Bioinstallation

 

Photos and text by Francesca Romana Rietti

Seeds and wood

 

Ringkøbing, Friday 16^th of August 2024

 

Our third day of work began visiting the Garden of Wonder (Forundringens Have) of the Vestjyllands Højskole. There we met Kirsten Bjerge, the former kitchen leader of the school, who was introducing us to the principles of the biodynamic agriculture they are following. She told us about more than twenty years of research and collaboration with some German colleagues to prepare the humus with which they fertilize the earth within the timeframe of the planting and sowing calendar. The results were visible in the brilliant colors of the flowers, of the grass, of the plants, of vegetables and of the fruits which inhabit the garden and the cultivated fields. One hilarious moment of the visit was when Kirsten was reading for us the review of one of their products: a milk now used by many gourmet chefs in Denmark and available in some supermarkets of the country. The poetic words to describe how delicious it is are the same normally used for the most sophisticated wines.

We learnt again how crucial is the presence of the animals in the process of the preparation of a fertile earth. We keep following the same red thread of these days: no compromise with the laws of the market and of the big factories means respect of the laws of nature. Artists, shepherds, farmers, chefs, teachers, theatre people, they raise a unanimous cry which emphasis is pointing on the value of time.

We spent the rest of the day in Brogården, a residence for artists managed by the Municipality of Ringkøbing-Skjern where we were welcomed by Dina Abu Hamdan, curator of Vinterlys festival and cultural consultant of the Municipality. In this Danish old house and factory, Otto Pilgaard sculptor, ceramist and founder of the International Wood Sculpture Symposium in Ringkøbing led a “wood sculpture workshop: materials, tools and possibilities”. Introducing it he used few and careful words. He invited us to find the connection between the different pieces of wood, to discover how fascinating could be the way the act and interact together.

Otto said: “Holes in the wood can tell you a lot, let them speak to you. You can find something if you let your eyes seeing and looking for something ‘beautiful’. Go deeper in the dialogue with the pieces of wood you choose. Do not consider that you have to finish your sculpture: this is a laboratory, you have to search, discover, take your own time, let it work and collaborate with you. Maybe when you will be at home, when looking at what you have been doing today, you could decide to file and shape again and again your wood. This is the way to find those I call coincidence sculptures”.

What have I experienced today, looking at the people working alone with a piece of wood?

I discovered that behind a form, that looks like a non-form, lives the hidden heart of a personal sculpture, of a personal vision. Just like a seed sown deep in the earth that will reveal its shape in a blossoming tree.