Work trip: Gothenburg, Sweden

Helsinki, 8 degrees


Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

My second and final blog post about my business trip to Western Sweden takes you to the archipelago in front of Sweden's second largest city Gothenburg. If you missed my first blog post  about my trip, you can read it here. As a part of the World Food Travel Summit 2013, I went on a regional tour that was concentrated on Food & Art. What a delicious combination! Have a look at this impressive tour!

Tämä blogikirjoitus jatkaa siitä, mihin edellinen jäi. Kuten jo edellisessä kirjoituksessa kerroin, olin hiljattain työmatkalla Göteborgissa, Ruotsissa. Osallistuin kansainväliseen World Food Travel Summit 2013 -konferenssiin. Yhtenä osana konferenssiä oli alueellinen retki Göteborgin seutuun. Halusin osallistua retkeen, joka näytti miten ruotsalaiset yhdistelevät ruoan ja taiteen päiväretken muodossa. Mikä herkullinen yhdistelmä!

The tour I chose was interesting since I had been interested in the relationship between art and food for a long time. In Helsinki art is very widely spread, design even more so, so I found it interesting to see how the Swedes present this combination in Western Sweden.

Retki oli mielenkiintoinen koska olen jo jonkin aikaa ollut kiinnostunut ruoan ja taiteen välisestä suhteesta. Helsingissä taide on laajalle levinnyt, design eli muotoilu vielä enemmän, joten halusin nähdä miten ruotsalaiset yhdistelevät näitä kahta Länsi-Ruotsissa.

During my Food & Art tour I got to see Western Sweden’s scenic coast, and meet people who have found ways to mix good food and art in their daily work. We started the day with coffee/tea, in Swedish called fika, at Strandverket in a city called Marstrand. Strandverket combines a stunning setting, a former military fortress that is, with an art gallery. The gallery even had a restaurant/café, where we enjoyed cinnamon buns.

Ruoka & Taide -kierroksen aikana sain nähdä Länsi-Ruotsin kauniita merimaisemia, ja tavata ihmisiä jotka ovat onnistuneesti yhdistelleet ruoan ja taiteen työssään. Retki alkoi Marstrand nimisestä paikasta, jossa tutustuimme Strandverket -taidehallin toimintaan. Strandverket yhdistää merilinnoituksen taidehalliin. Hallissa toimii myös ravintola, jossa pääsimme nauttimaan kahvista/teestä ja korvapuusteista.


I loved Brittish artist Tony Cragg's dice sculpture, I thought it was fascinating in this historical setting!

Pidin todella paljon brittiläisen Tony Craggin noppaveistoksesta; se oli upea tässä historiallisessa ympäristössä!


Needless to say that this art gallery reminded me of our UNESCO Suomenlinna fortress. We've had some exciting news about Suomenlinna this week; one of the neighboring islands called Lonna, will open up for the public next summer! So even in Helsinki we are starting to take better advantage of our beautiful archipelago.
You can see a video of this island here (in Finnish).

Se on kai sanomattakin selvää, että taidehalli muistutti minua Helsingin Suomenlinnasta. Tällä viikolla kultiin mielenkiintoisia uutisia koskien Suomenlinnaa; Suomenlinnan naapuri, Lonnan saari, aukeaa kaupunkilaisille ensi kesänä! Tämä video kertoo asiasta enemmän jos olette missanneet uutisen.



The regional tour in Sweden also took me by bus and boat to picturesque fishing villages. At the village Åstol, we enjoyed a gourmet lunch at Åstol Smokehouse, where we also learned about “art-touring” – a yearly activity when restaurants and artists work together. I loved the smoked shrimp we had!

Retkemme jatkui kauniille mutta syrjäiselle Åstolin saarelle, jossa saimme nauttia savustetusta ruoasta, mm. katkaravuista ja lohesta. Savustetut katkaravut olivat NIIN hyviä! Kuulimme myös Taidekävelystä, ruotsiksi Konstvandringen, joka avaa taiteilijoiden studioita matkailijoille pääsiäisen aikaan. Tämä muistutti mielestäni tietysti Helsingin Designkorttelia, ainoana erona se, että se on mahdollistaa vierailuja studioissa kuutena päivänä viikossa eikä vain pääsiäisen aikaan. 

