FREE

YEAR: 2002.

GROUP EXHIBITION: »Trans-visit«, Masnedø Fort, Vordingborg, Denmark.

MATERIALS: House made from wood, PVC, patterned foam rubber cushions. Video, sound, monitor, playback device, sleeping bag, oranges, cement, and metal.

FREE is a little house that I constructed in my garden. Inside, I built a bed for one. The mattress on the bed has a cover sewn from serigraphy-patterned textile. The pattern was originally from the installation MIX: DIALOGENS FYSIK _DIALOGUE BODY, 2001. Outside a sail is mounted – 7 meters long. Beneath the sail is a horizontal column used for seating. A sink and drain have been fitted in front of the house. FREE is installed in- and outside the military complex of Masnedø Fort. The house is built for a single person to spend a night; dreaming and having the possibility of using the sink and outdoor facilities. Inside, on the other side of the windows in the fort’s exhibition spaces, two wooden benches stand on the floor. The benches stand opposite one another: a key, a sleeping bag, oranges and crackerbread lie on one of the benches. There is a sign telling the public to take the key to the house outside and spend the night dreaming in there. On the other bench a monitor displays a short video loop. It shows a small boy jumping off the roof of the Masnedø Fort.

The exhibition area is a former military area. The Masnedø Fort was built to defend Denmark from its enemies. The fort is a militaryarchitectonic construction whose form derives from function. This method of construction has also been used for the FREE project. The house is constructed to accommodate a single person spending
the night. The enemy-concept is a large part of the reasoning behind military upkeep. The enemy can also be a mental limitation in a single individual. The FREE project is intended to be the opposite of military discipline: mass over individual, focusing instead on the individual and on mental limitations. Like the little boy on the video, who dares to jump from a place, which is a little higher than he had originally intended, giving him a mental sense of freedom. Similarly I encourage members of the public to experience a similar situation by spending a night alone in the house in this remote place. This is the principle behind the house. I chose to build the house myself, thus fulfilling
a dream of building a house. The construction and transportation were part of the working process.

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