Author Archives: Anna Sircova

The Trumpet Story

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Københavns Domkirke at sunrise

Vor Frue Kirke – Københavns Domkirke | Good morning, Copenhagen!

Trumpet Solo at Sunrise

one simple story
and maybe not a story
and maybe not so simple 
we’d like to tell about
 
we do remember it from childhood
and maybe not from childhood
and maybe even don’t remember
but will try to recollect
“Tomorrow morning you can see the sun rise over the rooftops of Copenhagen from the spire of Vor Frue Kirke. Be there at 06.30 and join for a walk up the stairs accompanied by a trumpet solo.”  It was the Easter sunday morning. I was surprised to see that many people at this hour. But in a few moments it became self-evident why.
Awaiting the sunrise | Københavns Domkirke

Awaiting the sunrise | Københavns Domkirke

 

It was an experience which doesn’t travel well with words or pictures, but I will do my best.

 

overview of Copenhagen towards City Hall side from the Københavns Domkirke

City Hall | Good morning, Copenhagen!

We were up in the bell tower with the wonderful view over Copenhagen. Waiting for the sun to rise. At the very tip of it the trumpet played a tune and people lit the candles. They sang a carol and let the moment sink in. On our way down, we noticed a couple that the guard just left standing there. He was making a proposal and she didn’t know. The guard had promised to the man that he could have the spire and the sunrise just for themselves.

 

overview of Copenhagen towards the Baltic Sea with the bridge to Malmo, Sweden

The Sunrise | Good morning, Copenhagen!

proposing on the Easter sunday at sunrise with the view over Copenhagen from the Vor Frue Kirke

“will you …” | Good morning, Copenhagen!

 

 

CPH: personal

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With our Copenhagen based photo collective we decided to have a two week photo project: “A personal view on Copenhagen”. It was inspired by the preview of a project by Michał Kwapisiewicz.

It was very interesting to see what people came up with as their take on the brief. The idea was to have some fresh work. During those two weeks many things were in transition for me and I think my final selection for this mini project reflects it. I didn’t really conceptualized my take on the brief. These are more or less snap shots from my daily life in Copenhagen at the moment. Most of the photographs are taken on my way to the Danish class or explorations of the neighborhood I currently live in, Norrebro. You’ll see quite a few cranes since the city is constructing or reconstructing many sites at the moment. These cranes become part of the cityscape. I wonder what are those internal cranes that currently work on my personal reconstruction…

When I was going through the photographs I took in those two weeks, I was listening to some music by Ósk. I felt like they go together very well and put together the slideshow with the final selects. Þorbjörg Ósk generously gave her permission to use one of her songs for it.

exploring reflections

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kids look out at the sunset from the Copenhagen Royal Theater restaurant with the cityscape reflecting in the big glass of the restaurant

Inspired by Street Photography Now Community instruction # 08
“Show beauty where apparently there is none.” – Guido Steenkamp

my A-side for the brief

reflecting in the windows of the Copenhagen Royal Theater, someone drinking coffee, not paying attention to the beautiful sunset, photographs in the restaurant give an interesting interplay with forms and colors

Inspired by Street Photography Now Community instruction # 08
“Show beauty where apparently there is none.” – Guido Steenkamp

my B-side, which some people from the community liked more than my selection for the A-side. I can never decide actually… and always wonder what would happen if I’d enter the other one instead?

 

 

Modern art

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people looking at the Australian red sand at the 15m3 installation at Den Frie

Jette Gejl and Bjorn Godwin: 15m3 at the Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art | Copenhagen, Denmark

Modern art:

Reflections on the 15m3 installation by Jette Gejl and Bjorn Godwin at the Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art

Modern art is not really self explanatory.. You really need to know the context of what was happening – at the exhibit we only see the result of a thought process and in order to appreciate it we need to get into the narrative that was accompanying the artist in the act of producing his/her art pieces..

What was the starting point? How was it evolving in-between? What were the alternatives?.. The whole decision-making process is hidden from the viewer – we only get the final result, which would have probably made sense if we’d known all the intermediate steps that had lead to it, the full tree of decisions.. However, we’re left to wonder about the final result of this tedious thought process and all the reductions in-between. I’m usually extremely puzzled and have no idea ..

If you’re lucky to attend the artist talk – then many things fall into their places.. Otherwise it remains as a random object rather than art.. Out of context… Yet another bubble..

If there is no one to tell that this sand came from Australia and it is supposed to explore the role of art in the climate change debate by stating how much tons of carbon emissions it has produced by bringing it all the way to Denmark.. If there is no one to tell you this, the red sand remains just the red sand on the floor of a room…

However, even knowing all of the above, it doesn’t really help in overcoming the amotivation in the environmental behaviors in my opinion. Somehow just giving the information about those issues, even in the artistic form about the overuse of the natural resources and pollution that we all jointly create, unfortunately will not lead to taking any constructive actions something that would lead to change, at the best it will make people wonder for some time.

I think if the artist would sort of follow up on the people who came to view the exhibit it can bring the concept even further. Just a small question to ask: “Now that you know this, what are you going to do about it?”, “If you do care for these issues, what could you do as an individual to contribute to the overall change?”

I believe that all the big changes happen due to small individual acts combined together..

15m3 is part of the 5 Solo exhibition at the Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is on display from 2 March till 31 March, 2013.

