Arjun Appadurai - The Thing Itself

In 2020, two concrete reliefs, Fiskerne and Måken, weighing in total over 250 tons, were moved 50 meters from the now demolished Y-block to a place they will rest for around five years before they will be moved to their next resting place, the not yet built A-block. The move itself took 45 minutes. A temporary storage structure, not unlike the wooden crates used to store and transport valuable art objects, or the vitrines such objects are often exhibited in, was erected to protect Fiskerne and Måken during transit. Already during the application process a profound connection between the storage structures and the artwork they frame was created. The first e-mail filed under Byggesak 201912777, sent by Architect Ole Tørklep from Nordic - office of architecture says the following: «Vedlagt oversendes søknad om tillatelse til tiltak for ‘Picassoboksene’» The Picasso Boxes.

The Picasso Boxes Exhibition Shop is an experimental preservation strategy for a brief, but paramount intermezzo in the life of the reliefs Fiskerne and Måken. The project regards the boxes themselves as a museal structure on an urban scale, and the shop provides the needed memorabilia and souvenirs for this exhibition to live on past its closure.

As part of the project, a collection of essays and works delving on the nature of The Picasso Boxes is found in the Byggesak 201912777 - Exhibition Catalogue. While a proposal for a future connection between the relief’s and their frameworks of motion can be explored in The Involuntary Monument.

For Picasso Boxes souvenirs please continue scrolling.