The Clearing, Memorial at Utøya

Utøya is both a unique piece of nature, and the scene of one of the most horrific crimes in Norway’s history. The clearing tells the story about nature as a healing landscape

Utøya is both a unique piece of nature, and the scene of one of the most horrific crimes in Norway’s history. Sixty-nine people, most of them children and youth, were brutally murdered here on the 22nd of July 2011. Within this duality, nature represents hope.

In nature, we as humans have cleared space to establish social communities and have made shelter to protect us from the weather. The cultural landscape tells a story about how people and society have transformed nature, and adapted to it through generations. The long history of Utøya tells us how a continuous dependency occurs between humans and the landscape.
Our actions and traces are recognizable in nature. When a landscape and its people are faced with such a brutal and inhumane event as the one that took place on the 22nd of July 2011, the relationship between them is broken. All of a sudden, the gruesome actions of one man overshadow all other normal connections between the people and their surroundings. Where in other circumstances, one can read the spatial dimensions of a cultural landscape through the practice of normal behavior, the opposite is the case at Utøya. The beautiful characteristics of this space become a landscape of terror. Within this catastrophic paradigm-shift, it is important to focus on the fact that Utøya still is a piece of unique Norwegian nature – this space, in and of itself, does not have any memories of the tragedy. The essence of nature is that it can, through transformation, slowly erase all traces of the tragic events that happened here. With the changing of the seasons, as the waves wash away at the shore, new growth begins.

In the aftermath of the 22nd of July 2011, there were big questions from a shocked world about the way in which this event would change Norwegian society. The high level of social trust and sense of community was challenged and even met with criticism. The Clearing is a project that has been selected by the relatives and youth politicians themselves, it has also been built together with them. In that sense, one can read here the way Norwegian society has decided to deal with such a tragic event.

The tragedy at Utøya calls for extra caution with regards to use of symbols. 3RW`s approach to this is that the place has been designed in such an open manner, that it will benefit all types of people in their various stages of grief and maintain the focus that Utøya is inherently a beautiful piece of nature.

The memorial at Utøya should, above all else, be a place that exposes these powers of nature; the power to renew and heal.

When a big tree in the forest dies, an organic process that creates what we know as a clearing begins – open room in the otherwise dense forest.

The goal was to shape the open space between the big pine trees as a major unifying circle. The circle is set in the landscape with a slightly lower slope than the current terrain, but still allowing the sloping down towards the water. The terrain has been design as to have a seating edge into the circle and another facing out of the circle, towards the water and Sørbråten.

This circular open-space is set on a gentle slope opening views to Fjords. The varied and rich vegetation on Utøya gives a unique ecological opportunity for the memorial. A garden with selected plants found on Utøya attracts many local species of butterflies. When butterflies appear on the memorial, one knows that it is because of something that happened somewhere else on the island. This ties the memorial to the rest of the island in a subtle and organic way.

Nymphalis antiopa is called in Norwegian Sørgekåpe, Sorgmantel in Swedish and in English Mourning Cloak. This is because the adult butterfly’s wings are similar to traditional mourning clothes. This butterfly in many places is perceived as a symbol of grief and transformation. This butterfly is also found in the Tyrifjord area.

At the highest point of the island, overlooking the water and from tall pine trees surrounding the clearing is suspended a four meter diameter steel ring above the ground where names and ages of those killed on Utøya on July 22nd are carved out from. No name comes first or last. The light will shine through the cutouts and make sure the names are visually unique. The names are spaces of light, sunshine, sky, plants and trees.

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