Mäntsälä

If an object is made with an unclear intention concerning its content, people might see nothing - or they see buildings, animals, elements from outer space (the future), temples (the past), small daily objects ... in it. During the making process of ‘Mäntsälä’ the participants of the project spoke about their ideas about the meaning of the object that was built together. The sculpture had been dug out of the earth in seven stages: in each stage a certain amount of earth was removed. The act of digging out a negative space made a new volume appear - as if it had already been there forever.

The sculpture measures 130 cm x 350 cm x 400 cm in each stage. The contrast between ‘Mäntsälä’’s concrete geometry and the organic natural environment amplifies the abstract quality of the sculpture, and therefore also questions the meaning and qualities of its surrounding context. After its completion, the sculpture became naturally overgrown by plants and slowly disappeared into the landscape.