THE SCULPTURE

The Gran Boathouse is located on the waters edge in Røykenvik, Hadeland. From a distance it looks like any other boathouse, but closer inspection reveals that this is a work of art in concrete. The work is a cast of the interior of an old boathouse. Whiteread turns the boathouse inside out thereby capturing a moment in time. In this way she encourages us to reflect on what we see around us.

– I have mummified the air inside the boathouse”, says Rachel Whiteread.

– I wanted to make a shy sculpture, a sculpture that would stand there peaceful and nobel.

The boathouse and its interior had all the qualities that she was looking for. It represented the history of place. The sculpture is preserving what would otherwise have been lost. 

Rachel Whiteread is known for her sculptures, which are often casts of everyday objects, everything from bath tubs, boxes, and cabinets to rooms and entire buildings. Her work is characterised by “negative space”. The work is not a cast of the object, but of the empty space inside or under the object.

RACHEL WHITEREAD (b. 1963)

Whiteread is one of Great Britain’s leading contemporary artists. In 1993 she was the first woman to win the prestigious Turner Prize. Whiteread is considered to be among the Young British Artists, a group which started exhibiting in London in 1988, and which includes Damien Hurst and Tracey Emin. Rachel Whiteread’s sculptures are often casts of everyday objects. Her sculptures are typically casts of “negative space”. The Gran Boathouse is her first work in Norway.