Knocking Doors

Oslo City Hall emerged on the ground of what used to be Bakkegata, Strandbakken and Strandgata. By 1950 - it took 17 years to build - the last stone was put in place. In 1850 the area housed 17 brothels. On the east side of the city hall a high relief depicts a prostitute; with male figures on each side of her, she is pushed into a corner of the building. On the wall beneath someone tagged Frøken Fryd. Eh...Do you know what kind of blanket that is? Chloe asks while Smallpox Champion play in the background. It was an original Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket, or The Plague Blanket as the first nations still call it. On the phone Lasse told me he is building the molds for the birds he is casting as a reaction to the demolition of Y-blokka. It took about a year to knock down the building. The new building of the headquarter is planned to open in 2024. Studying at the academy a professor invited us to come to her neighbours house at Bøler. Sylvia Antoniou had passed away and we could pick any objects we would like, but those who were connected to Carl Nesjar’s and Pablo Picasso’s collaboration. I chose a hand painted pair of shoes and a wool blanket which matched the shoes. When we went for a smoke in the courtyard at Mathilde’s place I realised that Trondheimsveien 15 shares its yard with Lakkegata 66, the address of a brothel I stumbled upon named Hudson Bay. Her apartment was soon to undergo renovation causing drastic increase of rent. I will have to move, she said, it makes me cry just thinking about my home with an Ikea-kitchen and linoleum floors. Going to a bar that night some kids on Bird-scooters ran by us, seemingly exited by speed. Are you fucking insane!? I shouted.