Fête de bienvenue

Just one more photo of Thun because I couldn’t resist. Theres more on my instagram.

A few weeks ago we received invitations to a welcome party/meeting/shindig at the town hall, and as two of our friends in the inn are fairly new too we added them as plus 1′s and brought them along. Boy, the food…. We were introduced to our english translator for the evening and then listened to the mayor’s speech, a local band group, all whilst eyeing up the plates piled with swiss delicacies. The vast majority of people there were families, some I imagine had come here with much more need than us. It was a really good night, on the way home paid a visit to the infamous Les Wagons, a music/social venue, which we sadly found had closed for the remainder of winter.

Fun in Thun

The views were spectacular at this place. snow covered mountains to the south of the lake, and a castle!! I arrived early to explore so wandered around and made friends with an elderly thai lady who tipped me off about a great viewing spot. Despite it being a city with a vast array of shops, it still had quite a quaint feel to it, as i found myself walking down narrow cobbled streets. The river which flowed through the town was full of ducks, and friendly swans??

In the late afternoon we met the rest of our class at the Kunstmuseum to view the exhibition ‘THE FORCES BEHIND THE FORMS’ which displayed work by numerous artists from all over the world. Some of the most eye-catching works consisted of Nina Canell’s installation ‘In Absence of Satin Ions’ and Julian Charrière’s ‘Tropisme’, as seen below.

Typical thing to say but the aesthetic of these pieces was wonderful. The plants were so perfectly preserved, in their own little winter universe. Another piece of Charrière’s which stood out to me was his photo series ‘The Blue Fossil Entropic Stories’ which i stupidly didn’t take a good photo of so here’s some help from google images. 

The artist is using a blow torch to melt the ice beneath his feet, in short symbolising the process of climate change, however viewing them in the gallery, my initial thoughts were the photos came across rather lonely and fearful, as they appeared a lot darker in contrast/brightness placed on the wall. The setting looks almost alien, dwarfing the lone traveller at the centre. made me think of the experience David Attenborough and countless other nature documentary narrators/crews must feel when surrounded by such a vast landscape and how in that moment you are completely at the mercy of nature

I have a meeting with my main tutor this week, and praying that he likes my sudden abundance of ideas and work and forgive me that i took so bloody long to decide on what i want to do. Pictures to follow, maybe. adieu