Rene Magritte’s museum in Brussels has witty and thought-provoking surreal artworks. These challenge observers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality and force viewers to become hypersensitive to their surroundings.
Few artworks that could be photographed:
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
Symbol for Pompidou museum:
Pompidou museum:
Tivoli Logo, Tivoli Gardens in Denmark:
Symbol for Bracelona:
An info-graphic seen below Eiffel Tower:
Brugge Symbol (Little unclear)
‘I am amsterdam’ Sign:
Near the entrance of Kubuswoningen, Rotterdam:
A beautiful poster in Barcelona:
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
Using couchsurfing.org to travel Italy was a memorable experience. Personally we owe the great experience to an Italian family whom we met through couchsurfing.org
Couchsurfing.org’s Vision:
“We envision a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places we encounter. Building meaningful connections across cultures enables us to respond to diversity with curiosity, appreciation and respect. The appreciation of diversity spreads tolerance and creates a global community.”
To start with, we were a little apprehensive about using couchsurfing.org due to crunch time and insecurity but eventually experienced the best travel experience ever. We got in touch with an Italian family in a village ‘Tivoli’ that is about an hours distance from Tiburtina in Rome. The Italian family also had similar concerns about security and authenticity but our Facebook profiles helped them figure out that we were genuine and were backpacking Europe. (Which made us think that merging Facebook profiles, might be of help for decision making)
Highlights of travel in Rome:
We got to experience rich Italian hospitality. A stay at a lovely country-side bungalow, variety of delicious Pastas with different types of Cheese, Sausages and of course how could it be complete without the famous Italian Cafe!
Our first destination was ‘The Colloseum’.
It is monumental. If one wants to time travel low budget, without any risks then a walk from the Colloseo to the Vatican City and back to Metro station is a good option. Some of us mark it as one of the most memorable walks, ever!
The detailed map/info-graphic of Colloseo that tells about its topography.
The Romanesque architecture with the unique trees (The leaves of these trees do not obey gravity for some reason, they point upwards) .
A kilometer away is Pantheon which is world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome that was built in 126 AD.
We traveled with our Italian friends and participated in social gatherings
Rome is full of cheap roadside outlets for food; especially awesome Pizzas, Crepes and Gelataria. One can really plan a cheap trip except for accommodation in Rome.
We made many friends whom we would otherwise not meet and interact with; the travel experience was wholesome and made us feel that other experiences we had while staying at Youth Hostels or Hotels in other countries, were quite incomplete. Since then Couchsurfing is our first option for international travel for short trips and most importantly, we host couchsurfers at our residence in Mumbai on a regular basis, big ups to Couchsurfing!
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
“I’m pleased to have created an open space - a place where people can stroll around and learn something. The Foundation is a space open to the arts and to life. Its architecture, which we owe to Sert’s talents, is light and airy, ideal for viewing art and contemplating nature: a garden for everybody.”
- Joan Miro interviewed by Santiago Amon on 25th June 1978.
Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an “assassination of painting” in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
We visited Sagrada Familia and witnessed the extraordinary technique Antoni Gaudí used for determining the correct angle for the leaning columns of the temple. This model is exhibited inside the temple that is still undergoing construction.
He made a small hanging model of the church, using strings to represent the columns. Then he turned the model upside down and gravity did the math. The visitors can see the actual model in the mirror above.
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
These installations convey different meanings from different positions. As one moves or changes point of view, elements combine to generate illusions.
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
In the museum-handbook, the painting of ‘Gala looking at the Sea’ consists a pix-elated portrait of President Lincoln at the bottom of the picture. If one steps back about 20 mtrs, it takes the form of a portrait of Lincoln, same as the pix-elated face of President Lincoln in the handbook and conveys a different meaning.
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
The Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. This building was used for the official opening of the German section of the exhibition. It was an important building in the history of modern architecture, known for its simple form and extravagant materials, such as marble and travertine.
Mies agreed to a quiet site at the narrow side of a wide, diagonal axis, where the pavilion would still offer viewpoints and a route leading to one of the exhibition’s main attractions, the “Spanish Village”. The pavilion was going to be bare—no trade exhibits—just the structure, a single sculpture and purpose-designed furniture (the Barcelona Chair). This lack of accommodation enabled Mies to treat the Pavilion as a continuous space; blurring inside and outside. “The design was predicated on an absolute distinction between structure and enclosure—a regular grid of cruciform steel columns interspersed by freely spaced planes”. However, the structure was more of a hybrid style, some of these planes also acted as supports. The floor plan is very simple. The roof plates, relatively small, are supported by the chrome-clad, cruciform columns. This gives the impression of a hovering roof.
Robin Evans said that the reflective columns appear to be struggling to hold the “floating” roof plane down, not to be bearing its weight. Mies wanted this building to become “an ideal zone of tranquillity” for the weary visitor, who should be invited into the pavilion on the way to the next attraction. Since the pavilion lacked a real exhibition space, the building itself was to become the exhibit. The pavilion was designed to “block” any passage through the site, rather, one would have to go through the building. Visitors would enter by going up a few stairs, and due to the slightly sloped site, would leave at ground level in the direction of the “Spanish Village”. The visitors were not meant to be led in a straight line through the building, but to take continuous turnabouts. The walls not only created space, but also directed visitor’s movements. This was achieved by wall surfaces being displaced against each other, running past each other, and creating a space that became narrower or wider.
The Pavilion was not only a pioneer for construction forms with a fresh, disciplined understanding of space, but also for modelling new opportunities for an association of free art and architecture.
(Source: wikipedia.com)
We totally dig these apertures that are meant to control the intensity of light
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
Seen on the streets of Groningen; entirely mechanical, this system plays music from the notes on cards. This is a live music set-up, a mobile-mechanical band.
(Source: whiteshapes.com)
A daily account of interactions in travel and mobility. A blog at whiteshapes.com.
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