Grasslands

Presented by Lene Noer, Birgitte Kristensen and the citizens of Selde, Åsted, Junget and Thorum

GRASSLANDS is a community-driven art project with a focus on how art can open up new possibilities for development in rural areas. The project will take place in the Fursundegnen villages of Åsted, Thorum, Junget and Selde, and in the surrounding landscapes associated with Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture.

GRASSLANDS will revitalize three public spaces in collaboration with local residents.

A town square will be re-paved with recycled stone from demolished houses in Junget.

A forest will be planted on an abandoned sports field in Thorum, consisting of oak trees and basalt stones.

A path will be carved through the countryside to create a physical link between Åsted and the nearby fjord and to foreground the history of the landscape.

The Archive collated by Deirdre O'Mahony in the project GROUNDWORKS  in Åsted will serve as motives for a series of murals, painted by the villagers under supervision of the visual artist Leo Sagastuy

These works will be created in the summer of 2017 and will culminate in an international workshop ‘Radius,’ in which a number of European artists will work for three weeks in the rural landscape within a 1km radius of Åsted. The workshop will conclude with in an international, interdisciplinary forum addressing the potential function of art in rural European areas in the future.

The intensive artistic focus in this area will be completed with a seminar in September 2017, RURAL FORUM MIDTJYLLAND – can art facilitate rural development? at the medieval castle Østergaard. Here, the results of the artists’ work will be presented and the variety of approaches to work with art in rural areas will be discussed by local citizens, artists, scientists and politicians with an interest in rural development.

DATE
All year 

VENUE
Various sites around Skive – Selde, Åsted, Junget and Thorum

AUDIENCE
Everyone