Wander Minnesota: Nobel Creations
This weekend marks the opening of an exhibit in the Twin Cities that's an intriguing blend of world-class arts and sciences. Nobel Creations arrives at the American Swedish Institute from the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, the first time it has made an appearance in the U.S.
The exhibit was first designed four years ago as a one-time-only event. The Nobel Museum partnered with Sweden's Beckman's College of Design and the Royal College of Music to create an exhibit honoring that year's Nobel Prize winners, with original music and fashion designs representing each of the Nobel categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Economic Sciences, and Peace.
The resulting exhibit captured the public's interest more strongly than expected, and it has turned into an annual event. The exhibit on display at the Swedish Institute is of the 2013 winners. Along with the music and fashion, the Institute brought in local florist training company Koehler & Dramm to create arrangements that also play off the theme of the winners.
The photo above shows the fashion design inspired by the 2013 Nobel literary winner, Alice Munro. Munro is well known for her carefully constructed, deeply complex short stories, qualities evident in the dress itself.
The work of Koehler & Dramm is on display for the Economics prize, won that year by Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen, and Robert Shiller. This arrangement is representative of the stock market, with its chaotic aspects overhead while being rooted in repeated planters.
The award for physiology or medicine went to James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Sudhof, for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells. The dress is a delicate, extremely complicated beaded gown that represents that vesicle traffic.
This particular dress also marks a first for the Institute: it's displayed in the music room, which has previously not been open to visitors. But the elegance of the dress clearly fits the formality of this lovely room.
The pageantry of the award ceremony itself is also on display. The dining room at the Institute features a Nobel dinner table, with elaborate dinnerware and décor themed around the topic of bridges. There's also a time-lapse video of an actual Nobel ceremony.
Noah Prinsen, who originates from Grand Marais and is now based in Asheville, NC created woodcut portraits of Minnesota Nobel Laureates.
The Institute has a robust series of events for the exhibit, which will open this weekend and run through May 24. Friday, Jan. 30, is the opening night and features opening night festivities, when the Nobel Museum curator and two of the design students who created gowns will be on hand to discuss their work and the exhibit. On Feb. 7, An Enchanted Evening offers food from the Institute's Fika, the presentation of a Nobel Medal replica to the Institute from Minnesota Laureate Dr. Peter Agre, and the world premiere of a musical work honoring Dr. Agre and all Nobel Laureates, composed by Steve Heitzig and performed by VocalEssence, and conducted by Philip Brunelle.
Later this spring, the Institute will collaborate with Augsburg College for "Shaping Peace," which will explore the lives and contributions of the 128 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The literary aspect will be explored by Coffee House Press, which will offer The Laureate Lounge, exploring the works of the Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates and giving visitors an opportunity to harness their own creativity through assignments generated by local writers Andy Sturdevant, Rachel Jendrzejewski, Janaki Ranpura, and Sun Yung Shin.
What else is happening in our state? Be sure to check out the 10 p.m. Sunday night WCCO newscasts, where you can learn more in the weekly segment, Finding Minnesota.