At first glance, Åstol seemed to be a very rugged and rough place to live, but once we had had lunch, the weather conditions changed completely and we understood the beauty of this isolated island with only 180 people living on it. I heard that there is an author living on the island, and I can only imagine how tranquil this island would be for writing. I thought it was smart to have concrete tables and chairs outside since the island was quite windy. With sheep skin on the chairs, the terrace looked so welcoming!

Ensisilmäyksellä Åstol vaikutti karulta asumisympäristöltä, mutta meidän ollessa savustamossa, sääolosuhteet muuttuivat täysin ja kun palasimme ulos, niin ymmärsimme saaren kauneuden. Aurinkoisella säällä saari oli oikea helmi! Mielestäni oli fiksua, että saarella oli betonista tehtyjä pöytäryhmiä koska saaren sää oli niin tuulinen. Lammastaljoineen terassi oli todella houkutteleva!

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We finished the day at the Nordiska Akvarell Museet (Nordic Watercolor Museum), after which we had a Swedish “fika” (coffee break) at Vatten Restaurant with coffee and tasty snacks before heading back to Gothenburg. I loved Martin Jacobson's watercolor paintings, there were stunning! The guest studios reminded me, as a Finn, of saunas, of course but I thought they were so cute! I was happy to find some Moomin postcards in the museum shop.

Päivä päättyi museokäyntiin. Kävimme Pohjoismaisessa vesivärimuseossa, jossa meillä oli toinen lyhyt kahvihetki. Pidin vesivärimaalauksista, ne olivat todella vaikuttavat! Söpöt vierasstudiot, jotka löytyivät museon ulkopuolelta, muistuttivat mielestäni saunarakennuksia. Olin niin iloinen kun löysin muumikortteja museokaupasta.


I also wanted to share one of the photos that was taken during the Summit of us Finns that were present at the Summit. This photo was taken at the opening ceremony of the Summit, at the beautiful City Hall (Börsen) in Gothenburg.

Halusin myös jakaa tämän kuvan, jossa näkyvät kaikki suomalaiset jotka olivat paikalla konferenssin avajaisseremonian aikana. Upeat avajaiset pidettiin Göteborgin Kaupungintalolla. 

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Have you ever considered the relationship between food and art? Do you like enjoying them at the same time?

Oletko koskaan miettinyt ruoan ja taiteen välistä suhdetta? Tykkäätkö yhdistellä ruokaa ja taidetta, esim. suomalaista muotoilua kattauksen muodossa?


What's your opinion?

  1. I'm so glad that it was a great trip! That dice sculpture is amazing!
    the-creationofbeauty.blogspot.com

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  2. hard to believe that's made of dice

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  3. The photos are fantastic dear! It's such a peaceful beautiful place. I especially like the first pic. You definitely have an artistic soul;)

    Xx

    Alexandra

    www.fashion-bridge.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the kind comment Alexandra!

      xxx
      E

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  4. The photos all look great, seems like you had a really nice trip :)
    The little island with lots of houses fascinates me, this looks soo lovely :)) !

    Greetings from Germany, Tanja ♥

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  5. For me preparing good food, is an art in itself. LIke an artist, one must really be passionate about making good food as well.. From your photos, that domino sculpture is insanely pretty!! And that fall color painting, wow..some serious talent! Thank you for sharing this with us.. :)

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  6. Oh very beauiful pcis dear,
    xx

    www.sakuranko.com

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  7. I haven't thought about those two topics together but this trip looks like the coolest work trip ever! the places you visited are so my cup of tea and seeing all those beautiful and exciting photos made me miss a proper trip. too bad all my vacations are over and my fiance has to work almost every weekend... anyway, I would really really love to visit some small and interesting places like that! you're so lucky you got to experience all that :) I'm just sincerely amazed my all those beautiful sights.

    Maiken,
    Maikeni blogi - part of me

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    Replies
    1. Haha, yes, it was wonderful even though it was hard work too!

      xxx
      E

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  8. Replies
    1. Haha, dai, devi visitare tutti i paesi nordici!

      xxx
      E

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  9. I've never been to Sweden, but Gothenburg is one of the places I most want to visit when I get there - it seems like such a fascinating city. And based on your photos, it looks like they have wonderful cuisine there, too!
    xox,
    Cee
    www.cocoandvera.com

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the Nordic countries is one of the world's best food destinations if you ask me :)

      xxx
      E

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