Soft Water

Soft water is a collaborative reflection on the theme of water conducted to address the issue of flooding in Rogaland. The installation was created during a 5 week of the AIR program in Vikeså for Dalane Kulturfesival.
The project inquires into the material as a carrier of meaning, a dynamic matter inter-connecting with the place and its inhabitants.
Here, material has agency, evoking its response to individuals or the entire society. The work is based on processes and site-specific research carried out through conversations and shared sessions of making.
The intervention within space is considered dynamically. This large-scale installation is mutable and welcomes change; it can be touched, smelled, or listened to. Exhibited outdoors, was exposed to changing and uncontrolled weather conditions.
Using different kinds of wool: raw wool, carded wool, wool cloth, and old clothes, working with craft techniques, the work presents a ‘soft’ interpretation of water. Wool is a valuable material for Bjerkreim and Rogaland; it relates not only to the economy but also to culture, heritage, memories, feelings of belonging and familiarity. Living close to an uncontrollable stream of water teaches that the comfort zone can be challenged, and the interaction with the environment must be redefined.
From a large-scale wave of wool, smaller soft interventions created by the project participants were installed in unexpected places in nature, thus creating a new interaction with the space, inviting the viewer to reflect upon the effect of our daily actions on the environment.