Art in Nidarvoll Kindergarten

Artist: Ståle Sørensen. Title: ‘House for campfires’ 2012. Art consultants: Ellen Sofie Griegel, Kjersti Berg.

In a grove by Nidarvoll Kindergarten, it is the children who are “caged”, while the birds can fly freely and look in through the bars. In the middle of the dense little forest, the children share the space with sparrows, warblers and blackbirds, and add the harmony of their own gleeful shouts to the intense chirping from the birds. It is not an actual cage – you can come and go as you please – and in the middle of the floor, there is a fire pit surrounded by seats. However, Ståle Sørensen has clearly used a birdcage as inspiration for this installation – or playhouse, which it really is. Wood is one of Sørensen’s main media to work with, and in this little grove, it seems fitting that he has put it to use. The 4.5 metres tall, airy construction of slim slats stretches towards the light and the sky just like the surrounding trees, and looks at home there. Ståle Sørensen lives and works in Drammen, where he is also a prolific politician for the environmentalist party Miljøpartiet De Grønne. In Trondheim, the public can also enjoy his art at Brattørkaia, where his yellow “submarine” is one of the commissioned art installations.