The idea for the Equator Memorial Project had its genesis in a bed Johann Sigmarsson designed and made in 2011. Friends and acquaintances showed immediate interest and he was soon commissioned to make another one as a wedding anniversary gift. Sigmarsson went on to build shelves, an armchair with leather seats, and a desk with leather trimmings. Word got around about his furniture making and eventually a small group of people began to form around the current project.
In May 2012, Sigmarsson was watching a report on the evening news about the Association of Icelandic Ports and its intention to refurbish the Reykjavík Harbour. Apparently, much of the jetty was to be removed and discarded. It occurred to him then that the wood might be recycled and used to make furniture. And this was the beginning of a brand new idea.
In autumn, a group headed by Sigmarsson obtained permission to take the wood being thrown away by the Reykjavík Harbour. He then began to dry and plane it in preparation for the project. He soon discovered that much of the material was perfect for what he had in mind, i.e. stylish handmade furniture. Aside from being environmentally friendly, this recycling was also a kind of resurrection. Way back in 1903, the very same material was used to construct a dock for the herring fleet, which later became a part of the Reykjavik Harbour that was constructed between 1913 and 1917. Closer examination revealed that some of the wood originally came from a German schooner that sank off the south coast of Iceland in 1890. The vessel was brought to Reykjavik and disassembled for scrap. Fascinatingly, research indicated that that the trees may have been more than 200 years old when they were first used for shipbuilding.
The wood is pine, which can live anywhere from 100 to 1000 years. The oldest preserved pinewood dates back nearly five thousand years. The Romans commonly used pine and other conifer wood to build many of their houses.
The recycled wood from the Harbour gives the furniture a characteristic look and holds part of Reykjavík’s history at the same time.
On June 28, 2013 Reykjavik City Hall hosted an exhibition entitled The Art of Being Icelandic, which was result of its collaboration with UNESCO and a project known as the “City of Literature”. The exhibition focused on Icelandic literature in translation and design, and provided Johann Sigmarsson with his first public venue for exhibiting the handmade furniture he had constructed out of the remains of the old Harbour in Reykjavík. This appropriately coincided with the Harbour’s 100 year anniversary. All the furniture was sold at the exhibition and was lauded in the media for its original design and attractive style.
In August 2013, Sigmarsson established a private limited company for designing, building, creating furniture and art works. It was given the name 40,074KM, which is the length of the Equator.
In September 2013, the new company established a website (www.40074km.is). Sigmarsson designed the visual appearance of the site, composed the copy, and supplied the photographs along with Aasa Charlotta Ingarardóttir, a Swedish photographer. The site is now available in languages Icelandic, German and English, and aims to provide access via other languages in the near future.
The armchair, “The Gift of the Spirit,” was selected for The World Interiors’ News Annual Awards in 2013, an international competition in architecture which is a part of The World Architecture News.
The award ceremony was held at the SAATCHI GALLERY in London November 28, 2013.
The SAATCHI GALLERY is currently considered as one of ten most highly respected private galleries in the world. The World Architecture News (WAN) is one of the major international organisations in this field and is now the world’s leading supplier of news to the global architectural community. In December 2013 the armchair, “The Gift of the Spirit,” and desk, “SomethingRegal,” by Johann Sigmarsson were selected for the Design Award & Competition 2014 in Milan. In April 2014 the competition announced the armchair got Runner-up for A’Design Award and the desk is A’Design Winner.
Due to the interest that the furniture from the old Harbour of Reykjavík aroused, Sigmarsson was inspired to develop the project further in the environmental way.
Above photo; Jóhann Sigmarsson & Esra Akcan, architect at the awards ceremony at Como Lake in Italy for Design Award & Competition 2014.
