Under plov. Ligger land. Under himmel. (Gyvel)
Jordforbindelser - dansk maleri 1780-1920 og det antropocæne landskab
Faaborg Museum
2018
A pavilion temporarily set up in Svanninge Bakker in Funen, Denmark. The pavilion is made from recycled wood and the roof is thatched with Common Broom (Gyvel) harvested in Svanninge Bakker. The pavilion draws inspiration from a pavilion that the founder of the museum, Mads Rasmussen, had set up in the hills in his time, but unlike his, the roof and walls of this pavilion are covered by common broom. Common Broom is a native plant, but the increased amount of nitrogen and the mild winters have caused the plant to behave invasively in the area, outcompeting native vegetation and lowering the local plant biodiversity.
The work examines how the invasive plant alters the landscape and how we deal with it, thereby exposing the interconnectedness of nature and culture and our ideas of how nature should behave and how it actually does behave in relation to us and our impact on it.
A photograph of the plant collection made in the area (140x140 cm) is exhibited inside Faaborg museum accompanied by a display case showing the biology of the common broom.
This is the first work of four with the title Under Plov. Ligger Land. Under himmel (Under Plough. Lies Land. Beneath sky) made for the travelling exhibition Jordforbindelser - dansk maleri 1780-1920 og det antropocæne landskab (Down to Earth – Danish painting 1780-1920 and the anthropocene landscape) shown at four museums: Faaborg Museum, Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Ribe Kunstmuseum og Den Hirschsprungske Samling.
