Passage (2023) is a sculpture derived from the remnants of the Oseberg Tapestry (834 AD). In the tapestry there is a scene wherein a battalion of soldiers has used a battle technique to create a protective roof above their heads by crossing spears diagonally, resembling a house or a form of semi-architecture. The work references Odin’s Hall in Valhalla (the roof was made of crossed spears), and the practice of Viking ship burials, where the tapestry itself was found and unearthed. Constructed from Scandinavian indigenous wood – pine, spruce, ash, oak, walnut, linden –with subtle variations of tone and grain, it has an illusionistic force, and hints at the infinite cycles of architecture and the transition from the living to the afterlife.
Passage is part of The Shelter Series - a project on rural timber architecture, ritual and mythology. The works from the series are derived from Scandinavian timber techniques, historic textiles and mythology.
Within his multidisciplinary art practice, Bart Lunenburg (b. 1995, NL) researches themes related to architecture and its history, urban design, and architectural heritage. The artist approaches buildings and cities as if they had a memory of their own. Lunenburg works with photography and video as well as with sculpture, drawing, textile, and spatial installations. Usually, these different modes of expression have a similar starting point — he often creates scale models to develop his research.