May 19–September 11, 2022
Out of the sky, into the earth inspires thoughts of life, care and co-existence on a damaged planet. It is a public art project in three acts, by Public Art Agency Sweden in collaboration with Baltic Art Center, taking place in Visby, Gotland. Through a living sculpture, an AR experience and an exhibition, it presents two new commissions focusing on visible and invisible, and real and imaginary life forms populating our world: The Swamp Observatory by Urbonas Studio, and Brakfesten/La Grande Bouffe, by Anne Duk Hee Jordan and Pauline Doutreluingne.
The project is curated by Edi Muka, curator at PAAS, in collaboration with Helena Selder, artistic director of BAC.
When and where
The interactive sculptural installation Brakfesten/La Grande Bouffe will be open to the public from May 19–September 11 at Södra Hällarna nature reserve, Visby.
AR experience at the Swamp Observatory: August 27–September 11 in the Visborg field, Visby as well as online
Premiere of the film Brakfesten/La Grande Bouffe and a presentation of the development process of The Swamp Observatory: August 27–September 11 at the Gotland Art Museum, Visby
The Swamp Observatory is the continuation of a proposal developed by Urbonas Studio (Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas) as part of New Perspectives Visborg, an urban development project carried out in collaboration between PAAS, BAC and Region Gotland. Based on the plans for the development of storm-water ponds in northern Visborg, it draws attention to the importance of the lost wetlands of Gotland in a time of global climate change. The artists have created a conceptual frame and a digital tool in the form of an app that inhabitants and visitors can use to observe and imagine new species or habitats that the ponds can bring to life. Through the use of Augmented Reality technique, the future reality of the Visborg fields is enriched with imaginary, yet unknown species—or monsters, as the artists prefer to call them—that have been created together with pupils from the Athene school. The surrounding environment is conceptually composed of five larger scenes with themes of carbon, sulphur, methane, nuclear and phosphorus. In the AR experience, the monsters flock around the scenes along the route. The user / explorer can search for and follow them hiding around imaginary ponds, while being seduced to discover short stories and engage in experiences as they unfold through sounds and monsters’ messages.
Brakfesten / La Grande Bouffe by Anne Duk Hee Jordan and Pauline Doutreluingne is an art project in the form of a living sculpture and a film. The work focuses on the nature reserve of Södra Hällarna where elm trees are threatened with extinction. Using debarked elm tree branches the artists create a gigantic sculpture with several elements that mimic the pattern the bark beetles leave on the elm tree trunk. Hollowed branches filled with soil are transformed into “tables”, with plants from the area growing from their carved bodies, creating a banquet for insects, beetles, birds and other organisms. Among them appear unusual objects: a colorful painting, an oversized birdhouse and a pair of gigantic listening horns resembling moose ears. We’re invited to come close and use them to sense the surroundings, listen to the sounds of the forest and experience the world from the other species’ perspective. The installation resembles a playground of sorts, a meeting point for both young and old, human and more-than-human people. It inspires joy and playfulness while being at the same time an act of acknowledgement and of giving back to the earth, and to the lives that both, sustain it and are sustained by it. It is also the stage of the film with the same title, where the small and invisible inhabitants of the area are the main protagonists.
Read more about the project here.
