TRACES IN MOTION | STUDIO VALLBO

TRACES IN MOTION / 2022

Dynamic and repetitive traces from the past.

TRACES IN MOTION is a public artwork for the new square Brånebacken in Jönköping. The work consists of two 40 meter long tracks that cross the square and lead up to Tändsticksområdet. The area is one of Jönköpings most important cultural heritages, it’s where they used to manufacture and export matches all over the globe.

Through selected details from exquisite matchstick labels,

a story is created that runs across Brånebacken towards the Tändsticksområdet area. The intention has been to create a certain rhythm and dynamic between the selected forms. The angular alternates with the fluid, the imaginative meets the simple and repetitive to give intensity mixed with respite. The two parallel stories interact and invite the viewer to move forward, but freely and exploratorily. An important element has been to try to keep the playfulness of the project and thus create interest in the labels and the history behind them. The tracks lead to their history. My desire has been to find details from history and create a modern story of movement. Hope they can light up everyday life and evoke a sideway step, a pirouette, or a jump.

MATERIAL: CORTÉN STEEL

SIZE: 2 X 40 METER

BRÅNEBACKEN, JÖNKÖPING, SWEDEN

DRONE PHOTOS BY WERNER NYSTRAND

The commission included research about production techniques and give form to the iron grates that would lead up to Tändsticksområdet. The project came with a lot of complexity as the gratings has to support a 60 ton bus (D400 classification). Therefore a lot of the project involved researching patterns and forms that could sustain this much pressure. The research was made together with an Austrian manufacturer that then where able to laser cut the forms in 20mm thick cortén steel plates.