1. Folklore
Souvenir
Issue
Nature
Spirit Culture
Destroy
Bergmál
The starting point of this project was a
research on globalization and its impact on
nature. We looked at the souvenirs sold in the
shops here in Iceland and noticed that they do not
express the unique local character of the country,
and most of the time those products don‘t even
resemble the image of real traditional culture in
Iceland: e.g. Viking hats with two horns being sold
in most of the Icelandic souvenir shops which have
nothing to do with original Viking hats.
What could travelers possibly
gain from possessing those
products? – They will probably
be kept in storage after being
taken home and shown to friends
and family. Eventually those „exclusive“
vacation-memories turn into a burden on nature.
Furthermore we were shocked by the fact that
according to statistic, Iceland will be expecting one
million travellers in the year 2015.
Manufacturing those
goods promotes a huge
consumption of natural
and human resources not
to forget the transportation issue and
resulting pollution.Is it possible to impact
this consumerist model by raising more
awareness towards the respect of nature?
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82% of the tourists (research by the
Icelandic tourism organizations in 2010)
come to see the beautiful countryside
and enjoy Icelandic nature. The aim of the
project is to raise people’s awareness towards the
respect and protection of nature, and appreciation
to the gifts that nature offers. By being involved in
our project, people get an experience or a
memory: a non–materialistic souvenir that they
can share at home or for themselves.
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We take nature as the core of our project,
from Icelandic local culture, we learned how
Elves and hidden people treat nature with their
own philosophy which is different from ours.
Nature is the home of the Elves but is also our
home. Even in a small country as Iceland most
human beings live disconnected from nature and
leave a large ecological footprint behind. The Elves
on the other hand live in perfect harmony with
nature. We want to learn from them and learn to
respect nature, and we want to learn this through
the Elves’ stories in order to see nature with new
eyes. Through the Elves’ eyes we have learned to
see nature differently.
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Instead of pointing out, we hope to use a tacit way to make people
aware of the fragility of nature. To achieve this goal we have built an
installation that creates some “unrealistic" spaces in different forms,
from different angles. In it people can experience different ways to look at
nature and relate with it. For example, in our first test, we treated nature as
an endangered species. We created an installation that simulates a museum
where people come to see the rare plants, clean water and soil collected by prede-
cessors in the year 2834 when nature does not exist any more.
For the long-term plan,
we hope to hold a
large-scale exhibition, to
build up 3-5 completely
different spaces. When visitors open
different doors to get into our unreal
spaces, they can experience a different
nature. Our hope is that visitors will
think about the importance of nature in
the future.
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2. BERGMÁL
09-05-2014
Mentors: Birna
Geirfinnsdóttir and
Massimo Santanicchia
Facilitator: Jiaoni Jiao and
Yiwei Li
Students: Lara Dähne, Kristinn
Pálsson, Elísabet Kristín Oddsdóttir, Bjarki
Geirdal Guðfinnsson, Eysteinn Þórðarson,
Kristín Sunna Sveinsdóttir
Website: http://cargocollective.com/Bergmal
Link: http://cargocollective.com/together2014/Bergmal
V o i c e o f N a t u r e
TOGETHER | repair | MHV1011OEI | ALL200-06H | design team
Awareness of nature | Experience | Different Angle