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Photo credit Mimsy Moller On June 4 we opened the time capsule inside the sculpture SOLEKKO at Norsk Teknisk Museum in Oslo. It was 19 years ago that Solekko was built and installed at the museum.
Photo credit Mimsy Moller Removing the stainless steel cone protecting the capsule inside.
Photo credit Mimsy Moller In June of 1996, during a residency at the museum, I worked with ten and eleven year old children to make art work at the museum. We filled the capsule with their artwork and that of children from Quebec, CA and from Vermont and Hawaii, USA. Around fifty of these “children” were present and eagerly scrambled to find their artwork on the table.
ne young woman showed me a drawing of a small animal hidden in tall grass. “He was my friend but he killed himself when he was seventeen”.
Other stories are happy ones. “This one was done by the son of the mayor of Oslo; he now loves with his heiress wife in Bergen.” And the granddaughter of famous Norwegian playwright and illustrator Egner Thornbjorn had drawn a picture of happy animals and birds living in nature very similar to her grandfather’s illustrations. Included with the drawings were clay artifacts. Some were made at the museum workshops and others at Milton and Essex, Vermont schools. The small clay pieces and drawings are part of an exhibit at the museum now and will be safely included in their archives later on.
Photo journalist Mimsy Moller takes a picture of Nico Widerberg’s sculpture commemorating the terrorist attack in Oslo in 2011. Children had come from all over Norway to attend a summer camp on the island where the attack occurred. Widerberg is installing an exact replica of the sculpture in each of the regions around Norway from which children came who were killed. If the regions have approved having a sculpture, over fifty pieces could be installed throughout Norway. German artist commentates Jews who were deported to Auschwitz from Norway during World War II.
Norwegian Sculpture Projects As the World Sculpture Project connects people and cultures with five sculptures around the world, the following projects commemorate and connect people in other unique ways.
German sculptor Gunther Demning explains his project to photographer Mimsy Moller before installing seven cubes topped with brass inscribed with names in front of a new Starbucks cafe in Oslo.
Thoughts about the 1993-2015 World Sculpture Project
If I had to choose one word to describe this 23 years long art project, it would be connections. My first intention was to connect people and cultures through art. There are geographic connections between the sun-aligned sculptures at specific latitudes. Each sculpture has a unique alignment with the sun or stars. The first three sculptures were placed at 22 degrees north latitude in Honolulu, Hawaii; 45 degrees north latitude in Stanstead, Canada and 60 degrees north latitude in Olso, Canada. When I was slow to find a sculpture site in Hawaii I decided on adding two pieces to the series: Sendai, Japan at 39 degrees north latitude and Mapua, New Zealand at 41 degrees south latitude. Making art with children was the most satisfying for me, and just plain fun. I encouraged children to express their feelings: “What is important to you? What are your joys and worries?” They loved making art pieces that could be part of a larger sculpture project. Their enthusiasm was contagious. And the joy of children singing songs during the final time capsule opening in Mapua will stay with me for my lifetime. Kate January 14, 2016
Preparations for the 2015 time capsule openings
Plans for the World Sculpture Project time capsule openings in Norway and Japan are going well! I leave for Norway on May 25. Here are some Gifts for people in Norway and Japan who are hosting the time capsule openings. I turned to family members to purchase beautiful hand made items.
Hand carved spoons and bowl were made by granddaughter Angela Robins. She lives in Minnesota and uses traditional Norwegian methods for her turning and carving
My sister Sally Cabell’s brightly colored quilts reflect traditional American style.
Ashley Haupt, Vermont: “I am very excited and overjoyed. To know that my little bowl is going to be inside a very important land mark is amazing.” Trinda Hibbard, Vermont: “It is neat that something we made is going to another country. It would be cool to see what other kids in Japan think of our work and how different theirs would be.” Can anyone join us in either Norway or Japan? Contact me for more details at [email protected].
Per Andreasson at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo, Norway is using Facebook to find people in their late 20’s and early 30’s who were students in 1996 and whose artwork is in the capsule. We look forward to some of the original students being present to open the capsule inside the sculpture. The opening at the Solekko sculpture will be on Thursday, June 4. Mitsubishi Estate Company in Sendai, Japan is sponsoring the capsule opening at the Himeguri sculpture to be held on Saturday, June 20. Mitsubishi paid for the building of the sculpture in 1998. Tetsuro Yoshida from Mitsubishi is coordinating plans with local schools for the ceremony. Current students from Meysen Academy and Tohoku International School will pair up in twos, one kindergartner to one high school student, to remove the artwork and place it on viewing tables for all to see. We also plan to replace the artwork with new calligraphy and drawings: “Blessings for Peace and Wellbeing of the Planet” will be put into the two-foot high blue ceramic time capsule and placed back into the vault under earth for posterity. Student comments: Looking back into the 1998 archives I have found comments from children who created the artwork for the capsules.
Jon Currie, Milton, Vermont: “The experience of making an artifact that will go to Japan has definitely been intriguing as well as a lot of fun. I see it as an opportunity for positive exposure for Milton high School, amidst the aftermath of last year’s infamous bomb threats.” Sam Lavoie, Essex, Vermont: “It excites me to know that my art could possibly end up in Hawaii or Norway.” Angela Gagliano, Essex, Vermont: “The whole unity theme is great, especially in this time of confusion.”
Leslie Pero, North Hero, Vermont: “I enjoyed working on this project since it seems to take a piece of our generation (its ideas and thoughts expressed through the arts) and sending it to different places in the world. People will find our artwork and see how we felt.” Laurel Dugan, Essex, Vermont: “It is very exciting that our artwork may be a part of a project in another part of the world. This is a unique experience.” J Pierce, Essex, Vermont: “I can’t imagine that my (ceramic) frog is going to be part of a bigger sculpture.”
schedule of time capsule openings in 2015
Gunnar Nerheim, director of the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in 1996, is putting the time capsule into the top of the sculpture
Oslo, Norway On June 4, 2015, at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, we will open the time capsule installed inside the SOLEKKO sculpture in 1996 and we will find postcard-sized artwork made by children in Quebec, Canada; and in Vermont and Hawaii, USA

