The Gordian Knot

Environmental sculpture, Kirkonvarkaus housing area, Mikkeli, 2017

This artwork is a part of a series of environmental artworks to explore ways to bridge the gaps between “pure” art, design, architecture and nature. The aim is to create a total artwork in the field, where man made culture meets the nature. The aim is not to occupy a place with an artwork, but to create a new public place, open for everybody. This is important in the contemporary situation, when more and more places a being privatized and public spaces owned by cities are being hired out to private companies.

The Gordian Knot develops into a sculptural structure, a kind of cupola without walls, which guards a single apple tree, planted centrally in a circular garden. The eleven meters high painted metal structure rises from concrete benches, which design is based on primary geometric shapes. People can sit on them, read the news, or watch over the kids playing in the nearby playground. In the triangular areas around the apple tree a natural garden with local flowers and grasses will gradually be developed.

In the mythic tale emperor Alexander the Great solved the mystery of the Gordian Knot simply by cutting it in half with a sword. In this artwork, a different solution is offered; slowing down, thinking, observing nature, but also appraising the local; the apple tree in the middle of the garden was specially branded in Mikkeli Rantakylä manor in the 1850ties.