Grasslands (eng)

a level playing field. Particularly in the second phase, where Grasslands moved on
from the initiating white plinth in the middle of Selde, to the other nearby village
communities, the artists faced resistance in the new host villages, simply because
of »all the strange art over there in Selde«.
The residents of the four villages Junget, Selde, Thorum and Åsted also express
that they became involved in the Grasslands collaboration in order to gain
influence and through this actively contribute to the project and thus their own
success. They also attach great importance to understanding their collaboration
with Grasslands as part of an already ongoing positive development, which they
themselves had been instrumental in, before the arrival of Lene Noer and Birgitte
Ejdrup Kristensen.
Moderating one’s artist-ego for the benefit of the whole
Project managers Birgitte Ejdrup Kristensen and Lene Noer describe how they
experienced the different village communities as places, each with their own personality.
They also describe how they, during the process, had to learn to cooperate
with these personalities each with their very distinct set of characteristics.
Lene Noer has throughout the entire project served as a sort of ‘midwife for
everything’, taking care of the many meetings and debates that were necessary in
the rapprochement process. Further on in the process, Birgitte Ejdrup Kristensen
would find her place as a practising artist, in the context of hosting the many
workshops. A role, that in phase two, in accordance with Bourriaud, she had to
moderate in the efforts to meet the residents’ needs and to understand their interests
and wishes. This conflict of interest came to a head in Junget, leaving all on
edge until the parties finally reconciled and agreed on a way forward.
The distinct abilities of the artists are appreciated
What one unequivocally must admire the two project leaders for is their ability
to meet the residents, enter a dialogue with them and to learn from this, along the
way, while maintaining their vision and willingness to see the project through,
despite opposition, misunderstandings and myths, as well as a multitude of practical
and economic challenges along the way. The residents also specifically commended
this passion and drive, pointing out that they would never have given so
decisive a mandate to one of their own, and therefore would never have been able
to get so far, if Lene Noer and Birgitte Ejdrup Kristensen had not appeared and
taken on the role of midwives.
There is no doubt that after tears come smiles and that all involved have
grown through the collaborative process, and that there still exists a relationship
of trust, as this former proud furniture-producing area of Fursund, has already
established a new ‘chair project’, which at the time of writing is finding its own
four legs to stand on.
There is no singular truth about the results of Grasslands
I have personally been very absorbed in how the different residents groups have
formulated the stories that have meant most to them. This kind of post-rationalisation
and editing of our narratives is quite common. It is a distinguishing
charac teristic of us as human beings that we create meaning in life by establishing
and editing our narratives about ourselves. The trick is to make room
for these idiosyncrasies, ambivalences and contradictory insights. No one should
have a singular ‘truth’ about the results and successes in such a complex project
as Grasslands.
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