seed object, Euphorbia peplus, FOR the new City Garden In GRIMSTAD.
Seed object for the new City Garden in Grimstad, between the library and the sea, inaugurated in 2019. Commissioned by The Commune of Grimstad. Chiseled in Norwegian Røyken granite (127 x 76 x 70 cm). The base is of an Indian granite, as is all other stone in the garden – including the blocks with ten texts by the poet Paal-Helge Haugen.
Grimstad is an old city from the days of sailing ships. If the ships were not fully loaded with goods, compensational weight was needed to stabilize the balance. Soil was used for this purpose. And with soil follow seeds. That is how many new plants arrived Norway, one of them being Euphorbia peplus, still to be found in the Grimstad region.
Paal-Helge Haugen´s texts, carved into the stone by Indian temple builders, refer to the power of words as well as to the vitality of a tiny little seed.