The “highway” through TICKON is created by rafters, which optically form a long straight road that cuts through the forest with a vanishing point on a hilltop.
In reality, it is deception.
Mikael Hansen's path is not that long at all, but makes use of the perspective principle of gradients. The road thus becomes narrower and narrower, but gives the impression of having the same width.
Mikael Hansen created the work in 1995, but has been to TICKON several times since to re-establish it. TICKON's Friends also have recurring tasks of making the branches follow the original line, removing fallen material and straightening the edges. In this work too, it is a challenge that children are inspired by the apparently long stretch of road and want to play on it. TICKON reminds us, however, that playing with the work causes irreparable damage.
Prior to the installation in TICKON, Mikael Hansen tested the experiment in Vestskoven, near his home in Albertslund. In the back of his mind he had his perception of one of Denmark's largest motorway junctions, which he is next door to.
He himself considers natural art/land art as an opportunity to create a new space in nature, a space that gives room for new interpretations of both the space itself and the materials used – in this case branches.
He explains that precisely with his work he is illusing a motorway, he explains that, paradoxically, we feel more secure with something as recognizable as a man-made road rather than nature's own wilderness and chaos.
Artist: Mikkel Hansen
Years: 1995/2002/2011
Mikael Hansen, born 1943 in Denmark. Trained graphic designer. Like Alfio Bonanno, he also belongs among the pioneers within land art/nature art/site-specific art. Works mostly with nature's own materials, but also uses other materials if there is a need for it. In that case, however, only for a previously limited time interval, after which it is removed again.