Fire alley

Environmental artwork in an alley between two houses in the centre of Pori (Hallituskatu 5–7). Figures mounted in the air space of the alley, gate and ornate stone pavement, 2015.

The work tunes the space of the only 1,5 meters wide alley with different elements, which form a wholeness. The idea stems from the original function of the ally, to secure that the fire will not spread from one house to another. The figures mounted in the air space have forms and shapes commonly used by Andersson, the drop and the flame as well as the shape, which origin is in the combination of these, the heart. And in the middle a shovel! They all connect naturally to the original function of the alley.

The eleven figures, cut in metal, are placed evenly along the air space of the alley so that seen from a certain spot on the other side of the street, they form a shape reminding of a coat of arms, a visual element not usually being referred to in contemporary art.

The central motif on the gate is a contemporary fire nozzle, surrounded by water drops. In the lower part of the ornamentation a bird picking on a heart can be found. The work as a whole can give associations to love; it bursting into flames and it being extinguished.

The ornate pattern on the stone pavement continues the classical pattern on the facades of the neo-classical buildings on both sides of the alley.