I was recently in Sweden with my tribe for our quarterly meeting. The meeting itself was in Jukkasjärvi, and our meeting took place in the Icehotel. A few of us decided to visit Stockholm prior to our session. If you have not yet visited Stockholm, I suggest you go, especially if you like museums! When I asked about things to do in the area, everyone suggested museums. So we picked a few to visit in addition to our other activities, all while learning about their rich culture. One thing I learned is that most of what I know about Vikings is wrong ☹.
We visited the Modema Museet, the Modern Art Museum. My knowledge of art goes no further than knowing what I like and what I don’t and I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. There were several pieces there which made me wonder what the artist had in mind and even how their masterpiece qualified as art, but I do believe that art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. For example, one of the featured pieces was a bag of cat litter on the floor with a small green patch next to it and a larger green patch next to that. To me, the green patches looked like astro-turf pee pad and while I may not understand how that is art, I do know that in somebody’s eyes it is.
Several days later we checked in to the Icehotel. What makes this hotel unique is that it is completely made of ice. The floors are ice, the rooms and beds are ice, the sculptures are ice, the bar is ice, even the glasses are ice! To me it was clearly a wonderous work of art that awakened all my senses.
Each of us is an artist, and I would argue that we all create art every day. A programmer creates art with lines of code, while a recruiter creates art by matching company requirements and culture to the right person. A gardener creates beautiful botanical arrangements for us to admire and a mechanic can make a car purr. A doctor can prevent me from snoring, while giving me a better night’s sleep; very artistic indeed! A writer can evoke emotion and pull us into their story; in fact, I sometimes create art with this blog. Let’s not forget the painters and sculptors that create beauty around us. Not all this art is for everyone, like the cat litter next to a pee pad is not for me, but it is art to someone.
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
This weekend, create something that evokes an emotion and view the world how an artist would; find beauty in uncommon places.
Vijay