Today I went for a walk in the park. During lunch I guided a group of visitors through Umedalens Skulpturpark, a public park filled with contemporary sculpture (see this link for more information: http://www.umedalenskulptur.se/us/). 

The collection of 44 sculptures really expose the great variety of this particular artform; sustainable material like stone, metal, wood, and concrete are mixed with more delicate works of textile and plastic. Some are really monumental and almost screaming for your attention. Others you risk missing because of size or form, they may look like they are part of the milieu. The interesting thing is when you look at art actively in an environment like this, everything created by man has a potential of being an artwork. Post-modernism is partly to blame, but you also start looking at the world around you with a different perspective. I notice this every time when I guide groups on art walks, people start looking for the next piece of art and notice potential candidates in a most active and creative way. Art is never just decorative or entertaining, besides containing some sort of message it also involves participation from viewers and this is often a collective experience. The more we share, the more we gain and understand — of the art, of our self and of our contexts.

Above is a detail of one of my favorites in Umedalens Skulpturpark, Jaume Plensa's Nostros (2008). A man sitting on the ground, with the hands folded round his knees, forms this open cathedral. In my photo from the inside, you can see how the head turns into a cupola. The surface is made of letters of eight different alphabets, a collection of knowledge from all corners of the world that unites into becoming the title - Ours. It may be the academic in me that finds hope and comfort in the written word and its possibilities of communication, but I do think there is a great need for a public sacral space for global understanding. This is what Plensa have provided for me in this sculpture and I am ever grateful.