Grasslands (eng)

Interview with the residents of Thorum
Jens Kristian Kristensen (Kesse), Sexton, Thorum and Junget Churches and Chairman of the
Citizens Association. Erik Høgh, pensioner, former manager, Skive Abattoir and Chairman for
Thorum Gamle Købmandsgård. Both live in the village. Our meeting takes place in Thorums
Gamle Købmandsgård, which after renovation includes a small park, the Local History Archive,
a carpentry workshop, a smithy and an activities house.
The ill-advised art in Selde
We had been able to follow the process in Selde at a distance, and it’s no secret
that little of the ‘ill-advised art over there in Selde’ was to our liking. So when
Grasslands approached us, we were on our toes, because we weren’t just going to
accept any old suggestions. We wanted some influence on proceedings.
We were already busily at work
Of course, this is because we’d been working on renovating the building we’re
sitting in, for years. These renovations are now completed and the building functions
as an activities house for the village. At the same time, the idea for a village
forest was already in place, even before we had decided that it would be the right
solution. So with that in mind, we weren’t interested in Grasslands setting a new
and totally different agenda. We wanted to develop some of the ideas we were
already working on. So in the beginning there was a lot of resistance, lots of
prejudices and it wasn’t easy for Grasslands to get across their abstract thoughts to
a group of practically minded people like us.
That German guy
But we’re not deaf, and little by little, we began to listen to each other. All the talk
about that German guy (Joseph Beuys) and the oak trees and the basalt stones in
that town in Germany (Kassel) where they hold some sort of world famous art
exhibition (Dokumenta), did get us interested, despite everything, and bit by bit
we got behind the idea of the oak trees and the basalt stones standing as a marker
for the village, out by the main road.
It was a good idea and it’ll be lovely when the trees are fully-grown and the
grass is cut so that you can see the stones. But the idea of Crowd funding and
planting hundreds of trees afterwards was silly – anyway, it’s not going to happen,
because it’s way too expensive. And the stones have to be brought from
China – that makes no sense at all.
The art of binding things meaningfully together
Anyway, after much toing and froing, we finally reached a decision that in addition
to the basalt stones and oak trees, we would, in cooperation with Grasslands,
work on establishing a village forest on a plot of land in Thorum. When these two
ideas were brought together it became a ‘win-win situation’ and things quickly
began to take shape: The State Horticulturalist from Skive Municipality had already
made plans for the distribution of fourteen species of trees. That set the
ball rolling, and many people got involved and the area was quickly cleared – the
farmers willingly helped as much as they could. Everyone could see it was a good
idea, so there was lots of support. We were going to plant all these trees by hand,
but then Hede Denmark got involved and planted 7000 trees by machine in one
go. The inauguration on the 4 th of August was a totally fantastic day. There was a
125 people in the afternoon and 50 that evening – even though the weather was
appalling! It was great to see all that enthusiasm and we celebrated with a party,
barbeque and the works!
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