RUINHAVEN TEMPLE ORACLE GODDESS
Norbert Francis Attard Thomsen’s Ishus - Fjellerup, Denmark, 2013
RUINHAVEN
Site-specific interventions by Norbert Francis Attard Fjellerup I Bund & Grund, curated by Anne Lise Jensen Thomsen’s Ishus, Overfor Klitvej 120, Fjellerup, Denmark, 2013 The context of this project consists of a derelict building known as the ‘ice house’ and it’s collapsed façade; left-over building materials resulting from an adjacent building which no longer exists; together with other dumped building components that traveled from elsewhere. All the above, mixed with an abundant overgrowth of foliage and nature, laid peacefully along a hundred and fifty meter stretch of sandy beach at Fjellerup Strand in Denmark. The ‘ice house’ and its surroundings had been abandoned for about twenty years, their unfortunate condition crying out for restoration and re-landscaping. The ultimate aim of all the interventions was to increase the awareness of the inherent beauty of the entire place, to hopefully instigate some kind of serious investigation to the realization of the preservation, restoration and reuse of the entire area, most especially the ‘ice house’ building. Ruinhaven consists of three separate works. These were developed in the course of a three-week residency. These were some of the factors which I kept in mind during the whole process. These were my guidelines in response to the site: 1. The intention to working only with materials found on the place. 2. Transformation of disused and dumped building material into useful functional sculptures. 3. Giving new life and meaning, particularly to the derelict historical building and to the entire stretch of land. 4. Injecting, in a subtle way, my own culture from Malta, particularly the Prehistoric Temple Period. 5. Social responsibility of the project. How each work affects the community to make a positive difference.
Throughout the whole process, my practice as an artist became one of integrating roles of the archaeologist undergoing an excavation, a landscape architect, a gardener, a sculptor and a designer of sorts Fjellerup I Bund & Grund is an art project by Anna Lise Jensen with site-specific art in and around historical Fjellerup, a relic from the days of fishing nets. The project is made in cooperation with the town’s citizens and artists Norbert Francis Attard, Julia Whitney Barnes, Monica Carrier, Jo Q. Nelson and Christine Sciulli. Fjellerup I Bund & Grund consists of sculptures, drawings, window decoration, ceramics, projection and sound installations. The works are available from 14 July 11 August 2013.
TEMPLE is an intervention which involves two spaces, an internal and external one. By cleaning up of the internal derelict space of the ‘ice house’ it is hoped to start its second life, maybe not as an ‘ice house’ but for re-use in as many other everyday functions such as dinners, exhibition space, meetings of sorts, etc. The external space consisting of the collapsed façade was also cleaned by removing all the abundant foliage around the existing stones and instead sand spread around them so that the existing sandy beach becomes a continuation with the excavated fragmented boulders of stones. The sand integrates the stones in ruin with both the shore and the building.
ORACLE consisted of the rearranging of existing concrete columns randomly lying on and partly immersed in the sand along the beach. These long pieces of concrete were rescued and put together to form a structure, a free-standing sculpture. The complete transformation from debris to ‘picnic table’ made possible involving a design concept, architecture, and functionality at its core. This work is made for the serving of food but also for the dialogue created around the table.
GODDESS A remnant wall that resembled a sofa was transported from its place that was surrounded and practically buried in grass. This heavy material weighing a ton or more, combined large hard pebble stones, bricks and concrete, was transported by the use of circular logs and ropes. The whole idea was to transport this huge piece of stone by simple means using only man power and tools found around the area. This stone was placed on a flatter surface about 10 meters away from the original site, elevated on wood to make it the right height for sitting. The surrounding area was also cleared to make it more visible and accessible for any passerby.
Fjellerup Gourmet Dinner Thomsens Ishus, Klitvej 121, Fjellerup Strand, 28th July 2013. 20-22hr. Fjellerup Gourmet Dinner is both a dinner in itself and a concept for the art project Fjellerup i Bund & Grund by Anna Lise Jensen. The idea is to invite chefs to create “pop-up” dinners at Fjellerup Strand - where currently no restaurants exist - as inspiration for others to start a permanent restaurant on the beach, and to create unity among the participating artists and local people - as well as bringing new people to experiences in unusual places. The first dinner will take place in the ruins of Thomsen’s Ishus, a place formerly used to store ice for fishing purposes along the beach. This event is now part of Ruinhaven, a site-specific work created by Norbert Francis Attard as one of the six works of art that constitute Fjellerup i Bund & Grund.
Menu Cava with almonds in soya Cold tomato soup a la gazpacho Smoked makrel with smoked cheese, fresh peas and chives and chrisp rye bread Vitello Tonnato with a green salad 3 kinds of cheese, Blue Kornblomst, Tomme de Montagne, St. Aubin, with sea thorn berries and olives Danish summer berries, raspberry, strawberry and blueberry with vanilla cream
Wine menu Errazuriz Chardonnay, 2011,Vinã Errazuriz, Valle de Casablanca, Chile Chardonnay, Schug, 2011, Carneros, Californian, USA Pinot Noir, Schug , 2007, Carneros, Californian, USA d’Arenberg “Foot Boldt” Shiraz, 2007, Australian Cerrino, Moscato d` Asti, 2009, Italian
Special thanks to the owner of Thomsens Ishus for her full support RUTH NIELSEN The artist would like to thank the following people for their generous assistence during construction and realisation of the projects ANNE LISE JENSEN ASGER NEIMANN OLE VILLESEN PETER VILLESEN TAGE MOGENSEN HANS CHRISTIAN CHRISTIANSEN THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN LARS CHRISTIANSEN BORGE LARSEM ERIK JESPERSEN NATHAN FREY JULIA WHITNEY BARNES The artist would also like to thank the following people for their help in kind ANNE LISE JENSEN BIRGIT SCHULZ & THOMAS BORG JOHANNE & ASGAR NIEMANN KIRSTEN PETERSEN & BENT ØBRO SUSANNE & NIELS PETER JENSEN ERIK JESPERSEN & VIBEKE NILARS JYTTE & EJVIND NEJSUM BODIL SORENSEN & FRANS BRO LIANNE & STEEN LASSEN VIBEKE GILLIANG & TOMMY SØRRENSEN Fjellerup Gourmet Dinner Thomsens Ishaus, Klitvej 121, Fjellerup Strand, 28th July 2013. 20-22hr. HELLE ALEXANDERSEN Chef from Copenhagen, Denmark EMILIE HASTRUP MARIETTE ALEXANDERSEN HENRIETTE ANKER TAYLOR DROY Funding Fjellerup i Bund & Grund is part of the project Sommerby - Vinterby, a development supported by Norddjurs and the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural