Gruvsjön, Berganden och Horisonten The Mine pit, the Mountain spirit and the Horizon (2023)

2023

Installation view Stadshusgalleriet Laholm
Photo: tm

Installation. 10 minute loop.

Copper pipes, draperies, glass, zinc metal, copper wire, video projection, motors, light animation, voice- and water recordings.

Gruvsjön, Berganden och Horisonten (“The mine pit lake, the mountain spirit and the horizon”) takes off from the story and fate of a mine pit lake in the region of Stekenjokk in the Västerbotten and Jämtland mountains. After being used for 20 years to mine copper, the mine pit was ultimately declared unprofitable and abandoned in 1988. As the site was contaminated with heavy metals and sulphur – waste products deemed impossible to discard safely – its hollows and cavities were packed with sand from the beneficiation process, while the cooling lake placed on top stayed filled with fresh water. It is left to be as it is, unprofitable and untouchable, for all foreseeable time. However, there are recent discussions and processes about reopening the mine. Various companies have been test drilling for additional minerals, in the constant prospecting for more all in line with the new “green” transition.
In tm's installation, the fate of the Stekenjokk mine pit lake becomes a story about the nature of short-sighted processes for resource extraction, yes, but also a contemplation on the notion of endings – how little power we have over them and how they can stretch out in, and through, time. Playing with the idea of a farewell show, Gruvsjön, Berganden och Horisonten presents a musical performance of the song End of the World by Arthur Kent and Lydia Dee (1960), starring three key actors in the story of Stekenjokk: the lake itself, the looming horizon above it and the spirit of the mountain, which has been extracted into resources and shaped into pipes and wires leading the water along.
The mine pit lake opens its mouth in song, the horizon and mountain spirit hum along.
Text: Paulina Granat