I am standing on the threshold – A mourning piece in 16 parts
- Ja vi har ikke noen bananer / Yes we have no bananas
- Stedegne arter / Indigenous species
- Siste redningsforsøk / Final rescue attempt
- Sort firkant (tatt bort og erstattet) / Black square (removed and replaced)
- Brutte løfter / Broken promises
- Diamant platå (hvem trenger handling når man har ord) / Diamond plateau (who needs action when you got words)
- Naturlig seleksjon / Natural selection
- Tre satt sammen igjen / Tree reassembled
- Skulptur til en fugl / Sculpture for a bird
- Sandportal (dødens triumf) /Portal in the sands (the triumph of death)
- Stakittgjerde for obsternasige planter / Picket fence for disobedient plants
- Strengeteori (mellom liv og død) / String theory (between life and death)
- Skulptur for et tre som har falt / Sculpture for a fallen tree (a pillow)
- Etterlatenskap av et glasshus) / Remnants from a glass house
- Speilstadie / Mirror stage
- Lavthengende frukt / Low hanging fruit
The Fence
Nature saw the new wooden walking path in the forest and started to envy their siblings inside the structure. Here there were trees, leaves, grass and moss that was really looked at, loosely fenced in and protected. A type of sanctuary had formed, giving the plants inside a feeling of being taken cared for and nourished. The simple fact that they did not have to worry as much about the forces of human intervention was a relief. For centuries the fear of being cut down ran like a thick slow moving substance running through their veins. For sap is not just sap.
Like blood it has its own potential to be good and bad and some plants suffered a kind of sap poisoning because of this anxiety. Other plants nearby had tried to come to their support channeling nutrients back to their sick friends but to no avail. It had actually left the whole forest depleted. There were other fears as well.
Like the fear of the water from the nearby river going above its borders, inundating the trees and rotting the roots. But that had not happened for centuries. The mountain behind could also come down on them. According to myths these things had happened before, but since the plants had no recollection of it, it seemed much less likely to happen in the near future. A much more likely scenario was that someone would come in with a chainsaw or a forest machine and clear everything out in a matter of minutes. They had heard the sound of machines echoing through the valley when trees were cut on the other side of the railroad tracks. The building sites for new housing were expanding and now even a new school was being built. The new walking path through the woods changed all this. Suddenly there were lots of people moving around the trees without doing them any harm. No branches were broken off for firewood and no roots were trampled on. At the same time the new habitat was not a garden. Autumn leaves were not picked up leaving nourishment for next year’s growth. All this made the trees outside the refugium envious. In protest of their dire situation the plants had started to form alliances and work in groups to see what could be done. The most prolific speakers were the birches. With their tall and white stems they stood out in the forest making them used to taking to the stage. The birches demanded equal rights for all trees outside and inside the protectorate. The smaller bushes like the roes went along and waved with their berries like red flags summoning other plants to motion the proposals. One idea was to make a second protectorate that could encircle the first. To accomplish this a fence must be made. But who was to build the fence?
Andreas Siqueland, 21.06.2025
Related projects
