By Lea Laursen Pasgaard and Sofie Astrup, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

Four 12-metre-high sculptures are currently popping up in various places on the Aalborg East campus. Together, they make up the work 'Horizontal Cathedral' created by artist Uffe Isolotto with the aim of uniting nature and technology. 

"The new work of art on campus is a great addition to our university environment. Art and science go hand in hand, and this work is a brilliant example of how the two can come together to create something unique and meaningful. By combining nature and technology, the work shows how art can play a role in exploring and expanding our understanding of the world around us," says Rector Per Michael Johansen.

Each sculpture in 'Horizontal Cathedral' appears as a tree-like growth with a steel trunk at the bottom and a crown at the top. In each of the treetop's 'petals' is eelgrass collected from the Limfjord. Over time, a new biodiverse ecosystem will form as surrounding plants also take root in the eelgrass crowns. 

Thus, unlike the ordinary surrounding trees, these 'trees' are created from both organic and inorganic material, and they form a new synthetic unit of nature and technology.

"My artistic vision is to create new images combining nature and technology. Art can play a role in the work needed to reach beyond the known, and it can be even more fruitful in interaction with the latest technological advances," says Uffe Issolotto.

A recurring motif in his works is to rethink the interaction between people, nature and technology. The works are intended as physical manifestations of reflections on the conflict between the individual human need to connect with one's own nature, while at the same time humans as a group drift further away from nature – and thus also away from their own place and belongingness in nature. 

Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs