Art at Nardo School

Artists: Nahoko Kudo: ‘Mellom jord og himmel’/‘Between Earth and Sky’ ; Are Mykkelbost: Vindusutsmykking og collager; Gunnar H. Gundersen: ‘Termisk fonteneprosjekt’ 2009. Art consultants: Helga Bøe, Edvine Larsen & Marit Flåtter.

The new Nardo School has three separate, striking works of art. Nahoko Kudo was one of two artists invited to a competition on the decoration of the assembly hall and its adjoining areas. Kudo chose to connect two sculptures to an axis right across the assembly hall, placing a yellow ‘planet Earth’ on the tarmac just outside the glass wall, and hanging a corresponding yellow ‘Voyager satellite’ in the stairwell at the opposite end of the hall. There is clear visibility from one work of art to the other,and the connection between them is obvious to anyone there. The satellite emphasises the school’s technological profile. With ‘aerials’ and other equipment, the construction comprises two whole floors from its orbit right under the ceiling above the staircase. Are Mykkelbost also moves between the outdoor and indoor areas with his foil patterns and Japanese ‘cartoon eyes’ displayed on the windows of a substantial part of the building. The colourful, regular lines of the patterns are reminiscent of sound waves or ripples on water, and can thus be tied in with technology and the natural sciences. Old schoolbooks have been the point of departure for Mykklebost’s large collages, which can be found in several corridor and cloakroom areas. Pictures and drawings from books have been scanned and assembled to make new pictures, figures, narratives, and connections. In one of the collages the assembled pictures make up an entire orchestra, in another they create a science fiction-like atmosphere, whilst a third collage made from various plants is more organic. Gunnar H. Gundersen’s work consists of an almost 30 m long bench and fountain in the playground. The end of the red aluminium bench barely reaches the fountain, and regulates the quantity of water and the height of the jet via the temperature-based movements of the metal. In addition to the outdoor temperature, body heat also influences and extends the bench, so that when the pupils sit on it they influence the height of the fountain water, and thus the work of art serves to demonstrate clearly how the laws of nature work.