UMA's sprawling root hut installation engulfs visitors in a curtain of branches and moss

root hut unveils as a moss-cloaked enclave in Grödinge

Ulf Mejergren’s next installation in his Farm Art series invites visitors to seek shelter in a moss-cloaked enclave carved into the forest ground. Created in collaboration with Swedish farmer Robert Pettersson, the Root Hut emerges as a fusion of living and dead tree roots tucked into a sloping expanse of agricultural land in Grödinge. Encompassing the duo’s picturesque Dandelion Hut backdrop for picnic-goers, and the Moss Hut — a feeding point for wild boars — the broader project seeks to intertwine the practical know-how of the farmer with Mejergen’s artistic intentions to craft a series of natural structures and artworks across the farm.

Root Hut | all images courtesy of Ulf Mejergren

ulf mejergren and robert pettersson expand ‘farm art’ series

The installation encapsulates over a century of agricultural cultivation and the gradual erosion of nature. The initial groundwork of the farm carried out by generations of ancestors had involved excavating a portion of terrain adjacent to a dense forest in order to extract sand for maintenance of icy roads during the winter. ‘Little by little they had dug out a part of the forest, sometimes reaching close to trees where parts of their root systems have been left visible due to the erosion of the sandy soil. Standing in the sand pit you see the forest rise behind it, while you are basically under the forest level. We decided to continue the century of hard labor and turn it into an artwork,’ notes architect and artist Ulf Mejergren.

The Root Hut builds upon this natural canvas. With a tractor, Ulf Mejergren and Robert Pettersson excavated the sand pit further until they revealed the root systems of a cluster of trees. Shovels were then utilized to erode the slope and create a partially enclosed space under the roots, veiled behind a curtain of moss. The duo then searched the forest and gathered roots from fallen trees and stumps to extend the living roots with dead ones, resulting in a shelter that seemingly engulfs its inhabitants into the forest ground. 

a moss-cloaked enclave in Grödinge

the installation expands Ulf Mejergren and Robert Pettersson’s Farm Art series

carved into the farmer’s agricultural land, cultivated for over a century

diagram

project info:

name: Root Hut
designer: Ulf Mejergren
funding: Swedish Arts Grants Committee

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom