Pia Sirén /
Evergreen

Evergreen is an indoor forest-installation made of gardening and construction materials, such as tarpaulin, plastic, wood and scaffolding.

I am interested in the possibility of constructing a vastness within the confined space of the gallery. The work is built upon the idea of a faltering illusion, and the means of construction confirms the flaw; the green tarpaulin trees are folded with ropes and cable-ties and the forest floor is built with pieces of wood, hardware, plastics and tape. The landscape is unmistakably man-made and the means of construction are left visible and emphasized.

Evergreen is a setting in which real and concrete materials and the illusion balance and collide. This duality reflects our experience of nature, extending the space into a place of desire or longing.
The crude materials allow a raw and tangible physical language describing an otherwise idealized and poetic theme.

My works are constructed in the literal sense of the word (Lat. construere = to build, erect) as well as dealing with the cultural constructions that define our ideas about nature, landscape imagery and identity.

Plastics last forever but the constructions are not built to last, they are rather temporary, open gestures, of what could be built.

The artist lives by the sea and spends summers north of the arctic circle.