Number 14 - A Crown Prince in my life

When you are going on fifty you are not exactly still waiting for a prince to show up in your life, but then when you least expect it a real Crown Prince shows up and demands your full attention for several months!There has been no time to blog, but no lack of new experiences. So even if time is running out the project is still on!
The Disney movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is probably the first movie I remember having seen at a movie theater as a child. It scared me so much, I have never been able to forget the scenes of Snow White running through the woods...but I also loved the dwarfs! And something deep inside every little girl connects to Snow White singing "Someday my prince will come"...Barbra Streisand has a beautiful version of the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0mURZzBpnE

It is of course a very different experience when you know what day the prince will come...and when you are responsible for the logistics of the visit, and absolutely not the reason why the prince is coming. And so the last few months have been filled with meetings, e-mails, telephone calls, field trips and all that is generally known as planning. It has taken me around Rio in a completely new way, and I will take you along, I just have to retrace my steps a bit, because there was not really much time to take notes nor pictures.

As for the Prince, he actually came one day earlier than planned! His arrival coincided with the terrible terror attacks in Paris, and it happened one week after the worst environmental disaster in Brazil, when a dam burst in Minas Gerais and caused a toxic mudslide, killing people, contaminating rivers and now the ocean.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/13/brazils-slow-motion-environmental-catastrophe-unfolds
But, for those of us working hard to make the visit a success - the terrible events were somehow left to deal with later -we had a show to put on the road!

The first day was spent in Brasilia, and the Crown Prince remembered the Paris Attacks in his speech:
http://www.seher.no/royal/kronprinsen-hedret-paris-ofrene-83024

The next day was spent in Rio de Janeiro, and as the Crown Prince went to a supermarket to promote Norwegian cod fish he made headlines all over the world.
In Brazil: http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2015/11/principe-noruegues-prova-churrasco-de-bacalhau-na-zona-sul-do-rio.html
In Norway: http://www.seher.no/royal/kong-bacalao-83038
And in the USA:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-18/world-s-worst-currency-rout-turns-norway-prince-into-fishmonger

The day went on with a visit to CENPES where he promoted Brazilian- Norwegian cooperation in research: http://siu.no/For-media/Nyheter-fra-SIU/Kronprins-Haakon-markerte-videre-Brasil-satsning
And later he opened a factory in Itaboraí, quite distant from Rio de Janeiro:http://www.vestviken24.no/vv24naringsliv/kronprinsen-apnet-jotuns-nye-anlegg-i-brasil/s/5-83-21780

It was a crazy day - a logistical nightmare! We only made it because of the police motorcycle squad opening a path for the motorcade. They did such a great job that the Crown Prince agreed to take a picture with them. That gesture made me very happy!



The Crown Prince also found time to greet the Consulate staff, and so I got to shake the hand of a real prince. Will I remember it for the rest of my life? Absolutely, but I will also remember all the work and all the worrying about all the details...
After Rio de Janeiro the Crown Prince Haakon of Norway went on to Belem, and even if our job was only done after he finally left Brazil, we could relax and enjoy the pictures of the Crown Prince in the green:

And as we say in Norwegian: Snipp, snapp snute og så var eventyret ute! The prince has left my life and now life must go on, and the project going on fifty as well!

Number 13 - Museu Internacional de Arte Naif

Another beautiful winter Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, and time to head out for number 13!
This time I decided to stay closer to home and went to Cosme Velho. Just a few meters up the street from  the Corcovado train station there is a charming little museum called MIAN - Museu Internacional de Arte Naif do Brasil.

The Mian, created by the Lucien Finkelstein Foundation opened in 1994. Lucien Finkelstein arrived in Brazil a teenager, only 16 years old, he said himself that it was love at first sight and he never left. Creating the foundation to show his beautiful collection of  naive art he said was his way of paying back a little for everything he received from the marvelous city of Rio de Janeiro. There is more on the website of the museum: http://www.museunaif.com/en/institucional/sobre/

Since this is the year Rio de Janeiro celebrates 450 years, there is a beautiful exhibition dedicated to Rio called: Rio em 450 cores - Rio in 450 colors.

Gloria Barbosa's pictures show a colorful, magic Rio de Janeiro, All of them filled with incredible richness of detail, showing her memories of Rio, the faith of the people, the celebrations, the habits, the characters.

