2 Piers by Gora art & landscape
Design: GORA art&landscape / Monika Gora
Type of project: Site-specific sculpture
Location: road 335, Sidensjö, Örnsköldsvik
Material: Blasted stainless steel, wood, LED lamps
Width: 1.5 m
Length of piers: 20 m, 30 m
Area: 7100 m2
Construction: 2005
Budget: € 160 000
Commissioned by: Sigrid, Johan and Jonas Nätterlund’s Memorial Fund
Light consultant: Lars Bylund
Engineer: BJN Projektteknik AB
Near Örnsköldsvik at the lay-by Näs, situated on a slope leading to the lake Drömmesjön in Sidensjö. The two piers are meant to intensify the experience of the beautiful
landscape. Like a spirit level. The form for the piers is playing with the missing water and the adventure of walking out in to the air.
Two bridges that interplay – in understanding or in rivalry. Two bridges that differs slightly in level, length and direction. Like bridges by the shore, with piles wandering away with variable steps towards the water and the horizon. Being horizontal, the bridges act as a spirit level by measuring the relationship between the slope of the meadow and the plane described by the surface of water. An instrument for landscape reading. Declarations of directions, possible routes, springboards out in the open, ledges or runways that lift the spectator above reality. By offering new positions from where to overlook the familiar landscape, the bridges enable a new experience of the known reality from unconventional angles. They play with one’s perceptual mind. The subtitle refers to a possible meeting place for the extension of the bridges, as well as communication between two individuals or visitor and landscape.
I have not studied this project in great detail, but I know comparable projects in the Netherlands. These use basically the same concept and materialisation, but it is their location in the landscape that sets them apart. They are placed on a dike facing land, which used to be water. This gives an unique feeling and great insight on the history of Dutch water control.
So in conclusion I like this project, but would have been better suited at a different location.