Experience the DETOUR exhibition with a guided tour at Parsons in NYC and attend the symposium at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on January 19th.
Road trips are often considered the best way to explore the scenery in foreign countries. By taking a detour on the road in Norway, you may find some surprising architectural gems. Now, some of these scenic highlights can be experienced without crossing the Atlantic.
Parsons The New School for Design presents Detour, an exhibition documenting spectacular architecture and design along 18 National Tourist Routes in Norway. Detour features film, photography and architectural models of these interventions in the landscape. So far close to 200 innovative projects have been realized, ranging from stopping points, information centers, picnic areas, rest stops, and observation platforms; including works by architect Peter Zumthor in collaboration with artist Louise Bourgeois, and Snøhetta.
DETOUR Exhibition tour on Tuesday January 19th at 12:00 pm
Tour with Knut Wold (artist, Member of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration's Coordination Team for National Tourists Project, Oslo) . Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries. Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth avenue. Limited Capacity. Free with RSVP igf@mfa.no.
Symposium, 'DETOUR: Art, Architecture, Cities and Landscapes' at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Tuesday January 19th at 4:30pm.
As closing event to Detour, this symposium at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum features an afternoon panel with architects and artists from Europe and the United States on the potential of interventions by artists, and architects in both rural and urban settings. A reception sponsored by Norwegian bank DnBNOR follows. A keynote lecture by Peter Zumthor will conclude the symposium.
Panel:
Craig Dykers, Snøhetta, New York
Einar Jarmund, Jarmund/Vigsnæs, Oslo
Svein Rønning, Artists, Head of Arts Council for the National Tourist Routes
Nader Tehrani, Office dA, Boston
Moderator: David van der Leer, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Conversation:
Jerry Gorovoy, Louise Bourgeois Studio, and Nancy Spector, Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, on public space and art interventions in relation to The Memorial in Memory of the Victims of the Witch Trials (Varanger, Norway) designed in collaboration with Peter Zumthor.
Keynote Lecture:
Lecture by Peter Zumthor, Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner, Haldenstein, on the Memorial to the Burning of Witches (Varanger, Norway) designed in collaboration with Louise Bourgeois.
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, 5th Avenue (at 88th Street), New York. 10$, 7$ Guggenheim and Architectural League Members, Free to students and university staff. For tickets and information guggenheim.org/detour or call the box office Mon-Fri 1-5pm, 212 423 3575.
Detour started in 1993 as a collaborative project between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the foundation Norsk Form. At the heart of the project lay a wish to integrate contemporary architecture into Norwegian landscapes. With this goal in mind, Norwegian and international architects and designers have over the past decade located 18 suitable tourist routes in Norway, and highlighted them by creating close to 200 innovative and visually appealing viewing platforms, resting points, and picnic areas along the roadsides.
Rather than simply promoting Norway’s well known natural attractions, the architects wanted to draw attention to interesting locations along the less trafficked roads, hopefully luring tourists off the beaten path. Like many recent architectural projects in Norway, the dynamic between these constructions and their immediate surroundings was at the forefront of the designers’ minds. In an article for Architectural Record, journalist David Sokol describes the project as a “dialogue with nature.”
Inspired by the initial success, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Norsk Form wanted to bring these eye-catching constructions to those not able to travel to Norway. Now, instead of you having to make the detour – the detour exhibit travels to the United States. Curators Barbro Westling and Peter Johansson decided to look outside the perhaps obvious choice of crisp nature and stripped down architecture for inspiration when creating the traveling version of the exhibit. Instead, they looked to early tourism and early tourists’ penchant for “the mystical masterview” for ideas.
The exhibition displays a selection of the constructions through a striking brass-trimmed display case from the 1900s. The case, in the form of a rotunda, echoes Victorian England, and allows visitors to view the installations and their surroundings through binoculars. Models of the constructions have also been created, and are displayed in glass cases surrounding the rotunda, with explanatory posters.
The contrast between the sleek, modern design of the installations and the antique style of the rotunda adds to the unique experience of the exhibit. Those visiting the exhibition have expressed fascination at the feeling of entering another world when looking through the binoculars.
After having been shown in European cites such as Berlin, London and Paris, the Detour exhibition has been on view in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia before traveling to New York.
Stegastein in Aurland. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, Vegard Moen.
Stegastein in Aurland. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, Vegard Moen.
The Atlantic road in Møre og Romsdal. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, Werner Harstad.
Askvågen in Møre og Romsdal. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, Magne Flemsæter
Flydalsjuvet in Geiranger. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, 3RW.
Grunnfør in Nordland. Photo: Turistvegprosjektet, Steinar Skaa.