30.9.09

The unknown


: We don´t know how we got here,
or where we are.
We do not know who was here before us,
or where they are now.
We dont even know if they were the ones
that made thís scene.
All we know is that this "home" is very
much alive, and i think we just moved in.

7.9.09

Locality 41 (Lindesnes) Transitory

At Lindesnes Bygdemuseum, this photo depicts two young architects that were never properly credited for their work. Around 1964 (judging from other contemporary photos), Atti Eikaas on the roof, and Odd Terje Vigeland in the doorway, built this magnificent hut. Now the photo is all that remains of it. Apparently, only buildings constructed by adults are worthy of preservation.

Kid huts may compare better to Buddhist sand mandalas. A sand mandala is ritualistically destroyed once it has been completed and its accompanying ceremonies and viewing are finished to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. It is the doing that is important, not the artefact. Childhood is transitory. But then again, so is adulthood.

2.9.09

Locality 40 (Arlington, VA, USA) Down memory lane

On the first of May, 1977, at latitude 38.893036 and longitude 77.10101, expedition member Ken Mayer came into the view of a camera lense. The 3-story monstrosity was built from scrap found along the I-66 right-of-way, where torn down houses and businesses along the former railroad line provided plenty of materials.

"I often feel that city-planners fail to recognize the need for free spaces for kids to create their own stuff. In our case, a 20-year fight over an interstate highway created a great over-grown no-man's-land of ruins and forest" says Mayer in a retrospective comment. Although clearly marked "Private", the remains of the hut are now buried below the highway, waiting to be rediscovered.