SUNDBY PORTALS - 2022
Commissioned by Copenhagen Commune in collaboration with Natural Materials Studio.
Sundby Portals is a project in collaboration with Natural Materials Studio, Copenhagen. These works were commissioned by OMF Sundby and funded by Copenhagen Commune.
The project positioned 3 public sculptures across the neighbourhood. Taking the form of portals, each of these referencing a distinct material and environmental narrative related to Sundby, using the elements of Sea, Sky and Soil. These portals are intended to elevate, invert and twist perspectives on the local geography and create an East/West procession across the area, whilst using reclaimed, sustainably sourced and naturally safe materials in their construction.
Sea Portal | Materials - Stainless Steel, Mild Steel, Enamel Paint, Dried Seaweed
Sky Portal | Materials - Mild Steel, Glavanized Steel, Aluminium, Glass, Douglas Fir, Linseed Oil, Pigment
Soil Portal | Materials - Mild Steel, Glavanized Steel, Hempcrete, Chalk, Earth Pigments
The sculptures sit on a route crossing the commune from Amager Fælled to Amager Strand, a material and elemental procession. We wanted to experiment as much as possible with reclaimed or natural materials for these works.
Fabrication was done at the Statens Værksteder for Kunst over the course of 2022 with final elements completee at site. We would like to thanks SVFK for their generous support and technical expertise in assisting with these works.
Materials for the work were provided by Dinesen/ Bank of Materials, SoulDK, and Havens Hænder.
These works were made involving local residents from around Sundby in completing each work with support from OMF Sundby in coordinating the workshops. Each workshop was held over 1 day in October 2022.
With special thanks to Annemette Juel, Konrad Milosz, Emil Dencher, Anouk Versstuyft and Costin Simion for your assistance across the project.
Conceptual rendering of the Sundby Portals project, made in collaboration with Zongbo Jiang.
SEA PORTAL - 2022
Italiensvej, Amager, Copenhagen.
Materials - Stainless Steel, Mild Steel, Enamel Paint, Dried Seaweed
Dimensions: 45 x 260 x 70 cm (Both)
The 'Sea Portal' used dried eelgrass, a material that has an interesting history in Denmark. Most notably on the island of Læsø where it was used in the tonnes to create roofs. The technique was developed by the women of the island combining weaving and roping methods. Interestingly, the technique nearly disappeared due to a global kelp blight in the 1920’s and the replacement with the more common reed thatching technique.
We learned the technique from Kirstin Lynga of SoulDK earlier in 2022. The steel structure was created to give a good foundation to support the seaweed ropes, with a concave stainless steel mirror incorporated into each section to reflect the sculptures environment near Amager Strand just at the end of Italiensvej.
Photographs by Robert Damisch and Artist.
We created the seaweed ropes and wove them onto the sculptures over a day in October 2022, sharing hot drinks and learning traditional material craft skills together.
The seaweed is intended to settle and matt further over time, becoming more compacted towards the piece, any sections that need replacing can be mended easily by tying new rope ends and twisting them onto the existing fibres, kelp has some interesting self adhesive properties when repetedly exposed to the elements, which is what originaly made it a great solution to creating weatherproof roofs on the island of Læso.
SKY PORTAL - 2022
Englandsparken, Amager, Copenhagen.
Materials - Mild Steel, Glavanized Steel, Aluminium, Glass, Douglas Fir, Linseed Oil, Pigment
Dimensions: 60 x 270 x 70 cm (Both)
The Sky portal in Englandsparken uses reclaimed Douglas Fir sealed with linseed pigments, with etched apartures to view the park.
This is the second sculpture for ‘Sundby Portals’.
The sculpture invites visitors into the park, the rotating segments can be used to view areas of the surrounding environment through the etched lenses created by residents of Sundby. These glass lenses were made over a one day workshop in October 2022. 36 lenses were created in total, each representing something from within the park and the creative expression of the workshop participants.
The sculpture is finished in a naturally safe linseed oil produced by LinolieDK.
Photographs by Robert Damisch and Artist.
The wooden components for this sculpture are made from Douglas Fir offcuts that were donated by Dinesen and the Bank of Materials in Aarhus, with special thanks to Hans Peter Dinesen for your support with this. The wood was then recut and assembled at Statens Værksteder for Kunst.
This was one of the more challenging pieces to produce as it incorporates rotating segments so that views around the park can be adjusted. A special thanks to Konrad Milosz and Costin Simion for your technical support on this work.
SOIL PORTAL - 2022
Phillipsparken, Amager, Copenhagen.
Materials - Galvanized Steel, Mild Steel, Hempcrete, Chalk, Earth Pigments
Dimensions: 70 x 270 x 70 cm
The Soil portal was the final sculpture to be installed. It sits at the entrance to Phillipsparken in Amager in the rose garden. This work was produced at site, and is made from Hempcrete, supplied by Havens Hænder in Copenhagen. Hempcrete is a low carbon alternative to the use of concrete, it is much more lightweight and has structural capabilities. The hemp, whilst growing embodies carbon from the atmosphere. This was then coated in a chalk finish often used in some of the more historic buildings in Copenhagen.
These sculptures were hand carved and the chalk coating was then applied. We then encouraged residents who attended the day-long workshop in October 2022 to paint the sculptures using earth pigments in a 'Neolithic Painting Workshop'.
It was fantastic to see so many local people and their children stopping by to contribute as they went about their days.
Photographs by Robert Damisch and Artist.
Photographs by Robert Damisch and Artist.
