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Sub-Earth Studies (Underjordiske Studier) _ 2012-14

Public commission, Kolding Municipality, Denmark

A sub-earth unit with windows enableling children to study the roots of a garden. An art work for a playground at Vonsild Specialcenter for children with special needs and other disabilities.

One of the things that these children often are challenged by is a lack of spacial perception and they therefore often face a hard time climbing even a smaller hill, not to mention to move through a confined space. To write is also connected to one's spacial understading and hence often a challenge too. To meet these challenges I decided to make it possible for the children to fight and overcome the hill by going straight through the hill instead; going sub-earth meeting whatever else you meet sub-earth like darkness, humidity, beetles, roots etc and also psycologically also meet and hopefully overcome the challenge of the confined space awakening the senses. Above the sub-earth unit, inspired by the submarine with a periscope, is a garden of plants with particular deep and strong root systems. Over time the children will be able to study the roots of the plants in one of the six windows installed in the main body of the sub-earth unit. My hope is that not only will the children have an experince with the space as such but also will a curosity be awakened about the relationship between what we see above ground and what we find underneath.

The garden consists of following plants: Phragmites australis (dk; Tagrør), Myrrhis odorata (dk, Spansk Kørvel), Panicum virgatum (dk; Prærie Hirse), Liatris spicata (dk; Langakset Pragtskær), Alnus glutinosa (dk; Rødel), Borago officinalis (dk; Hjulkrone), Bistorta officinalis (dk; Slangeurt), Triticum aestivum (dk; Hvede), Cichorium intybus (dk; Alm. Cikorie), Salix purpurea (dk; Purpuepil)

Ph.d. reseach in lettuce roots