Art at Sverresborg School

Artists: Torbjørn Skårild: ‘Halv tolv’; Sandra Norrbin: ‘Moving thoughts’; Annika Borg & Per Formo: ‘Det Sverresformoborgske univers’ 2007/2008. Art consultants: Leiken Vik & Siri Austeen.

The traditional school bell receives competition from Torbjørn Skårild’s original faces of clocks at Sverresborg lower secondary school. However, whereas the old clock was an absolute authority on time, Skårild’s four clocks cannot agree among themselves on seconds and minutes. During midday break, the hands of the clocks display particular signs of disagreement. There is, however, nothing imprecise about Annika Borg’s and Per Formo’s joint indoor work of art. With geometrical precision, they have constructed a matrix, an intricate grid from which several works of art emerge. The point of departure for the matrix is a circle, divided into 30 degree sectors. Lines between different points in the circle create a dense pattern of lines, angles and surfaces. In addition, this joint art project comprises writings collected from old educational reading charts combined with words made up by the artists themselves. The purpose of the latter is to defamiliarise words – to dissolve the taught concept of language as a neutral medium for though. In general, the art project refers to scientific practice by constantly searching for order, connection and structure. The artists have used five different places in the building, and one painting is placed in front of the stage in the assembly hall, providing a visual centre of gravity. The colourful painting is titled ‘Det Sverresformoborgske univers’ Parasolsystem’, and with its geometric shapes it alludes to astronomy, science fiction, computer games, and colour theory. On a wall by the canteen, ‘Mappamundi’ has been mounted. This work is a ‘map of the world’. The circle depicts a red planet, where dense divisions have been marked in a blue universe. The third and fourth parts of this art project are the glossary and the collections of the art universe, entitled ‘Glossarium’ and ‘Samlinger’, which naturally are found in the library. The collections can be divided into two parts: on the one hand there are columns of words depicted on a background of a geometrical grid, and on the other hand there are 12 books, each with 12 pages containing the artists’ own ‘research material’ derived from their project. The fifth and last part of the project has been given the title ‘Genarium’, and consists of 52 colourful figures placed on a corridor wall behind the library. Each figure has been retrieved from the grid mentioned above, which forms a background on the wall.

Sandra Norrbin’s work provides a more simple expression, created directly on a wall, using three floors of the staircase by the ‘C’ entrance. Norrbin’s work of art consists of a painted violet line which moves upwards, curving horizontally as it moves along.

At the Source

Artist: Karl Johan Flaathe (1963).

The sculpture is also called Refleksjon (Reflection) and Knelende gutt (Kneeling boy). The artist donated it to the school where he worked as an arts and crafts teacher. The sculpture was planned as part of a larger project together with Piken med krukken (The Girl with the Jar), which now stands at Lade Rehabilitation Centre.

Flaathe, who was born in Trondheim, was employed as a stone mason at Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop from 1945 to 1960. His sculptures often feature strict external shapes, which may give them a sense of being turned inward, but virtually unnoticeable level shifts and careful surface variations imbue the works with life. Flaathe did much work for Trøndelag Bildende Kunstnere (Visual Artists), and also took part in launching the School of Fine Arts in Trondheim, where he taught from 1950 to 1975. He was open to new impulses, making a series of installation-like sculptures, which were radically different from his previous works.