Konstverk 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.”