way.
Pregnancy, childbirth, hormones - all of it was the same for a woman's body as it is today, 

only worse because there was so little medical help.” - Kankimäki

So, I’ll be in the sunny Florence for a few days visiting Uffizi & other museums.

Maybe it is not possible for me to visit & comment. But we’ll talk later.
Wishing you a bright & sunny weekend!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

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Light in the Darkness

This might seem to be some pagan worship, but no.

It is a Reflektor Light Art Festival!

Last weekend I went to experience this fantastic light art festival near my home. The route was a few kilometres and the crowd walked on pitch-dark routes in the middle of an old forest. But not scary though, there were a lot of families with kids and dogs :) Reflektor Light Festival originates from Denmark. In Copenhagen the festival was organized from 2016 to 2017, in Helsinki last autumn and now in cooperation with the City of Vantaa. The quality of mobile photos is not great, but just to give you an idea of this magical experience.

"In the Nordic countries, we share a certain sensitivity and aesthetics with regard to light and darkness - something that is deep within our culture and connected to the changing seasons. We use light art to create shared, yet intimate experiences for the widest audience, and showcase how light art in public spaces can transform familiar places into exploratory and sensual, multi-dimensional experience,.”- curator Christina Dvinge from Denmark.

The visual effects of this tunnel were flowing, and a space music filled the air.

The patterns and colors of this full moon were changing constantly.

"The power of light art is based on darkness, and Reflektor creates an interesting contrast between nature and the urban environment. Dark forest usually only gets its light from the starry sky, but with the light art, the atmosphere of familiar jogging landscapes becomes magical."

THE ARTISTS

Finland: Meri Ekola, Sampo Aatos, Jere Suontausta, SWÄG collective, Arttu Nieminen and Ultraviolet Gallery 

Denmark: Jakob Kvist 

Sweden: Sofia Ivarsson

*****
Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland

// WILLY-NILLY    // DER NATUR-DONNERSTAG

Bear in the Finnish Mythology

Ein Bär bewacht auch das Finnische Nationalmuseum in Helsinki.

A bear also guards the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki. 

Emil Wikström 1910

Karhu - Der Bär ist Finnlands Nationaltier und spielt eine wichtige Rolle in der finnischen Mythologie: er war der erste Gott der alten Finnen. Der Bär wird für sein menschliches Aussehen und seine enorme Kraft respektiert. Es war ein gefürchtetes Tier, aber auch ein heiliges und angesehenes Tier. Die Bedeutung des Bären für die Finnen erklärt sich auch aus der Tatsache, dass er in unserer Sprache mehr als zweihundert verschiedene Namen hat: Honigpalme, Kontio, Waldapfel, Waldkönig und Teddybär. Es gibt eine große Anzahl von Karhu-Produkten, Statuen und Ortsnamen & Familiennamen.

Karhu - The bear is the national animal in Finland and plays an important role in the Finnish mythology: it was the first god of the ancient Finns. The bear is respected for its human appearance and tremendous powers. It has been a feared animal, but also a sacred and respected animal. The importance of the bear to us Finns is also explained by the fact that it has more than two hundred different names in our language: honey palm, kontio, forest apple, forest king and teddy bear. There is a huge number of Karhu products, statues and place names & surnames.

// DIGITAL ART DIENSTAG

Bär Totems in Lappland Nacht. - Bear totems in Lapland night.

Jutta’s original

The National Museum of Finland is a handsome building designed by the architects 
Gesellius, Lindgren, & Saarinen. The architecture freely mimics the architectural themes 
of different eras in Finland, medieval churches and castles. 
The architecture represents national romance and the interior is mainly Art Nouveau. 
The museum was built between 1905 and 1910.

Here's an interesting detail: during our Civil War in 1918, a bullet pierced the iron outdoor.

// TUESDAY'S TREASURES 
// MY CORNER OF THE WORLD
// WEDNESDAY AROUND THE WORLD