In the artist Joakim Ojanen’s work Horisonten – Att ta emot en sol (The Horizon – Receiving a Sun) a symphony of colours emerges on the square Södra Stationstorget outside the newly built railway station in Varberg. The central figure of the work is holding a sphere of highly polished bronze over its head.
The globe symbolising the sun is tenderly received by the figure who lowers it to the earth. Four spherical objects with a reflective surface surround the figure, as if they are previous suns that the figure has taken down. They are in different phases of sunset and have landed in the square. Ojanen’s artistic idea is based on the feeling when nature shows its splendour and colour in the sunset by the sea in Varberg.
Castings, carpentry, material samples and construction of the works are now in full swing in and around Varberg station. During the Swedish Transport Administration’s Open Site event on 2 June 2024, the public was invited to the building site to get an idea of what the finished station environment will look like.
This investment in public art in Varberg is a close collaboration between the Public Art Agency, Jernhusen, the Transport Administration and Varberg municipality with the Transport Administration as the client. It is part of the Swedish Transport Administration’s focus on art in connection with infrastructure projects.
Artist’s Biography Joakim Ojanen
Joakim Ojanen was born in 1985 in Västerås and studied at Konstfack. Ojanen works figuratively with both painting and sculpture in different materials – everything from small ceramic sculptures to large bronzes. His figures, which have a visual connection to comics and animated films, deal with different emotions and what it’s like to be human. Ojanen has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including New York, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Athens and Cologne. Examples of previous public artworks by the artist can be found in Kajstaden in Västerås and at Queen Silvia’s Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg.