Portals
Media: Lacquered sheet metal
Three portals become one whole, a building. As a unified form the portals are borrowed from the entrance built for an exhibition in Våxnäs at the beginning of the last century. The yellow part is a free interpretation of KBAB’s logotype. Helio=sun Heliopolis=city of the sun Helio Oiticica (1937-1980) a Brazilian artist who stepped out of his social context and into the world of samba schools. In some of his works Helio used a color palette that can take very strong sunlight. We’ve borrowed from his colors.
The Agora
Media: Seven hexagonal shapes (hexagon=six corners) in concrete with words and symbols cast into them.
Agora=town square in Greek. We meet on the square, give speeches, celebrate and negotiate. The square is often a symbol of democracy. Our thoughts revolve around big questions: How can we live together? How much self-interest can the common that we care for withstand? To rent is to borrow, a careful stance toward the future; to use, rather than own. How do we regard the upkeep of the common? How can we build a socially durable community, a home for all of us? The hexagons are echoed in the advanced way in which bees build their communities; the wall is shared by many rooms. The way home runs through the agora.
The frieze
Media: Lacquered sheet metal (light blue)
A frieze is something that decorates and runs around the upper part of a house, it often tells a story. We’ve made a relief that becomes part of the larger frieze, made up of all the works of art on the facades of Hemvägen. The line of sight leads from the portals into the residential area. Behind Hemvägen lies a closed stone quarry that is sometimes used for climbing. Climbing can be a metaphor for hubris, just like Icarus flew toward the sun too alone and too fast, only to burn his wings and fall back to earth. It can also symbolize the human longing to reach the sun, the light. By coincidence these climbing paths make two runes that read as the letters ”k” and ”i.” Together they spell the Chinese word ki or Qi–life force.
The Insect Park
One of the people living on Hemvägen gave us a mosquito house. It became one of our entry points for this commission. Without mosquitos, no birds. Without bees, no fruit. The park-like space that we’ve worked with made us think of community-building creatures: Bees, ants and others. These seemingly small communities serve several important functions. Bees are increasingly disappearing from earth. We must start cultivating bees again, as one did before. If we don’t, there soon won’t be fruit. On Hemvägen there are apple and pear trees, these need care and bees to bear fruit. In the new park area there are now many maple trees of various kinds, they’ve replaced trees that were damaged, or cut down. We asked to keep the tree stumps, which were sealed at the ends so that we could use them in some way. They are now placed in schoolyards, or used as material in Jan’s woodshop.
