Two sculptures appear to be hovering inside and outside of the new courthouse in Jönköping. Artist Ulrika Mårtensson Hanje has created the work Vågen och väven I & II (The Wave and the Weave I & II). A work in which the personal and the communal merge.
The Småland craft tradition has left a mark on the work
A court of law is characterised by the central principles of independence and integrity. Ideas and reflections on these principles have been an important part of the working process for artist Ulrika Mårtensson Hanje. The new courthouse accommodates the Göta Court of Appeal and the Administrative Court of Appeal of Jönköping. Småland’s long craft tradition has left its mark on the work and influenced the use of linen and iron. At the same time, Ulrika Mårtensson Hanje adds a human touch – a form in which the work of the hand creates a contrast to the architectural idiom of the courthouse.
A work composed of two sculptural elements
The work Vågen och väven I & II (The Wave and the Weave I & II) consists of two sculptural elements, an exterior and an interior. The interior sculpture is suspended under the ceiling in the central space of the courthouse. It comprises a bobbin lace sphere attached by two points to a bobbin – an ash wood rod with a weight at one end. The rod supports the bobbin lace sphere. From the rod hangs a delicate linen weave. The sphere and the weave at one end is balanced by the rod, like a wave, against the weight of the lace bobbin at the opposite end.
The exterior sculpture has been placed under the overhanging roof of the entrance of the courthouse. It looks as if the sphere from the interior sculpture has broken away and created another type of wave. A weave of threads winds its way under the ceiling and round the columns that support the building. A three-dimensional body, in which each thread has its own independence and integrity, but nevertheless interact with each other in a cohesive shape. Each thread seems to be a part of a larger context, but there are also traces of human imperfection – distortions and deviations.
Mårtensson’s work comes to life in the space between the larger social structures and the personal experience. It reminds us of how our lives are intertwined, of the fragility as well as the strength of the shared social fabric.
Utdragstext: Two sculptures appear to be hovering inside and outside of the new courthouse in Jönköping. Artist Ulrika Mårtensson Hanje has created the work Vågen och väven I & II (The Wave and the Weave I & II).
