Welcome to the building where I’ve spent most of my days lately. Oddities abound, and I decided to take you here and show you around before I get so accustomed I do not notice them anymore.
The first thing that meets you inside is this guy and this guy.
The foyer is full of dead animals in the strangest arrangements. Let me show you a few of them:
Crash-landed eagle
A.. gigantic egg with a map on it, rising from the ocean while polar birds watch. Erm, what?
Looks religious, kind of like Venus’ birth.
This one is just a photo, but possibly the scariest of them all (enlarge to see why):
The legend only states “elephant seal.” Not “demonic bloody vampire elephant seal with a rotten hole for an eye.”
Now let me take you to the lunch area. I used to think the food court at UMB was expensive, but at least they had cheap coffee and now I realize that’s what matters. UiO coffee is almost twice the UMB price. And even if you bring your own mug and tea, they charge for the water. Is the food court supposed to be business or welfare? Just asking.
Enormous swan in the lunch area, not behind glass or anything.
Poetry between the swan’s legs (click to enlarge).
Behind the lunch area are some immigrants:
Kangaroo with really huge testicles
Emu
Someone stole the racoon dog.
Why would anyone steal a stuffed racoon dog? Wikipedia says the racoon dog is black listed in Norway as an unwanted species. Maybe it was taken to wherever human illegal immigrants are taken when they “disappear.”
Hatching dinosaurs. They sure did a considerable effort when decorating the building. The result is weird.
In the basement:
Wolves with raincoats
… A German Shepherd? The descriptions say little about what the poor dog did to get stuffed in here. And what on earth is that face doing in the skies??
A narrow hallway is full of birds.
Owls are an ancient symbol of knowledge, guardians of Universities. Let’s stuff them and keep them hidden away in a crammy hallway!
The signs on the bathrooms look like they really struggle to hold it. Obviously I wanted to take just these photos as quick as possible, hence the blur.
Hallways. Miles of them, and they all look exactly like this. The building has a hole in the middle and endless hallways circle around. The way is long and landmarks are few. You may not even know when you’re back where you started. Give me color codes!
The middle. No one is ever there. Look at how gray and sterile it is. Oh, how this space longs to be a garden, lawn, forest, anything but paved. It should be so much more. It’s the institute of biology, dammit!
I just might do something about that.
There will be street art.
Det er jo nesten slik at jeg begynner å lure på hva du egentlig studerer… 😉
Also, 20 years after the smoking ban there are still ashtrays mounted in some toilets.
Aggy, this post had me laughing so much. Thank you because I really needed it. I’ve always loved the way you write =)
Thanks a bunch, glad it made you laugh.
Hahaha – this is so true!! I never stop to be amazed at the utter lack of estetical sence this “artist” has, and I almost throw up whenever I read the explainatory poems next to the pieces (shouldn’t a real artist leave it up to the viewer to interpret his/her work?). I can tell you this now: you will NEVER get used to it. Some days you’ll be able to ignore it and think of other things, but suddenly you’ll notice them again, and all the horrible feelings will come rushing back into you.. Good luck with the street art! I might contribute by smashing up the basement art one day. No dead animal should be wrapped in plastic and displayed in this sickly manner!!
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