Making use of his contacts abroad, especially those in Germany, he acquired some old wood from the Port of Hamburg together with pieces from original L- and T – concrete elements of the Berlin border wall. When Sigmarsson applied for another historical materials from two other countries it was realised that the project had transformed into a new concept which is connecting history, environment, design and art together. He now plans to create art pieces from these materials in cooperation with international artists. The aim is to select a number of historic sites or structures worldwide and then to persuade the relevant authorities to help us create functional objects or art from materials related to the site. These projects are now collectively known as The Equator Memorial Project.
The Port of Hamburg
On a trip to look at old wood used to construct the port of Hamburg, we obtained permission to use three different types of material used in the Harbour. The Hamburg Port will be 830 years old in 2019.
Theatre of the Cold War
In 2019 will be 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This project provides a great story for the former east and west. Now parts of the Wall can be recycled for sculptures and functional objects. We will have several original pieces
of L- and T – concrete elements of the Berlin border wall for the operation.
The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the wall completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. The Wall was officially referred to as the “Anti-Fascist Protective Wall” (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) by GDR authorities, implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were “fascists” by GDR propaganda. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the “Wall of Shame”—a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt—while condemning the Wall’s restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize the “Iron Curtain” that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
THE BERLIN WALL MEETING TABLE – 3D drawing from front.
Solid pieces from the Berlin wall, oil varnished. Table plate and legs are a bit broken and weathered on the long sides. Also is visible traces that had been carved into the wall on the west side from people who wanted to break it down. On one of the short sides of the table plate is a metal plate milled in the concrete, signed by the artists with a short informational text from the wall. Handmade – prototype will be made in 2016. The group will create series of artworks with German artists by recycling the historical ruins.
The Equator Memorial Project in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Iceland and Mr. Tatsukuni UCHIDA Counsellor received permission to use mementos from Hiroshima, the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon on August 6, 1945. The donation are stones from the roof of the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima. The atom bomb exploded in the front of the dome above the ground and the stones were found over 30 years later in the river Motoyasu. Oleander flower is now a symbol for the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to blossom after the explosion in 1945. The group will create series of artworks with Japanese artists by recycling the historical ruins as well as creating the Oleander flower and present a new sign of peace for the world.
That autumn in Hiroshima where it was said “For Seventy-five years nothing will grow” New buds sprouted. In the green that came back to life. Among the charred ruins. People recovered. Their living hopes and courage.
The Equator Memorial Project in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture in Norway and Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property received permission to utilize two broken windows from office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in the Norwegian government’s headquarters in Central Oslo after it was damaged from terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik.
The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential Lone Wolf terrorist attacks against the Norwegian government, the civilian population, and a Workers’ Youth League (AUF) summer camp in the Oslo region on 22 July 2011, claiming a total of 77 lives.The first was a car bomb explosion in Oslo within Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter of Norway. The bomb was made from a mixture of fertiliser and fuel oil and placed in the back of a car. The car was placed in front of the office block housing the office of Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg and other government buildings. The explosion killed eight people and injured at least 209 people, twelve of them seriously. It was decided to donate the project material for recycling it to art pieces and functional objects to indicate the uselessness and cruelty of terrorism. The group will create series of artworks with Norwegian artists by recycling the ruins.
Request for cooperation has been sent to the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Direction des Affaires Culturelles du Limousin and Centre de la mémoire d’Oradour for the possibility to donate material / ruins from the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, which has been virtually frozen in time since June 10, 1944 when nearly all the 642 residents were executed by the Waffen-SS. The men were lined up in barns and shot, while the women and children were herded into the village church where they were burned alive. The village was decimated. Only six villagers survived from this horrible slaughter. On the orders of President Charles de Gaulle, the original village was maintained as a permanent memorial to the massacre.
THE CZECH VILLAGE of LICIDE – And Those Innocent Were Guilty Morning speech; an order from one of HISTORIES mass murderers; 1 Execute all adult men. 2 Transport all women to a concentration camp. 3 Gather the children suitable for Germanisation, then place them in SS families in the Reich and bring the rest of the children up in other ways. 4 Burn down the village and level it entirely.
