Sculpture commission that resulted in landscaping of a larger area. The landscape continues right through a hall with glass walls. Scattered trees and sculptures enhance the continuity. One of the trees is inside the hall and almost touches the closest tree outside. The other trees are spread in small clusters on the meadows outside. The sculptures are all the same shape, but of two different materials; one is of black granite, the rest of magenta pigmented fibreglass in varying colour saturation. Each unit is the size of a big armchair. The shape is of a heart or a flower… and luminous at night.  The project was completed this spring when all the trees were planted. The positions for those was previously indicated with sticks.

Common means collective and public. Something common is also something and ordinary and familiar. Ground means land, soil, surface but also reason for something. When saying that we are on common ground we mean that we agree about something, that we have the same point of view.

It’s interesting that the expression common ground originates from the soil as a platform, the common land we share.

Here, as everywhere else the building is standing on that land, trees grow on it, the grass and stones cover it, we walk on its surface and scatter our artefacts.

The artefacts on the site are the sculptures, soft similar to sofas, like blown up shapes that shine.

They all are derived from / come of / are copies of an original made of black granite. They are fragile shells, in their vulnerability resembling flowers, swaying in the wind.

Their colour can be interpreted as the red-violet colour of Rallarros (Epilobium angustifolium) a flower common and well known in the north part of Sweden or the artificial and universal magenta, one of the primary colours used for printing.

The trees birch, pine, and alder are common and widespread, natural and belonging to this region. They are a constant reminder of this sites natural possibilities and conditions. Indoors grows a Podocarpus tree. That tree and the alder tree outside almost touch each other, they could touch each other if the glass would not be there.

Those trees abolish the border between outdoors and indoor, exotic and common. At the same time they witness about the same differences, especially at winter.

Common Ground makes use of the unique possibility to view straight through the building with no separation between the inner and outer spaces. The presence of the land is articulated by soft grass fields and hard, stone paved areas and is strengthen by the presence of the trees and sculptures on it. Those are the freestanding elements that take their liberty to flow straight through the building, a flock of individuals with mutual interplay.

The objects are made to interact with land modelling, plants and a big new public building. Objects reminiscent of cerise couches or hearts and black diabase float straight through the glazed hall and down onto a softly landscaped slope covered with meadow flowers.

The kind of plastics I use is the same material that plastic boats are made from, fibreglass-reinforced polyester. It is strong and durable, and it can be repaired. But even if it is the best kind of plastics, it’s just plastics. When the trees have grown high the diabase sculpture will still be there. Perhaps the house will be there as well.