In 1996 Solekko was installed at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo, Norway. Individual donors and the American Scandinavian Foundation supported the building of this concrete piece. The sculpture is made of pressurized concrete and stainless steel and is 9.5 feet tall. On summer solstice there is no shadow cast from the top point of the piece.

TIME CAPSULE OPENINGS World Sculpture Project

The capsules will be opened during 2015 at the five sculpture sites of the World Sculpture Project. Capsules were buried at or near the sculpture sites between 1994 and 2007.

They are filled with children’s artwork and accompany each of Kate’s sculptures in Canada, Norway, Japan, New Zealand and in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

They all will be opened close to specific sun alignment times:

1) SOLEKKO: Oslo, Norway; June 4, 2015 (close to summer solstice)

2) HIMEGURI: Izumi, Sendai, Japan; June 20, 2015 (on summer solstice)

3) ZIGZAG: Stanstead, Quebec, Canada: September 23, 2015 (on equinox)

4) ALL ONE: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: November 19, 2015 (close to the Pleiades heliacal rising)

5) TELLING STONES: Mapua, Richmond, New Zealand: December 4, 2015 (close to the Pleiades heliacal rising)

The sculptures in Hawaii and New Zealand share a Polynesian Pleiades star cluster alignment that happens in November/early December. The rising of the Pleiades is in the east as the sun sets in the west. The celestial event is called the Makahiki by Hawaiians and the Makariki by the Maori in New Zealand.

The capsules are filled with drawings, paintings and small clay pieces created by children. They describe their lives and their hopes and worries for the future. We will share them online and in a limited edition book during 2016.

[email protected] 802-864-6071

Solekko
Former Director of the museum, Gunnar Nerheim, and Kate place the time capsule inside the sculpture in June of 1996. Children from nearby schools contributed artwork placed in the time capsule inside the hollow piece. The artwork of children from Hawaii, Vermont and Quebec is also included in the capsule. On Wednesday, June 3, 2015, the museum will sponsor a time capsule opening event and a small exhibit of the artwork.

Estelle Maartmann-Moe takes a candid photograph of activity at Solekko in 2013.

Winter quiet at the sculpture in a recent photograph by Dagsavisen photographer Mimsy Moller.