We contacted the Ministry of culture in Czech Republic and wish for its cooperation to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the Czech village of Lidice. ”The Lidice Massacre in II World War” Very early in the morning of June 10, 1942, cameras shot silent footage of the events at Lidice. The Horák farm served as the execution ground for 173 males above the age of sixteen; all were shot to death. The women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. The children – the youngest a year and six days old – were sent to Lodz, Poland. Then, an order came that they were to be sent to the Sheldon death camp. The children were told to undress for a “shower” before the journey. In their underwear, holding soap and towels, they were loaded onto a truck that had been modified so that the exhaust fumes were sent into the back of the vehicle. Within eight minutes, the children in the truck were dead.
9/11 TERRORIST ATTACK on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers) / We wish to obtain permission to use materials from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. We have come with request in cooperation with Mr. Hlynur Gudjonsson consul General and Consulate General of Iceland to the port authority and Mr. John Ma, Chief of Staff to the Executive Director for donating material /ruins from 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers) which can be recycled into art pieces. The art pieces we wish to create will both symbolise the story of the events and educate people what happened on that day, dedicated with respect in memory of the victims.
The former SOVIET UNION – GULAG /Furthermore we wish to obtain permission to use materials from the former Soviet Union – Gulag. The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s until the 1950s. Through The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation we contacted The State Museum of the History of GULAG. Now we are in conversation and negotiating with the museum to donate material / ruins to the project.
The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo) is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and stone, it is the largest amphitheatre in the world, and is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine. Once the largest amphitheatre of Ancient Rome where gladiators, criminals and lions alike fought for their lives, the Colosseum remains a world renowned, iconic symbol of the Roman Empire. The Colosseum is now under reconstruction and the project team has sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to obtain permission to use ruins from the Colosseum for creating art pieces.
We contacted Mr. Mohammad Kacem Fazelly Ambassador and the Permanent Delegation of Afghanistan to UNESCO because of ruins from the Buddhas of Bamiyan which was destroyed in Afghanistan by Taliban in 2001 to demolish holy icons and disrespect ideologic of the religion. That request is now in process by the Government of Afghanistan.
The bombing of Guernica ‘Refusing the night the wounds and blows’
The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of the Spanish nationalist government by its allies, the German air force’s Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name: Operation Rügen. The bombing is considered one of the first raids on a defenceless civilian population by a modern air force. The number of victims of the attack is still disputed; the Basque government reported that 1,654 people had died.
The bombing was the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was also depicted in a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz, who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades. The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by René Iché, one of the first electroacoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, of a musical composition by René-Louis Baron and a poem by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain Resnais entitled Guernica.
The team contacted the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports in Spain, Gernika-Lumo Town Council and Department for Education, Language Policy and Culture of the Basque Government for cooperation to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the town of Guernica.
LIVERPOOL AND THE SLAVE TRADE “They say we are in place called Virginia. Several men came to grab me. One took me away and burnt marks into my shoulder”.
Liverpool was a major slaving port and its ships and merchants dominated the transatlantic slave trade. The town and its inhabitants derived great civic and personal wealth from the trade which laid the foundations for the port’s future growth. Between 1700 and 1800, Liverpool in north-west England was transformed from not much more than a fishing village into one of the busiest slave-trading ports in the world and thence into a general trading port and city without peer in the 19th and 20th Centuries. An estimated 15 million Africans were transported as slaves to the Americas between 1540 and 1850. Ships from Liverpool was bound up in a global trading – known as Triangular Trade and accounted for more than 40% of the European slave trade. The legacy of the slave trade can still be seen around Liverpool today, many streets are named after wealthy shipping merchants who made their money from slavery including Penny Lane – named after James Penny and made famous in the Beatles song. The team sent a request to the Mayor of Liverpool for the possibility of donating material /ruins from the history of Liverpool’s slave traders, which could be recycled into new art pieces for the cause of freedom. Dr. Richard Benjamin, Head of the International Slavery Museum kindly offered to pick the matter up on behalf of the Mayor. The request is now under consideration.
