måndag 2 maj 2011

"SLIPPERY TERRAIN" IN THE NORDICHOUSE, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND


SLIPPERY TERRAIN
Saturday 7th og May 2011 - Sunday 29th of May 2011

Thora Gunnarsdottir, Nina Lassila, Johanna Willenfelt, Juliana España Keller, Diana Storåsen and Elin Anna Þórisdóttir

The group is invited to create work around and about the surrounding eco system of the Nordic House in Reykjavik.
In the front yard of the Nordic House and the Icelandic University you will find a natural reserve aimed to foster the bird variety in Reykjavík. The Nordic House, The University of Iceland, and Reykjavik city are gathering forces to improve the area. Research shows that diversity in the area is declining; competitive plants are threatening the flora, birds are decreasing and contamination is found in the water. The marsh of the preserved land has also diminished and in the northeastern part of it, the soil has almost dried. Experts have pointed out that with the help of some relatively simple improvements, the marsh could do its work even better as a sanctuary for birds, water species and herbs.
The goal is to improve habitat conservation and variety and restore the wetland in the reserve. The
increased attention to the area will hopefully increase awareness of the ecological importance of wetlands.

The goals of the improvements are to:
To maintain and to restore biodiversity and ecosystem functions
Make a safe place for birds to hatch and nest
Remove invasive plants.
Make a life research facility for students of the University.
Increase interest and knowledge about the ecological importance of wetlands.
Make the area an exemplary for the recovery of wetlands.

We intend to work on site specific art works where the project in the wetlands, the problems they face
and/or causes will be addressed by each individual artist resulting in a dialogue with the space, the area
and hopefully raise questions for the viewer to respond to.

NATURE AND MEMORIES / Hardanger Kunst Senter 2010





The modern man is looking to nature to enjoy the solitude, peace and tranquility. Alone in the forest, we get time for our own thoughts. Sometimes a place of melancholy and sorrow. Such dreams become a healing force for lost, troubled souls. But there is another side. Solitude in nature can be ugly and unmanageable, making us feel small and exposed. Like strangers. Do we, the modern urban people, find what we seek when we go out in the forests? Relaxation? Depth for the soul to breathe whitin? Or do we meet a self-sufficient, icy emptiness, filled with haunting birdsong?

The exhibition visualized the contemporary urban man's complex relationship with nature as an experience. Our romantic notion of nature as a sanctuary set against images of nature as a place of confusion and crisis. In the face of nature, we meet ourselves, but what happens to our natural experience if we can not face ourselves? Someone with a guilty conscience, will not be seeking refuge in forests, wrote John Burroughs in 1895. I will update this statement: With a guilty conscience, we go into the forests.