The North Sea is the theme of this year’s exhibition on Udden in Hunnebostrand, the sea that has been and remains a source of nutrition and a waterway for the people who lived around its coastline.

Commerce, freight and fishing formed the basis of those who lived around the coastline of the North Sea, offering a greater opportunity for contact than the land, as roads and railways did not exist. Granite in blocks or processed to create paving stones or stone for building was shipped across the great sea from Bohuslän, Norway and Scotland to far-off lands. Sea united with granite, nature with craftsmanship.

Uddenskulptur 2013 Nordsjön is an international exhibition featuring eleven artists from six countries around the North Sea: the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. World-class stone sculpture in a maritime setting that is a masterpiece in its own right. Udden is a unique location with greatness of form and expression, “Uddenskulptur” is the new cultural destination in Bohuslän with international appeal.

Eight sculptures have been made in Bohuslän with its excellent opportunities for working in stone: at Hallinden, Tossene, Ävja and the collective workshop in Skärholmen.
This year sees an architectural exhibition by students from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, at Sotenäs’ new cultural centre Hav och Land [Sea and Land] in Hunnebostrand. 37 suggestions, drawings and thoughts on a House of Stone that aim to engage and generate debate.

The vision of a house of stone

A House of Stone is only a vision at the moment, but with great potential to become a reality. Sotenäs has a unique opportunity to become the place where information about Bohuslän granite is brought together, a centre of knowledge for granite in Bohuslän. Hunnebostrand was the centre of the Swedish stone industry, with Udden as the most important quarry. Vast amounts of stone were shipped out from here. It all began with massive turbulence in the earth’s crust, many millions of years ago. From the depths of the earth rose hot magma, which solidified to form granite. What about that for the birth process?

A House of Stone will highlight issues such as: What is granite and why does Bohuslän look like it does? Which forces of nature turned this landscape into one gigantic stone sculpture with smooth rock formations and enormous, mystical hollows? How did it come about that there are old quarries and abandoned workplaces everywhere? Where did the stonemasons who did this work come from, and how did they actually work in this barren landscape? Where did the stone blocks and building stone go? There’s granite from Bohuslän on the quayside in Buenos Aires!

These questions and more besides will be answered in a House of Stone, a unique place to obtain knowledge about granite and stone processing.