GRAVEYARD OF LENIN MONUMENTS AND STALIN STATUES
The project team is now in discussion with Mr. Emanuelis Zingeris and The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania to provide brass Lenin and Stalin Statues from the Baltic countries for the artists to melt down for creating art pieces out of it for the project. We have as well contacted Mr. Viliumas Malinauskas the founder of the Grūtas Park (e. Stalin’s World Lithuanian Grūto Parkas), and the winner of the lg Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Gūtas Park will provide access to park and its collection. This assistance will take the form of allowing visiting artists selected by the project to create art pieces using all forms of media form the materials collected together in Gūtas Park. The result will be exhibited and auctioned for the good purpose and humanitarian worldwide. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, and the leader of the Bolshevik party and of the October Revolution. He was the first leader of the USSR and the government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin’s ideas became known as Leninism. Lenin grew critical of Stalin, and many other Bolsheviks at this time, but in 1922 a stroke forced Lenin into semi-retirement. Lenin recommended Stalin’s dismissal. However, after Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin suppressed documentation of Lenin’s recommendation. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1923 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin’s death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union. The exact number of deaths caused by Stalin’s regime is still a subject of debate, but it is widely agreed to be in the order of millions.
“TODAY’S ISSUES”
Brink of a Horrible Famine
It’s been called the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world”: A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history.
Nearly 80 percent of Yemen’s population is food insecure; millions are teetering on the edge of famine. The situation – described as critical for nearly two years – has grown even worse since early November, when Saudi Arabia enacted a near-complete blockade on its borders with Yemen, making it nearly impossible for anyone to import food, water and medical supplies from Saudi Arabia. How did one of the poorest countries in the world get to that point? It’s a complicated story, one that involves warring regional superpowers, terrorism, oil and an impending climate catastrophe. But in some ways, it’s also a simple one. Lots of people outside of Yemen are fighting for control and influence. And lots of the people within the country are paying the price.
Worst Refugee Crisis in History
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries. Two-thirds of all refugees worldwide come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.
The project has now confirmations to collect historical materials from 6 of 13 sites. We already collected 4 of the materials. We are starting to plan the operation of the exhibitions and establishing a fully equipped studio in Vilnius, Lithuania with crew for the main operation, where the artists will come together and build functional objects, create art work and sculptures from the historical ruins. When each phase of the project is completed it will be exhibited in galleries or museums worldwide. The exhibitions will comprise a few, numbered items of functional objects and art works related to the heritage sites. Each exhibition will exhibit approximately 50 – 60 art pieces created by selection of international artists and a short informational text will accompany every item on the history of the material. The intention is that the pieces will be signed by the artists and sold or rented out online as well at live auction in the end of selected exhibitions. A part of the income for each sold or rented piece will be allocated to a charity fund for humanitarian and community projects. Some of the art pieces will permanently be exhibited for public in museums or cultural institutions. We will as well offer prints of the art pieces and publish a book of photographs of the collection with written preface for the same purpose, poems will be written about the concept and full-length documentary film made during the process “The Story Behind History” about The Equator Memorial Project.
The whole project is considered very special and new ideas are created relating the environment, such as recycling ruins from historical sites which are transformed as a new story in the form of design and arts. Comprehensively the project will affect all participants as well as the public, various companies and governments for the importance of environment, justice, freedom and peace. We choose historical ruins because it has very powerful story to tell and has affected life in all emotions in good or bad way, preferentially defected justice and freedom in the past where innocent people had difficult experiences, sicknesses or even causing their dead. We wish to turn these ruins into something remarkable through arts and media as well as create good images in the minds of the public for better principals. The exhibitions will contain, sculptures, functional objects, design, architectures, photographs, history and visual arts. Here is a project that connects four continents together with a historical and cultural value. The Equator Memorial Project is supported internationally by UNESCO which hold the list and monitor World Heritage sites for preservation.
