Øystein Skråstad

At some point during the first world war the British army detonated a gigantic mine under a field in France. It made a crater over 70 meters wide and 12 meters deep, becoming one of the biggest non-nuclear bombs ever detonated. Now it is surrounded by trees and filled with dark green water, a strange, round lake, peaceful and calm.

Nature is no longer natural. The human have impacted it wish such determination that even the most remote corners witness human intervention. Rusted excavators and planes lies scattered as corpses. But these places have an odd effect, they create zones in which strange things come alive.

As bubbles form in a glass of water, the zones appear around wounds and scars. They are everywhere we look, but most are too diffuse to recognize. Sometimes they feel unreal, and sometimes they are. It seems like the cognitive mind hides the strange dynamic of anomalies.

In general i'm working with sculptures and drawings (analog and digital) to explore the relation and interaction between human and machine. Based on simple mathematics, philosophy, biology and physics, each project is developed through a longer planning period, where a large amount of narratives and ideas are accumulated. I myself tend to become a part of the work as a complementary element and might function as a gateway for interaction. A fundamental aspect of my art practice is the idea of building one final machine, and that all of the sculptures and drawings are concepts and mechanics that somehow will lead up to this last project, whatever it might be.