Artwork: Allting förändras men ingenting förgås (Bänk i Bänkarnas stad)

‘Allting förändras men ingenting förgås’ (Everything changes but nothing perishes) is the fourth bench in the project ‘Bänkarnas stad’ (City of Benches). It was designed by Ellen Ehk Åkesson and shows how nature re-forms its own bench. ‘Allting förändras men ingenting förgås’ was donated by Ljungby couple Thomas and Inga-Lill Börgesson.

Nature’s own bench

‘Everything changes but nothing perishes’ is a quote by the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras. This is how artist Ellen Ehk Åkesson from Nybro describes the ideas behind the bench:

“The classic, romantic park bench, the one we know so well. Its curved lines are illuminated by the soft glow of a lamp post, maybe a little light fog. The bench signals to us: sit here and rest, form a thought; are you waiting for someone? But something is about to happen; the bench is undergoing a metamorphosis. The cycle of life has caught up with it, and nature is reshaping its own bench of winding roots and gnarled trunks. The fungi break down the man-made wood into the building blocks of life, providing material for new life, a new form. Nature’s sculptor takes over, following the lines and shapes of something bygone, removing and adding. Everything changes but nothing perishes.”

Design

The bench is about 1.3 metres high, 1.5 metres long and 1.1 metres wide. It is made of bronze and consists of cast sculpted elements welded together piece by piece. The bronze work was done by Alexander Brandt, Gävle.

Read more about the artist Ellen Ehk Åkesson on her website.

Donator

The bench was donated by Ljungby couple Thomas and Inga-Lill Börgesson. This is how Thomas Börgesson explains the background to the donation:

“My grandfather Kurt Bergström married Margareta Härenstam from the Åeke farm in Forsheda in 1970, following the death of my grandmother a few years earlier. Kurt retired in 1976 and the following year he and Margareta moved to Thure Sällbergsgatan in Värnamo. There they met and spent time with Siri Bergkvist, who, through a bequest to the Municipality of Värnamo, made possible the artworks ‘Corpus’ on the roundabout below the railway station, and ‘Momentum’, in the entrance square in front of the rubber factory. Inga-Lill and I met Siri several times and the idea of donating money for a work of art came about after Margareta passed away in 2019; Kurt had already died. Contact with the cultural administration in Värnamo and several visits and discussions led to the artwork ‘Allting förändras men ingenting förgås’ as part of ‘Bänkarnas stad.”