Déjà vu
The artistic decoration for the Dragarbrunn Square in central Uppsala – Déjà vu – is based on the idea of dripping ink onto a sheet of paper which is subsequently folded and unfolded. An imagined folding-line runs through the middle of the Square, where 57 inkblots have been assigned site-specific functions in perfect symmetry. Some appear as water-jet-cut intarsia of stainless steel, milled into the slabs of blazed diabase. Others form plant collars around the magnolias and the flower beds. One constitutes a long and narrow frame of stainless steel around the Square’s pond/fountain and there are 18 pieces of furniture/seating sculptures of diabase, roughly hewn with a glossy top. All formations and furniture are mirrored; sometimes they appear in pairs and sometimes as symmetrical figures.
All designs and objects in Déjà vu provide people who make use of the Square with the possibility of forming their own associations, as we tend to identify recognisable things in a cloud or a blot. The design of Déjà vu is a play on the famous Rorschach test that was developed in the early 20th century and involves a subject interpreting an inkblot into something “figurative” and in the process projecting material from his or her subconscious onto the image.
Dimensions, technique and material: The Square and the work are 110 metre x 10 metre, with a ground covering of 50 x 50 cm slabs in blazed diabase. Water-jet-cut glossy stainless steel, roughly hewn and glossy diabase.
Public permanent work on the new Dragarbrunn Square between the streets of S:t Persgatan and S:t Olofsgatan in central Uppsala. The work was commissioned by Uppsala Municipality.
