Gunillocentrism – web diary of a freelance journalist

The first time I discovered it might be possible to make a living as a freelance journalist was when I was travelling in Italy in June 1995, after having interned at Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish Times) during the spring. I remember sitting on a train from Ferrare to Venice in northern Italy: sipping wine, eating cheese, looking out on flat fields, making notes, planning interviews I would do in Venice – and thinking “Wow, this is my work! What a great work!”
It still is. So now I have been doing this for 10 years.
The text below is the first published text that I have found in the archives from that trip. It reflects how I, especially at that time, was into Russian and Italian cultures.

/Gunilla

Datum: 1995-06-19

Avdelning: Kultur
Sida: 21

Av: Gunilla Kinn

Ryska konstverk i Gauguins anda

FERRARA (SvD) Den ryske köpmannen Sergej Sjtjukin hängde i början av seklet sin
samling med 16 tavlor av Paul Gauguin tätt, tätt, tillsammans på matsalsväggen
så att man knappt såg var den ena målningen började och nästa slutade. På så vis
kom de färgstarka bilderna med exotiska motiv från den franske konstnärens
vistelser på Tahiti och andra Söderhavsöar att likna ikonostasen i de
ryskortodoxa kyrkorna.
Sergej Sjtjukin och hans två mecenatkolleger i Moskva, bröderna Michail och Ivan
Morozov, kom från familjer som blivit förmögna på textilhandel. Pengarna
använde de till att köpa konst, framför allt av de franska impressionisterna som
Monet, Dégas, Renoir och Cézanne men också av van Gogh och Picasso.
På plats i Paris upptäckte och köpte Michail Morozov Paul Gauguins tavlor, föga
uppskattade av samtiden, som han förde hem till Ryssland samma år som både han
själv och Gauguin dog, 1903.
Sergej Sjtjukin inredde sitt privatpalats, som senare blev säte för
krigsministeriet, med ett rum för varje konstnär. Moskvas unga artister fick
komma dit för att se och lära. Och det gjorde de: många av de ryska
avantgardekonstnärerna, som Natalja Gontjarova och Michail Larionov, beundrade
Gauguins exotism, hans klara färgskala och hans intresse för folklore.
Gauguins målningar och de ryska konstverk han inspirerade till visas till och
med den 2 juli i Palazzo dei Diamanti i Ferrara i Emilia-Romagna, Italien.
GUNILLA KINN

From now, my field office is on 5601 Hollywood Boulevard. Cool address, huh?!
This is a motel in the best classical, American, 50’s style you could imagine, with a glamourous front and a small swimming pool (and, luckily, wi-fi Internet connection…)
Hollywood Downtowner Inn

It feels empty not to cover indy racing anymore, but perhaps four days of hanging out by garages and pit stops was really enough… I and my friend Karen did something completely different and very exciting on Monday: we drove to the small town of Columbus, Indiana.

Columbus is a town with less than 40,000 inhabitants, about one hour’s drive south of Indianapolis. It was once listed as having the sixth most interesting architecture of American cities – after Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington. Quite impressing for such a small town!
In the 1950’s, a multinational steel engine company with its head office in downtown Columbus decided that it wanted to create an ideal community, and so commissioned some of the greatest architects in world to design buildings. There are numerous churches, schools, power plants, and residential houses there, designed by architects such as Eliel Saarinen and I M Pei and built from 1950 and into the 80’s.
Columbus, Indiana - Architecture History

Columbus was really strange to see – a juxtaposition of world class architecture and regular blend strip malls of any American town or suburb. We only had time to check out a few of the buildings, unfortunately, because I had to rush to the airport. Will have to come back!

So, leaving Karen behind in Indianapolis, I flew to Los Angeles via Chicago. Tomorrow, I wil drive to Corona – there is a lot of driving, and I hope watching the quick race cars hasn’t gotten on my mind!

/Gunilla