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Lands on the Field

Collaborative work by Eungyung Kim & Shoji Kato, Fljótsdalur, Iceland, 2008

This art project idea started with the landscape in Fljótsdalur.

We took a walk to the historical parish church, Valþjófsstadur soon after we arrived at Skriðuklaustur as residence artists. On its way we encountered many sheep and grass fields with scattered hay rolls wrapped with white plastic. We tossed a few ideas on the way back, and this project idea came about, which is the first collaboration work together. We decided to gather words from the people and put those on the hay balls.

We soon made a question to ask people who live and have connection to this land.

Vinsamlega skrifaðu niður það orð sem lýsir best sambandi þínu við landið (staðinn þar sem þú bÿrð, náttúruna, Ísland):

Please write a word that can best describe the relationship of you and the land (place where you live, nature, Iceland):
*We wanted the word "landið, land" to be open in this question, so a few possible associations of the words were mentioned in the parentheses.

We gathered the words from 54 people- a whole family at a farm, the priest of the area, a Kárahnjúkar project manager, a fishing boy by the waterfall, people at an open mass and more.

The process of asking the questions was brief but was a gesture of connection with each people involved. Sometimes we had a chance to ask people more about their words and other times only the words that left us with imaginations. Through this we learned the sensitivities, feelings and relationships of people in this land.

We brought those words to the field and placed them on each hay balls.

This was to turn the field into "the land" filled with the expressed words- metaphoric field of the land that each people thought of during the questions.

This project not only gave us a chance to affirm the relationship with the land, but also connect us to this land.

List of the words on the field:

Mannlegur (human)
Fallegt (beautiful)
Himnaríki (heaven)
Best (best)
Hamingja (happiness)
Kolefni (carbon)
Fegurð (beauty)
Fjallið (mountain)
Ástúð (affection)
Virðing (respect)
Fjöllin (the mountains)
Tryggð (loyalty)
Fegurð (beauty)
Kárahnjúkar (Kárahnjúkar: name of a place )
wild and fantastic
Fegurð og litir (beauty and colors)
Fallegt og gott (beautiful and good)
Skemmtilegt að leika sér á Íslandi (It is fun to play in Iceland)
Skemmtilegt (fun)
Virðing (respect)
Kyrrð, sátt (silence/calmness, reconciliation)
Virðing (respect)
Vinátta (friendship)
Mismunandi (always changing)
Virðing (respect)
Ég er með grænar hendur (I have green hands: I am good at gardening)
Kvöldblíða, lognværa kyssir hvern (evening calmness, still weather kisses you)
Kraftur (power/energy)
Yndislegt (lovely)
Ást (love)
Gott (good)
Vel (good)
Vel (good)
Sátt (reconciliation)
Notalegt (cosy)
Hlýtt (warm)
Mjög náið (very close)
Ást (love)
Nálægð (closeness/nearness)
Friðsemd (peacefulness)
Kyrrð (silence/calmness)
Yndislegt (lovely)
Yndislegt (lovely)
Yndislegt (lovely)
Aðdáun (admiration)
Kyrrð (silence/calmness)
Gaman (fun)
Yndi (loveliness)
Privat (private)
Frábært (amazing)
Hamingja (happiness)
Velliðan (feeling good)