Art in nature by the Polar Circle

What do the bricks mean? Asked one fellow blogger who had been seeing the picture above in my photo gallery from Nordland, a county up north that I recently visited. The bricks is not a memorial. It is one of 33 artworks. One in 32 different municipalities in Nordland, and one in Troms. Artscape Nordland (Skulpturlandskap Nordland) is an international art project with 33 artists from 18 different countries that aims to bring art to where the people live. Since art museums are few and far apart in this sparsely populated area by the Polar Circle. Above is the sculpture Beacon (Varden in Norwegian) by the danish artist Per Kirkeby. It is a building meant to give time for reflection and tranquility. The view is spectacular.

This sculpture Hai-Ku-Badekar by Irish artist Dorothy Cross is the muncipality of Sømna’s contribution to the Artscape Nordland project. The work consists of three parts, each of which gives many associations – and in their combination a whole new story are meant to arise. This is one of the three part of the sculpture.

Alstahaug’s contribution to Artscape Nordland is “House of Winds” (Vindenes hus) by sculptor Sissel Tolaas, which was unveiled in 1994. She was inspired to create a work of art that plays on the natural elements.  Situated near Helgeland bridge. Tolaas is a Norwegian artist living in Berlin.

Protractus by Kristján Gudmundson (1993), looks like a rock protractor (tool for measuring angles) standing in Skjerstad in Bodø municipality, that is near the outer end of Misfjorden. Its height is 3.16 meters. The artist from Island is said to mean that the historical references that are in the landscape and the idea of ​​a protractor, establishes a dimension of time that brings us beyond the here and now.

This wooden sculpture is not part of Artscape Nordland, but you find it in the same county, and for me it definitely have some of the same effect. It is made by the sámi artist Ingunn Utsi who belong to the indeginous people of Norway. It is called Påminnelsen (The Reminder) and you find it by the mountain Kruttfjellet in Hattfjelldal.

“The Man from the Sea” (Havmannen in Norwegian) is a granite stone sculpture by the British artist Antony Gormley. It is 11 metres tall, weighs 60 tonnes and was created and erected in the fjord by the city of Mo in Rana in 1995. Causing controversy and much debate in the local media. The controvery is probably long gone now. More photos in my Artscape Nordland photo gallery. I have not seen all, but there are some information on all 33 projects on this link.