TIC-TAC-TOE

Birgitta Linhart

16 october 2021 – 30 january 2022

In my exhibitions, the form and story are always determined by plant-based materials. For this exhibition, the beard lichen took center stage, inspiring the idea of a stretcher that stayed with me for two years. The lichen thrives in untouched forests, making it a perfect fit for the Earth/Soil theme at Havremagasinet. Unexpectedly, the Willowherb also became a part of the exhibition, telling its story of bird’s nests and adding to the magical atmosphere of the forest.

The charcoal roots in TIC-TAC-TOE were inspired by a site-specific work I created in Finland, where a tree with its roots intact was burned charcoal black. The roots in the exhibition are larger and more magnificent, symbolizing Mother Nature or a God figure on an altarpiece.

In front of this drawing, a tic-tac-toe game replaces the traditional altar. This wordplay captures the essence of the exhibition – a gamble with nature, symbolized by the game and the ticking clock, tic-tac, tic-tac, a reminder of the urgency to protect our environment.

– Birgitta Linhart 

For more information about the exhibition, please refer to the Folder.

About the artist

Birgitta Linhart is an artist working with nature materials like stone, seeds, leaves, branches and ice. Her choice of materials often follow the seasons.  She works mainly with large scale sculptures where site specificity is of outmost importance, always aiming to create meeting places or portals between humans and nature. She has also work extensively with environmental projects and land art workshops in villages and small communities in Norrbotten and northern Finland, helping them to give, or find a visual form to their stories. Her substantial work in stone carving is mainly inspired by the perspective that it can withstand more than thousand years. 

Linhart has studied sculpture at Sunderby Art School (1994-1997). And since 1997 she has exhibited frequently in northern Sweden and Finland. Since 1997 she has done more than twenty ice and snow commission projects in Sweden, Greenland, Latvia, Russia, Italy, Mexico and the USA. She has participated in many group shows, like the Luleå Biennial (2020) and ART Li Biennial in Ii, Finland (2014). She lives and works in Luleå.