A path is a thought stretched out in time and space
In September 2023, the CALENDARS project co-hosted an exhibition where six contemporary artists gave visitors an alternative experience of the Arboretum and ways for sensing time.
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"A path is a thought stretched out in time and space" opened 9 September 2023 with a guided tour of the exhibition and a panel discussion comprising artists and CALENDARS researchers. This opening was well-attended, with visitors arriving on a chartered bus, including a group of museum curators on a course in Bergen at the time.
Then, on 11-12 September, CALENDARS organized a symposium called Re-patterning our seasonal cultures at the Arboretum, comprising talks, workshops, a film showing and artists contributions related to the CALENDARS project. Symposium participants were also given a guided tour of the exhibition. The exhibition ran over three weekends in September, attracting hundreds of visitors through the gardens.
The artworks in the exhibition related to the seasons in different ways: Through new technology like VR, as well as through inherited and revitalized craft traditions and new ways of viewing culinary traditions and indigenous seasonal architecture and technology.
The exhibition was inspired by the researchers of CALENDARS, who have studied how climate changes alter the rhythm and intensity of the seasons. Human societies and lives have always been framed by the seasons, which presents us with both predictability, challenges and possibilities.
Bergen University Garden's Arboretum houses a living collection of trees and shrubs, especially Rhododendron and roses, from temperate zones across the world. During the exhibition period from 9 to 24 September 2023, the artists offered visitors a range of experiences across the Arboretum's greenhouse, landscape and administration building:
Drawings and olfactory experiences
Vandret linje (2016) by Silje Figenschou Thoresen
Thoughts on Disitillation III: The world as a fragrant forest (2023) by Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel
Sculptures
Blandet treverk festet sammen (2023) by Øyvind Novak Jenssen
Oneiric Architecture (2023) by Eamon O'Kane
Virtual reality (VR)
VR artwork Two Rocks Do Not Make a Duck (2023) by Magnhild Øen Nordahl and Cameron MacLeod. The top image shows the VR equipment in use, while the image below is a still from the artwork that can be experienced through VR.
Drawings
Tree Test and Baum Test Drawings (2020-23) by Eamon O'Kane
The exhibition was curated by Arne Skaug Olsen, and the participating artists were Magnhild Øen Nordahl and Cameron MacLeod, Øyvind Novak Jenssen, Eamon O’Kane, Silje Figenschou Thoresen and Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel.
CALENDARS, Arts and Culture Norway, Vestland county municipality, the Arboretum and Friends of the Arboretum (Arboretets venner) supported the exhibition.
