Art at DTU

The sun turns on its axis in Building 313

The internationally recognised artist, Tue Greenfort, has installed four new artworks in building 313 at DTU Lyngby Campus. The works are created specifically for the building and comment on the ubiquitous climate and biodiversity crisis. New Carlsberg Foundation has donated the four works to DTU.

The piece HELIOS by Tue Greenfort hangs in the stairwell on the 3rd floor in Building 313. Depending on the intensity of the sunlight, it follows the course of the day. Photo: Tue Greenfort

Thursday 10 October 2024

Mie Harthing Egefelt

DTU's Building 313, also known as the Climate Challenge Laboratory at DTU Lyngby Campus, is complete and ready for occupancy. Here, physicists, chemists, energy engineers, and biologists will work with researchers from other disciplines, students, and companies to develop solutions to some of the world's significant climate challenges.

Art is part of the living laboratory

As lab equipment and microscopes find their proper place and offices fill up, artist Tue Greenfort and his team have installed the site-specific works: ‘THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE’, ‘HELIOS’, ‘PHOTOSYNTHESIS’ and ‘CLIMATE ZONES’. The works are an integral part of the common areas of the building and intend to inspire curiosity and innovation among the people who use the building daily:

“I've always been interested in the story of the cosmos," says Tue Greenfort. "There is a marvellous depth to what we can know about the world and our self-understanding. As soon as you know something, a whole new set of questions arise, and that's one of the things I find so interesting about science. It's that inspiration and the wonder of everything we don't know that I want these works at DTU to speak into.”

For many years, Tue Greenfort has worked with the intersections between art and science, culture and nature. The four new works created specifically for DTU's Building 313 are inspired by and convey aspects of the research that the building and laboratory facilities support.

“The stories and images I try to create point towards a more holistic and dynamic understanding of nature. Solutions to climate change are not to rebuild or restore - we need to go somewhere fundamentally different. And that's what the researchers in this building are working on. They are thinking outside the box and collaborating across disciplines to recognize that the world - and the solutions - are also dynamic and constantly changing,” says Tue Greenfort.

Focus on sustainable building

Building 313 is created with sustainability in mind from the design and construction process to future use. Like all new construction at DTU, the building is seeking certification according to the international standard for sustainable construction, DGNB Gold, and aims to be awarded DGNB Heart, which is awarded to buildings with a particular focus on indoor climate and working environment.

The building and artwork will be officially inaugurated on 20 November 2024, and Tue Greenfort's works will be on display as part of DTU’s Kunstrute (art trail) at the end of the year.

Fact

The artworks in Building 313

The kinetic light work HELIOS hangs in the stairwell on the 3rd floor of the CAPeX pioneer centre. The work is a 2 metre luminous glass disc, an image of an obvious sustainable energy source: the sun, which lights up and rotates on its own axis depending on the intensity of the sunlight and thus follows the course of the day.
The 27 metre long light work PHOTOSYNTHESIS - inspired by blue-green algae, which obtain energy and produce oxygen through photosynthesis - meanders luminously and pulsates organically in the stairwell. A reminder of the energy metabolism of microorganisms and their enormous importance in preserving the planet's ecosystems.
HUSET BRÆNDER - a charred, burnt wooden pillar at the entrance to the building - a symbol of the ever-increasing climate change and its devastating consequences such as the annually increasing frequency of recurring forest fires on a global scale.
The work CLIMATE ZONES is a commentary on the concept of ‘greening’, where the plants and trees selected for 313 are arranged according to a vertical index of climate zones - from temperate to tropical. Thus, the potted plants and trees in the building refer to their respective habitats and climate zones in a drastically changing global biosphere.