Norwegian Towers is part of the ongoing series of work One day all towers and spires will take off, 2003-2006. Norwegian Towers presents towerbuildings from the three Norwegian cities Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim ranging from a cathedral to television towers.

 

Landscape or lift-off? Mai Hofstad Gunnes combines both, transforming scenic vistas into rocket launchers. The video projection Norwegian Towers, 2003, realises the artist´s prophecy: towers that command the skylines of Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo slowly begin to rise before disappearing into the clouds. In all, eight towers and spires – from the Nidarosdomen to the Holmenkollen kapell – take off; their disappearance is almost pastoral, although Gunnes cites space technology. Her work recalls the frailty and intricacy of Bruegel´s Icarus, whose feet can hardly be discerned as they disappear in a modest splash on the turquoise sea, far beyond the ploughman with his charges. Gunnes´ towers and spires are clearly more successful in their flight than the mythological figure, but their ascent remains as unspectacular as his fall. An exceptional event becomes a banal one; life goes on in the landscapes as if nothing at all had happened. Gunnes works with national symbols – what could be more Norwegian than the country´s landmarks, which like logos, serve to distinguish one Nordic panorama from another? Instead of exalting the towers and spires, Gunnes questions their power. ”For me it is a really liberating thought to have them disappear,” explains the artist. ”They have a really strong attitude, like authorities,” she adds. In earlier projects, Gunnes has questioned the authority of other landmarks in the city. One set of photo-collages finds post-boxes replaced by tombstones – a meditation on the destinations of letters and bodies. For Remembering the Flowers, 2001, the artist rearranged the plant tags in Berlin´s botanical garden at random – restoring nature´s chaos to the gardener´s arrangement. While challenging an imposed order, Gunnes´s flying towers also focus on the authority of architecture, how buildings have been used to lend power a transcendental dimension, beyond here and now. As the many spires of the Nidarosdomen strive towards the heavens, the Tyholttårnet attempts to reach a mass media audience – a religious and a secular expression of power. The Trondheim television tower however modern and secular, approximates God´s omnipotence, by allowing visitors at the top to consume the entire city in one gaze. Towers and spires have contributed to the postcard effect, but once in orbit they will finally be able to enjoy the view too.

 

Jennifer Allen