Street poetry

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a couple walks hand in hand by the lakes in Copenhagen in the afternoon light

Inspired by Street Photography Now Community instruction #06: “Try to find the poetry. Tell an emotionally interesting story.” – Chema Hernandez

my A-side for the brief

mother and child on a bike ride by the lake towards the sun; the child spreads his arms to the sides almost like flying

Inspired by Street Photography Now Community instruction #06:
“Try to find the poetry. Tell an emotionally interesting story.” – Chema Hernandez

my B-side for the brief

in-between

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It happened suddenly on february 15th, 2013. Am not really sure what exactly, but it just happened. It is something in-between… the time in-between.. the space in-between.. stagnation went away and something new started to take place.. but it’s not there yet.. and it is not very clear yet what exactly is it.. it’s not exactly stray any more, but it is still quite shapeless and it might even stay that way.. but it’s breathing…

 

unplugged...

unplugged…

follow this in-between project (or maybe not a project) on tumblr or flickr

somewhere.. here or there.. everywhere and nowhere… stray.. transitional.. in passing.. undefined…

in-between..

Short stories about my mom

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It all started in mid December 2012, my mom was looking for a job as a live-out nanny in London. Family where she was working at the time was relocating to another country. I started to post on flickr and facebook some photographs of her together with some small notes about my mom and her life philosophy so to say. At some point these started to shape as a series. And here they are.

Short stories about my mom, Galina

portrait of my mom, Galina, London, UK

My mom met Yuri Gagarin when she was young. She was really  inspired and followed her dream to become a space engineer. Currently she lives in London and is looking for a new family to work as a live-out nanny.

my mom in the yard of our apt in Umea, covered with snow

According to my mom, there are different degrees of freedom in life. The first one – is the education.
Education has a great power. I’ve been always inspired by prof. Phil Zimbardo (world renowned social psychologist), who grew up in the New York ghetto and now is Professor Emeritus of Stanford. Education also changes one’s time perspective, since it gives an outlook into the future..

my mom next to a big pine tree, covered with snow, Umea, Sweden

According to my mom, there are different degrees of freedom in life. The second one – is knowing at least one foreign language. In a way it opens different horizons, like education. Knowing a foreign language allows you to experience a different world from your own first-hand. I have no idea how did she manage, but she got me a private English teacher when I was 6 I believe, when we still lived in the Soviet Union. I was deeply to attached to the teacher, until I saw her smoking… and then when it became possible I went to UK for three weeks… and then to US for one year… Nowadays this seems so easy to do, it was not so back then.. My mom is full of surprises I must say : )

my mom and Julien line up their heads to look forward, London, UK

According to my mom, there are different degrees of freedom in life. The third one – is being able to drive a car. Mostly for practical reasons – somehow we keep on moving from one place to another. When my mom moved to Riga, in the first 5 years they moved around 7 times.. we didn’t have a car at the time and none could drive… then we settled in one place for 15 years, but then it started all over again.. When I was in Moscow, one year was really busy with moving – I moved 4 times. Having a car then and being able to drive it helped me immensely. Then I packed and drove to the north of Sweden.. Three years later I packed again and moved to Copenhagen with my little movable home. And I wonder where next? Car gives you a freedom of being able to transport yourself and things you think are valuable, but also it gives you a freedom of traveling somewhere, exploring your immediate surroundings and new destinations.. Always looking forward! : )

mom-4

According to my mom, there are different degrees of freedom in life. The fourth one is being computer literate. My mom comes from the era when computers were the size of a room. And she could operate those, but the smaller they get, the harder it is for her to grasp the principle of how they work, how to visit a website, how to send an email. She managed to master skype and one search engine to look for cheap tickets, but that’s about it. It is a bit hard to imagine now the life without a daily interaction with a computer or a smart phone. Although I must say the current tendencies of technology in our daily lives are getting beyond what we could’ve imagined not that long ago and they are getting scary. There is a school in Denmark that does not use paper. Everything is done only with the help of different devices. I wonder if kids in that school do learn how to write? Or do they only type?…
When I travel I send postcards to my friends via regular mail, but I must admit, I haven’t written a normal letter in ages. Last summer I found a box of letters that I received from friends when I lived abroad and copies of my letters that I wrote to different people.. And it was so much fun to go through them! Much more fun then to read emails… This year I would like to go back to writing normal letters and use more the regular post : ) And in case you’d like a postcard from me – let me know your postal address : ) I don’t know when and where I’ll go next, but I can always send you a small “hello!” from there. Cheers!

Photography and visual arts group startup

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I will quote Scott Urquhart’s message on CouchSurfing forum about our joint venture that will start this Saturday, January 19th. If you’re a photographer based in Copenhagen and this idea sounds appealing for you – we will be happy to see you!

A friend and I are starting a group with the aim to meet on a regular basis to inspire each other with photography and other visual arts projects. Some of the initial ideas for regular activities would be:

-peer review/feedback on work
-discuss (art-)photography books and other publications
- watch documentaries together
- any other ideas that might give creative inspiration and help develop projects

If anyone would like to be involved, we are having an initial planning meeting this coming Saturday (19th Jan) and would love to have you come along. The details of the meeting are:

Saturday 19th Jan
13.00 – 15.00

Cafe at Støberiet
Blågårds Plads 3, 2.sal og 3.sal
Norrebro

If you think you might drop by, it would be good to send me a message, but also fine if you just show up. Hope to see you !

Cheers!
Scott and Anna

 

The idea came up on the photowalk, organized by another couchsurfer and photography enthusiast on December 1st in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a wonderful day, but I still didn’t had the time to create a comprehensive gallery from that event. The image of the winter bathing club and this reflection in the windows are from that walk.