I am in what is called Denmark’s second city Aarhus. Located on the Jutland Peninsula, I stop here a couple days to enjoy its canal, cafes, old streets and art.
I take the mid-day train from Aalborg to Aarhus. It is a very easy process where I don’t even have to reserve in advance. I arrive at the station a little early to buy my ticket. My train is waiting when I arrive so I am able to pick out a comfortable seat. I mostly have the row to myself the entire journey. Seats can be reserved for the trip but it doesn’t seem that’s what people normally do. After about an hour and a half I arrive in Aarhus. It is around a ten minute walk to my hotel. The city doesn’t seem too big. I might rent a bike for a bit but will visit most of the city by foot.
After I drop my bags I follow the path along the canal to the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, a modern art museum. One of the big draws of the museum is the rainbow skywalk above that is indeed cool.
The largest exhibit is on Erró a mixed media artist of the 1900’s. His paintings and collages, etc reflect many things going on at the time in wars and pop culture. There is especially a concentration on superhero art, specifically mixing different characters together and creating new story lines. He is weird and I like it.
The next set of art is really interesting because it inserts a subject in a totally unrelated scene. There are a series of paintings of astronauts with historical artwork subjects inserted.
There is a floor of other traditional paintings but none of them caught my eye to point them out in particular – some of the landscape photos are nice though.
Next I go to the really weird installation art, another favorite of mine. There is a movie about migrants crossing the border of Mexico that is particularly powerful.
Finally I end up in a light exhibit that reminds me of the Meow Wolf art chain in the USA. Some of it is interactive.
After my visit to the museum I walk around town and get a snack. In the process there is some sculptures around. I find the two different Arnold Schwarzenegger characters embracing an interesting piece to look at.
Later I arrive at my hotel that is like a glamorized hostel (with single rooms). I have a double bed but it is bare bones: no AC (typically not needed), a window that barely opens for circulation, a shower that floods the entire bathroom floors….basically no frills here.
Tomorrow I’ll visit another open air museum.