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Norway's tourist routes in photos
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A viewing platform in Trollstigen – the architect who designed it is giving a lecture today at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center in Seoul where the exhibition is taking place. / Courtesy of Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
A Norwegian photo exhibition “Detour Asia” demonstrates an innovation in public diplomacy.
Eighteen photos taken at 18 different sites on National Tourist Routes in Norway arrived in Korea last week as part of a world tour.
Karianne Bjellas Gilje, head of the program at the Foundation for Design and Architecture also known as Norst Form, said the exhibition is a good opportunity to show the tourist potential of her country to the Korean public. She and two of her colleagues flew to Seoul for the opening and a talk.
A cottage in Geiromger-Trollstigen / Courtesy of Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor
Norwegian Ambassador to Korea Torbjorn Holthe said, “As a tourist destination, Norway is most famous for its spectacular scenery, steep mountains, endless coastlines and deep fjords. The National Tourist Routes have taken our country’s most scenic spots and lifted them to a new level by combining them with the innovative creations by some of Norway’s biggest talents within the world of architecture.”
An anonymous Korean architect who was at the opening praised Norway for its innovative idea. “An event like this doesn’t cost much at all, but it shows a lot about Norway,” she told The Korea Times.
A walking platform in Senja / Courtesy of Hugo Fagermo
The National Tourist Routes are a project by the Norwegian government. Initiated in the 1990s, Norway’s Public Road Administration chose 18 scenic roads along its stretched coast and inland, and added objects made by architects and artists. They made the objects in a way that they could look the most artistic and most integrated to the surrounding nature as possible.
Against this backdrop was born a viewing platform overlooking the grand fjords on the famous mountain road Trollstigen. This viewing point is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Norway. The architect of the platform Reiulf Ramstad is giving a lecture Monday at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center where the exhibition is currently underway.
Besides the viewing platform, the objects include a chair, a colorful public restroom and cottages.
Starting in France in 2007, the exhibition has been shown in the United States, Denmark, England, Beijing and Shanghai. It was the main presentation of Norway at the Shanghai Expo in 2010. Next spring, the exhibition is going to Japan.
The tourism promotion is one important reason behind the National Tourist Routes, but not the only one. Gilje explained the 18 roads were designed to develop remote areas, which otherwise would remain isolated and economically fractured.
The total number of architectural and artistic works is 200 by 50 selected architects. Curator of the exhibition Ellen Margrethe Skilnand explained that this serves as a good career-building opportunity for young architects in Norway, and for that reason the projects are exclusively open to the Norwegian architects.
Architecture and design has been a useful diplomacy tool for Norway.
In Seoul, the Norwegian government erected installations in a subway station, in an effort to raise the awareness of its country. Photos of the Northern Lights, deep fjords, salmon and ski slopes decorate a transition corridor inside Samgakji Station. On the platform of subway line No. 6, a video footage about Norway is being played along with wooden installations with images of snow-covered mountains and skiers.
The exhibition will stay open until Nov. 24. The special lecture by Ramstad is on Monday, which will be followed by another lecture on Scandinavian architecture on Nov. 22. For more information, visit www.kf.or.kr.