Estonia’s National Library’s Public Artwork Competition

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The proposal for the National Library’s (RaRa) outdoor artwork competition saw a spatially unfolding landscape work between two outdoor seating areas, which functions on the one hand as a meditative moss garden and at the same time as a mini-landscape that relates to the materiality of the building, inviting library visitors on a calming journey and at the same time spatially connecting the two outdoor seating areas.

The work, which at eye level resembles an abstract basalt landscape formed by hexagonal formations, reveals its other side when viewed from higher floors - within the natural patterns, the eye begins to sense a repeating pattern, which nevertheless leaves the interpretation open. Only when looking at the site plan does final clarity come: the basalt formation seems to have grown from the large footprints of an ancient lizard.

This is also the key to the textual source of the work: it is a homage to the poem “Ka sisaliku tee” (‘Even the lizard’s track over the stone leaves a trace’) by Estonian writer Karl Ristikivi, which speaks of the eternity of thoughts and feelings, the influence of small creatures (or countries?), the inalienable right to exist, and the existential equality of all beings.

To enhance the mood and sensory experience, two mist humidifiers are provided as part of the work, which create a suitable microclimate for the mosses and also provide refreshment for visitors during hotter weather. The path uses spot lights directed from below, which allow visitors to visit the work in the dark and, when placed between the basalt pillars, provide a dramatic play of light.