Juri Markkula has created two works for the station area in Varberg. Both are connected to Varberg in different ways.
The windows of the cold water bathhouse and the design language of Varberg’s station building have inspired Juri Markkula’s work with the artwork Windy. The four wooden cassettes gradually change shape from hourglass shapes to a more calligraphic and sculptural expression. This gives the impression that the wind is blowing through the window arches and grabbing hold of them. With its shapes from Gothic arches, the work is connected to the design language of the cold water bathhouse. The wave movements and changing appearance of Windy also creates an interaction with Juri Markkula’s work Amarcord on the western trough wall.
The title, Windy, comes from an app with the same name that Juri Markkula uses a lot when he wants to look at wind direction, wave height and other weather data, which is important for fishing and life on an island where the sea largely sets the conditions.
The investment in public art in Varberg is being carried out in close collaboration between the Public Art Agency, Jernhusen, the Swedish Transport Administration and the Municipality of Varberg. It is part of the Swedish Transport Administration’s focus on art in connection with infrastructure projects. Through close collaboration between the artist and the responsible architect, the artwork becomes an integrated part of the station’s architecture. Windy is commissioned by Jernhusen.
The project is one of many examples of how the Public Art Agency collaborates with other state actors and municipalities in the policy area of designed living environment.
Artist biography Juri Markkula
Juri Markkula was born in 1970 in Turku, Finland, and lives and works on Gotland. He is educated at the Royal Institute of Art and the Pernby School of Painting in Stockholm. Juri Markkula’s work is based in painting and examines the dynamic relationship between the viewer and physical materials. In his studio, as well as in public design commissions, he often experiments with the relationship between body movements, surfaces and perception. Colour, texture and materiality engage in a three-way dialogue in Juri Markkula’s paintings. The synergy between these three elements forms a common thread of dynamic tension throughout his entire oeuvre, providing a broader framework for each individual work.