Kari Standal

I studied architecture and wrote my thesis on how Ålesund rebuilt itself in a single style after the 1904 fire destroyed almost everything standing. My main session follows the Brosundet canal, pointing out the Art Nouveau details on facades that most people walk past without noticing, the turrets, the plant motifs carved into stone. A second session continues up Kongensgate, the main shopping street, rebuilt in the same few years by architects trained across Europe. I like explaining a disaster that somehow produced one of the most complete Art Nouveau town centres anywhere, and video lets me hold a single carved detail in frame as long as it needs.