Making "Skatt Øst" (2008)
Made in collaboration with Espen Henningsen this was our second auditorium commission work. This was made for the office spaces at Skatt Øst in Oslo. Again we had both sidewalls at our disposal and we wanted to fill it with energy. Each wall measures 300×1500 cm and the work is made from cutout MDF and wallpainting. This time we wanted to somehow incorporate the power and beauty of natural forces.
When it comes to auditoriums, we want them to feel majestic. It should be the main room in a company, where everybody comes together, and with the help of art we want to contribute in our way.
The MDF reliefs were made in my studio before we started to work on-site. All in all there were 87 separate pieces of MDF to cut, paint and mount for this job. With careful planning, this can be made without going insane, but it’s not easy.
Once on site we made the two wallpaintings simultaneously so there was more than enough work to do at any time. Each color of paint is carefully measured to be in the correct place, then taped, and painted twice. Then as that dries, we do another color on the other wall. In the meantime there were plenty of pieces of MDF that had to be placed.
The huge wave and the other two pieces were made into 14 units to mount. The massive wave made up 11 of those units, each having to be perfectly placed according to the other, not only horizontally and vertically, but also in depth, so that each piece is over and under where it is supposed to be.
This was a massive job and it took us 10 days on the site, and countless in the studio making the MDF pieces.