But there was more, much more to see!

This picture by Beth Queiroz called "The park of my dreams" gives an idea of how many details there are in each picture.

This one is by Isabel de Jesus - it is called "My dreams".

The beautiful old building provides a good setting for the art works.

And Rio de Janeiro is, as always, the most beautiful and incredible city in the world - how could it not look great in the picture?

Upstairs there was another exhibit called: Brasil 5 Seculos: Um Olhar Naif - Brazil 5 Centuries - a Naïf Perspective. With a large panel made by Aparecida  Azedo telling the history of Brazil creating a timeline with historic facts and economic cycles, it is also completed with interactive devices that make visitors  think of the Brazil they want for the future.

The final and last exhibition was "Os Animais e o Imaginario naif"- "The Animals and the Imaginary Naif". This exhibition has art work from all over the world, and in many kinds of material, painting on wood, embroidery, weaving and sculptures. Fascinating to see how the animals inhabit the imagination of all people, as well as unicorns, angels and mermaids...

I kept thinking, as I walked around, about how we define art. I rather liked the definition that I found on one of the walls of the museum:

It was time to head home, but before I left I checked out the little bistro in the backyard where they serve breakfast, it looked delicious - maybe next time!

This cat found me quite suspicious, but what to say about the witch behind it? worthy of my number 13!

I finish off with a painting of MIAN - a lovely little museum that made my Sunday morning absolutely wonderful!

Number 12 - Instituto Moreira Salles

The last few weeks have been busy, so busy that #Project Going On Fifty has been terribly neglected! But today it was such a beautiful Sunday morning, I just knew I had to go somewhere new... and preferably somewhere green and calm and beautiful.

When I saw that a new exhibit had just opened at Instituto Moreira Salles called:" Rio, papel e lápis - Cassio Loredano" - I decided it was time to go to Gavea.

Instituto Moreira Salles - www.ims.com.br -used to be the private home of the ambassador and banker Walther Moreira Salles. It was turned into an institute dedicated mainly to photography, but also to music, literature and iconography in 1992. Right down my lane, but quite far from my neighborhood, so even if I have considered going there often I have always ended up going somewhere closer to home. It turned out it was easy enough to get there by taxi, but it is a little bit out of the way if you go by public transport. (There is a metro-bus connection, but you have to walk about 15 min uphill after the bus stop.)

As I arrived and entered the gate I felt I had come to the right place, it was definitely somewhere green, calm and beautiful!

It is a very impressive house, designed in 1948 by architect Olavo Redig de Campos and with landscape design by Roberto Burle Max. One of these unbelievably futuristic houses that could only have been built in Brazil. It has fantastic light, beautiful gardens and is a great setting for the exhibitions, but I kept wondering what it would be like to live in such a house...

The main part of the house is built around a patio, with a fountain.

The exhibition that I had come for was in one of the galleries, so I walked by the lake and pool area, where the restaurant is now situated.

The lake has a beautiful tiles designed by Burle Max, and fish swimming around to the delight of the children visiting.

The galleries set in the backyard surprised me by the entrances, automatic doors open when you approach, a bit like magic.

The exhibition of the nanquin drawings made of buildings in Rio de Janeiro by Cassio Loredano was lovely, with lots of my favourite places - and others that I will have to make a point of seeing. There was a list of five places not to miss in an article about him in El Pais - check it out: http://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2015/08/07/cultura/1438957782_099661.html
As always I am delighted when I find other people as fascinated by Rio as I am!

But there was more for a Rio fan at IMS. The exhibition "Rio Primeiras Poses" with photographs of Rio de Janeiro from the earliest days of photography with photos by Marc Ferrez, Augusto Malta and many more was fantastic. Pictures of a Rio de Janeiro long gone, pictures showing how the city has grown and transformed and pictures showing things that remain strangely unchanged.

And again the question: where is the door? How do you get in? The door is there, you just have to find it!

After seeing these exhibitions I went on to see the third exhibition of the house - photographs by Claudia Andujar - also a very worthwhile experience, quite a lesson in Brazilian history.

And then I found it was time to find a place and just enjoy the green and the beauty of it all.

And my favorite place, perfect for today's mantra: green, calm and beautiful...