Luxemburg : architecture, modern art and more fortifications at the Kirchberg
After 1,5 days downtown we had walked by each viewpoint and monument downtown so our last morning we took the tram to head over to the European quarter on another hilltop Kirchberg. I was a bit surprised to learn that the European parliament had held sessions in the past in Luxemburg city.
We profited from the free public transport in Luxemburg and got out at the modern building of the Philarmonic orchestra. From there it was a short walk towards the MUDAM Grand-Duc Jean museum. The building is designed by IM Pei who designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre. Here he built the museum of modern art on top of the old Vauban fortifications and next to the military museum in the fort. I have never seen a city with that many fortifications.
Fort Thungen still has its strong access nextdoor and hosts a military museum that we didn't visit anymore. We did walk in the garden of the hillslope giving views towards the Aldstadt. The days before we had observed this hill from the other side and now we returned the view.
In the MUDAM they were changing an expostion and as a result only one exposition at the top floor was available. Wow, I had expected to have a larger permanent collection on display as well. If I had known we came out here for just one artist that was unknown to us, I might not have done it. We did get a discount on our ticket as there was only one exposition.
We ignored the distinct sound of carpentry works and went upstairs to look at the work of Igshaan Adams. This South-African artist is known for his weaving art. I didn't know what to think of it at first when we were observing and touching his first attempts to weave as a self-didact with all kinds of variants of material.
But his work (his and from his studio in the Southafrican ghetto's, employing a lot of local workers and using trash local materials) grew upon us. He combines the weirdest combinations of materials of shoelaces to pearls to fishing thread to spoons to beads, ... As a society's 2nd degree citizen in Apartheid, he also uses 2nd degree materials and uplifts them. The big tapisseries are woven on a background of paintings that came alive thanks to a local dance company dancing on huge sheets covered with paint.
The big patterns are intreaguing but even more when you zoom in and see at the maze of different materials in this unconventional weaving, that results with meaning and harmony or clear conflict or ... anyhow. It was mesmerizing and much cooler than anticipated.
We ignored the distinct sound of carpentry works and went upstairs to look at the work of Igshaan Adams. This South-African artist is known for his weaving art. I didn't know what to think of it at first when we were observing and touching his first attempts to weave as a self-didact with all kinds of variants of material.
But his work (his and from his studio in the Southafrican ghetto's, employing a lot of local workers and using trash local materials) grew upon us. He combines the weirdest combinations of materials of shoelaces to pearls to fishing thread to spoons to beads, ... As a society's 2nd degree citizen in Apartheid, he also uses 2nd degree materials and uplifts them. The big tapisseries are woven on a background of paintings that came alive thanks to a local dance company dancing on huge sheets covered with paint.
The big patterns are intreaguing but even more when you zoom in and see at the maze of different materials in this unconventional weaving, that results with meaning and harmony or clear conflict or ... anyhow. It was mesmerizing and much cooler than anticipated.
And with this cultural impression we returned by tram to the train station to return back to Belgium.
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