(colloquially called the Labyrinth)
When Dan Snow came to TICKON to build the plant, Diamond Mines, he was given quite a challenge. Although he is a master stonemason with certificates, stone in Denmark and stone in England are fundamentally different. In England the stones are quarry. In Denmark, the field stones are round.
But the American, English-educated artist did not give up. And like all his works around the world, Diamond Mines also became a rigorous composition when construction was completed on an autumn day in 2011.
On a west-facing slope surrounded by large beech trees and overlooking the Red Castle, Diamond Mines is built with nineteen internal rooms contained in a rhombus shape, the outer walls of which slope down towards the apex of the rhombus.
Dan Snow (or Dan Stone, as he is often erroneously called) built his work with perfectly straight lines and a total of eighty-five angles, both crooked and straight.
Unfortunately, part of the audience perceives the work as a do-it-yourself sculpture, which is why Diamond Mines still requires maintenance with the setting up of stones.
Artist: Dan Snow / See more of Snow's work here.
Year: 1995
Dan Snow, born 1951 in the USA, educated at the Pratt Institute for Art and Design, Brooklyn, New York. As one of very few Americans, he is also trained as a Dry Stone builder – that is, English trained in the discipline of building with stone without the use of binders such as mortar and cement, but based solely on using the stones' own weight and shape. He has received several awards for his craftsmanship, which he uses in his art projects.