Malmö, Sweden - 02/26/18

Malmo downtown

We don't plan to stay in Sweden for long: We changed our plans, Malmo is going to be our last stop here for now. It's sad that we couldn't even visit Stockholm, but we are surely coming back.

Sweden is currently facing grave immigation problems and a big 'muslinification' effect, with a drastic change in violence rates, security and normal day to day life.
The increase in violence is something rather subjective in more generalistic terms, but is a fact comparing with the country's own levels. For exemple, some say that the violence is the same as in some bad neighbourhoods in the USA, but a dramatic shift in the country's culture, also considering that Sweden is a relatively small country.

These problems led to the creation of No-go zones in some cities; this term is colloquialy used by the citizens and the police, and designates danger areas populated mostly by muslim immigrants.There are cases of murder, Rape, and terrorist activity/attacks, which continue to happen daily, leaving a sense of fear hanging around everywhere.

Malmö is such a city with no-go zones: that was the first thing we learned about it, and secondly, we learned that that spiralled building we saw in our last album is located here.

Turning Torso

The building is the 'Turning Torso', and its an immoble residential skyscrapper. The building was the first of it's kind in the world, and is the tallest building in Scandinavia. It was designed by the Spanish sculptor, archtect and painter Santiago Calatrava and opened on 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 ft) with 54 storeys and 147 apartments.

 Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth in Scandinavia. Almost half of the population has foreign background (43%)

Interesting Facts:

• In 2011, 174 countries and about 150 languages were represented in Malmö
• As of 2015, Malmö had the fourth-highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any municipality in Sweden
• Almost 10% of the population of Malmö works in Copenhagen.
• Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF), the largest Arabic film festival in Europe, is held in Malmö.

  

  Konsthall

Right next to the center we visited Malmo Konsthall, which is the largest exhibition gallery in Europe for contemporary art. The building was opened in 1975 and is made of concrete, glass, wood and aluminium. It was awarded a Kasper Salin Prize, given to Swedish building projects "of high architectural standard, The KSP is considered the most prestigious architectural prize in the country.

There are over 10 exhibition each year, including modern art classics and current experiments. The hall is also used for theatrical performances, film, lectures and other educational activities, recieving circa 200.000 visitors annually. Admissions are free - for the time we were there though.

• In 1994, the hall was renovated and expanded, creating space for a book store selling books, posters and postcards, a children’s area and a restaurant that offers south Swedish food.

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We also caught a glimpse of the mall we were learning about on our way to Sweden, Emporia.
We didn't know it, but it is actually here in Malmo, and is one of the largest in Scandinavia and was opened in 2012. On the way in we watched this great video, introducing it and it's design.

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Our last stop was the bridge we walked through on our way to Denmark, connecting Malmo to Copenhagen. The famous Oresund Bridge, the longest combined railway and motorway bridge in Europe with 8 km (+4km tunnel), and the setting for the crime drama series 'The bridge'.

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