A big thanks to everyone

120 000 work hours, countless governmental decisions, four arsons and a lot of new grey hairs. It has been a challenge, at times tiring and stressful. But it has also been incredible fun.

There has been an enormous amount of support around the project, hundreds of people with direct involvement and thousands of bystanding supporters – all have they contributed to the end result. Support from these people has been what has helped us through when things have been rough. That, together with the huge joy that all experienced as we closed in on the finish line, produced a great feeling of satisfaction and togetherness.

My colleague Peter and I would like to thank all of you who have in some way been a part of this project and we hope that you too have felt involved in the re-shaping of Wenngarn.

Wenngarn is a magical site that has brought out the best of all of us. Wenngarn will contribute a lot to the future with its story-telling and reminders of our heritage. Even if Wenngarnssommar and the making of all the 400 dwellings was an exciting project, the 280 days of the Sisyfos project capped it all – being so unique and, also, a once-in-a-lifetime project. We should probably be grateful that it won’t have to be done all over again. THANKS!

Olle Larsson

Sisyfos is a company that builds upon an old greek myth.

Sisyfos has challenged the great god of all gods – Zeus. To punish him for this act of hubris he is condemned to push and shove a great boulder up a mountain. In order to manage this task he is forced to use every ounce of his strengths. When the boulder has reached the top of the mountain it rolls down the other side and Sisyfos has to start all over again. He has to keep doing this for all eternity. It is a common expression that a task that seems unbearable or unending is a “Sisyfoslabour”. But Sisyfos manages to find a way to make the punishment bearable. He decides that manual labour is the most pleasurable there is, and thus Zeus attempt to punish him becomes a failure. In a work of Camus it is we, mortal human beings, who actually are shoving the boulder. Life has, just as the shoving of a boulder, no true lasting value. We humans have to actively create a sense of value. We can so chose to think that what we do is of value, much in the same way as Sisyfos chose to create meaningfulness in his tedious labour. To be forced to chose and take responsibility for your own life is one of the main features in existentialist philosophy.

The 1st of October 2013 Sisyfos took over Wenngarn. The estates consist of 70 buildings and more than 35 hectares of land that had fallen into a state of neglect during the last decade. The work of re-establishing Wenngarn commenced immediately and in 1st of June 2014, after 280 days and 120 000 work hours, the first stage was completed, Wenngarnssommar 2014 was started with a royal inauguration. This book describes these eight months at Wenngarn, Sisyfos and how it all came to being. www.wenngarn.se