Proposal for KORO / National Tourist Routes, Option II / Round windows
Gryllefjord, Norway
This project is a result of invitation to propose an artwork in the public space. Location was selected by the commission to be the city of Gryllefjord which is both the start and end on tourist route which go over Senja,north Norway. The work Silent Observation may be
described as two related parts: a pact and installation of a round window in more or less all the houses in the village, lagre or small, in the front or in the back of the
house. Visible or less visible. Seeing in and observing from inside.
Pact/covenant: (confidential) is directly related to the installment of the round windows. In short, all the inhabitants are informed and agree with the installment of a round window in their house. Several hundred round windows now appear in the small village, making it remarkable, as it creates a certain odd harmony. The content of the pact is mainly that all agree that they will not tell to strangers (tourists, passerby, journalists , etc.) about the production and preparation of this particular
(public) artwork in Gryllefjord, including all kind of technical and planning issues and the pact includes all parties involved. We as artists will never mention this
round windows multiple installment as a work or claim any involvement. In this way the citizens give a chance for this architectural intervention to grow in to and remain a local mystery. The agreement of confidentiality remains strong and binding.
This absence of information, sealed in the form of a silent pact will give visitors a chance to judge for themselves the meaning of their discovery and thus wonder, interpret and further tell stories about this strange appearance. Silent Observation describes thus how the inhabitants will witness the various explanatory models imposed from the outside, related to all the round windows installed in Gryllefjord. The round windows will thus act as a so called relational object, a catalyst for small changes in and about Gryllefjord. You can also assume that Silent Observation will simulate the creation of local legends and myths, which has been so important to the oral storytelling tradition and local identity in the area. The most famous of these tales is “The Man in the Ausa.” This legend found even on the municipality’s website.