When I finished lunch this afternoon in Kristiansand, Norway, despite the earlier forecast of rain, the sun shone brightly, with only a few non-threatening clouds in the sky. So I decided to put off the rainy-day activity suggested by the hotel clerk this morning, which I’ll now reveal is Kunstsilo, and decided to take a walk and save Kunstsilo for the unknown weather of later.
The Otra
That walk was not random. I wanted to take a look at the river that runs along one side of central Kristiansand, The Otra. That side of Kristiansand is the opposite one from where I had lunch, so it wasn’t a particularly short walk. But central Kristiansand is not big, so it wasn’t a particularly long one either.
I walked along a street that runs parallel to the seafront and a block back from it. The street is a pleasant one. The buildings lining both sides of the street were quite handsome and not particularly tall. It was an enjoyable street to walk along.
The Otra is a fairly wide river and quite peaceful. The point where I joined it couldn’t be that far from its mouth, but when I looked in that direction, the built-up sides of the river, coupled with a slight bend in The Otra, blocked my view of the mouth.
I walked upstream along a sidewalk beside The Otra for a few blocks. It’s very pretty, with a few small craft docked there, nose-in against the stone-fortified shore.
After walking under one bridge, and walking a little more, as best as I could tell, the sidewalk ended at another bridge a little further on. I looked at the sky and saw that some threatening clouds had started to gather. So I decided it was time to head to Kunstsilo, which was back close to where I had lunch on the other side of town.
I walked back along a street farther inland and not quite as interesting as the first one, but still not pleasant. I followed that until I got to Markens Gate, Kristiansand’s pedestrianized shopping street. I followed that almost to the coast before turning toward Kunstsilo.
Kunstsilo
Kunstsilo is a brand-spanking new modern art gallery. That is to say, the gallery was new when I wrote this. It won’t still be new if you read this years after I wrote it. But you probably figured out how time works on your own.
The permanent collection isn’t new. It comes from a few collections, one of which moved out of its former gallery to await the inauguration of Kunstsilo.
Kunstsilo opened only about four months before my visit. They would have deferred the opening for five months but someone forgot to tell them I was coming so they accidentally opened before I came to town.
In truth, I didn’t know four months ago that I’d go to Kristiansand. So I hope the Kunstsilo doesn’t punish too harshly whoever’s job it is to make sure tourist attractions are closed when I’m around.
But open, it was.
If you read this morning’s post, you might remember that I said there are a few small commercial establishments and a couple of larger cultural institutions on a sliver of Odderøya island, close to the central Kristiansand mainland. Kunstsilo is one of those art installations.
It’s in a building that used to be grain silos. The first raindrops of the afternoon fell on my head—yes, I’m certain the rain targeted specifically me—just as I reached the door of Kunstsilo, so I quickly ducked inside and bought a ticket so they wouldn’t push me back out into the rain when they realized it was me.
The first level contains just a lobby, the ticket desk, a gift shop, and a brasserie. Most of the exhibits are on the next three floors up.
When I was there, the second floor housed the Kunstsilo’s inaugural temporary exhibit, “Passions of the North.” It focuses on Nordic art drawn from a single major modern art collection.
The permanent collections on the next two floors up were similar but they were sourced from multiple collections that are now part of the gallery’s collection.
Most of the pieces on display at the Kunstsilo are what you’d expect of modern art. There’s a lot of abstract art. But there are also a lot of pieces where I could recognize the subject, but the artist did not attempt to even vaguely approach a realistic representation. And there’s one piece that’s literally garbage.
The media on display at the Kunstilo include paintings, sculptures, fabric art, ceramics, and some 3D painted objects. There’s also a video installation titled “Tivoli” that’s amazing.
As you approach the room containing Tivoli an opaque sliding door opens into a tall room. There’s an opaque exit sliding door on the other side of the room that also opens when it senses someone approaching.
Inside, the video is projected floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall on all four walls. The image blends seamlessly even around the wall corners. When the entry and exit doors are closed, there are no gaps in the video around the room.
The video is a very artistically drawn animation of people at an old-time carnival, if carnival is the right word for it. There’s a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round. There’s also a Moulin Rouge-style windmill. And the animated characters walk around, sit at tables patting the table or tapping their feet, and talk (in a language that I assume is Norwegian.
I spent a little time sitting on a bench inside, taking it in.
On a wall just past the exit from the Tivoli video installation, a painting titled “Tivoli” hangs on the wall opposite. The English version of the title, included in parenthesis, is “Funfair.” The painting includes some of the characters and scenes that are in the video installation.
The Tivoli painting is dated 1935 and is by Reidar Aulie.
The fifth floor of the Kunstsilo contains administrative offices, but also an “art terrace.” It’s an outdoor terrace with a couple of lonely pieces of abstract sculpture sitting on a wooden deck, with views of the port and sea. It was drizzling when I was out there so I went back in quickly.
The map handed out at the front desk says the 6th and 7th floors are not accessible to the public and it doesn’t supply floorplans for them. Fair enough. But then it gives a floor plan for the 8th floor but shows nothing in it.
The top floor of the Kunstsilo is a bar called Panorama. When I looked at Kunstsilo’s website earlier it said that Panorama is open to the general public only for a very few specified hours during the week and the rest of the time it’s available only to the general public. The brochure handed out at the front said nothing of the sort and simply said “Enjoy something refreshing to drink and a fantastic view.” I wasn’t in the mood for a drink at that point so I didn’t bother going up.
I’m not usually a fan of modern art, but I surprisingly enjoyed Kunstsilo.
Kristiansand Summary
I’m scheduled to catch a train for my next destination at 9:05 in the morning tomorrow, so it’s time for a summary of Kristiansand.
I found it to be a nice town with some charming sections to it, although most is quite workaday. There is, however, some gorgeous scenery to be seen from Odderøya island.
I’m not disappointed I stopped in Kristiansand, but, despite only having less than a day and a half here, I don’t think I needed more.
If you’re young, with a countless number of travel days ahead of you, I’d recommend a quick visit here if you’re in Norway. It is, as I say, a nice town. However, I’m 71. I hope I still have a lot of travel adventures ahead, but there’ll probably be few enough that I probably won’t return even if I were I to take another trip to Norway.
No matter what your tourism interests are—architecture, culture, nature, adventure, whatever—other places can more fully serve your desires if you need to cram them into a limited number of remaining travel days. All that being said, while it doesn’t offer an abundance of tourism opportunities, I get the impression that Kristiansand is a great place to live. It has the amenities of a big city, without being a big city; walkable streets; the sea; and scenery. So if what you’re looking for in a tourist spot is exclusively a livable city then Kristiansand might be the very place for you.
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