Project CHAIR is about paying tribute to Salling's cultural heritage as the center of furniture production. The project brings together citizens, craftsmen, artists, architects and designers to rethink chairs manufactured at one of the many factories in Salling.
In Aasted, the citizens themselves are painting murals on gables in the village. The images come from a local archive of the village's history before and now collected in collaboration with Irish artist Deidre O'Mahony.
On abandoned sports grounds in the center of Thorum, a new urban forest with 7000 trees has been planted. At the driveway to the village, another seven oaks have been planted each, accompanied by a meter-high basalt stone, which connects the work with a worldwide art project by the German artist Joseph Beuys.
In recent years seven houses in the center of the village has been demolished. Houses that previously constituted the village’s natural meeting places; baker, grocery store etc. The new town square was designed together with the villagers.
Grassland's first collaborative project was realized in 2013. The work consists of the demolition of an empty, dilapidated house at the address Skivevej 13 in Selde and the preservation of the footing. The sculpture is owned by the village's inhabitants and are being used as a stage.
The conferences brought together local citizens, farmers, bankers, EU politicians and local politicians, experts, scientists, theater people and artists for the oportunity to exchance experiences working with challenges in peripheral areas. The purpose was to investigate the potential of art in relation to the future development of the rural districts of Europe.
GRASSLANDS creates citizen-involved art in the countryside and seeks through artprojects to contribute to a more nuanced and qualified debate on rural development.
GRASSLANDS has realized a number of site-specific works of art in the villages of Åsted, Thorum, Selde and Junget in northeast Salling. GRASSLANDS also organized two seminars on artistic methods and experiences in connection with art projects based in rural areas around Europe.
GRASSLANDS is curated by visual artist Lene Noer and visual artist Birgitte Ejdrup Kristensen.
GRASSLANDS has been realized with the generous support of Region Midt, Skive Municipality, the Danish Arts Foundation, Realdania, Aarhus Municipality's Cultural Development Fund, the Nordea Foundation and the Spar Vest Foundation.
Lene Noer: lene.noer[at]hotmail.com · (+45) 29 61 23 43 · lenenoer.dk
Birgitte Kristensen: mail[at]birgittekristensen.dk · (+45) 30 28 55 80 · birgittekristensen.dk