Per Kristian Nygård crams a grassy valley into an Oslo gallery
Norwegian artist Per Kristian Nygård attempted to bring the outside inside with this installation that involved building grassy mounds inside an Oslo gallery (+ slideshow).
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Per Kristian Nygård created the work, named Not Red But Green, for the white-space setting of Oslo's No Place gallery. The piece, which appeared as if an oversized lump of turf had been crammed into a tiny room, was on show during August.
The Trondheim-based installation artist – whose work explores the limitations and possibilities of space – constructed the unlikely landscape as an antithesis to the organised architectural environment.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The artist told Dezeen the work was "seemingly meaningless and confusing – as a contrast to the all-encompassing meaningful and personalised we surround ourselves with, for example the programmed urban environment, the functional objects and architecture".
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
"Visitors are confronted with their own intuitive and physical response to the experience of entering a space where everything's wrong but feels right," he said.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
The undulations in the terrain were constructed with a wooden framework, overlaid with plastic sheeting and a thick layer of soil impregnated with grass seed.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
The grass seed sprouted in the damp soil over the duration of the exhibition, and the lawn was tended and watered daily to create a moist growing environment.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
The green landscape, with patches of soil visible and wispy blades of grass, appeared at one stage to be growing up the sides of the white gallery walls.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
Smaller hills rose and fell around a row of narrow windows, so as not to block the sunlight from the space.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
The edges of the work creeped out onto the dark grey floor of the reception area, as if inviting gallery visitors in for a hike across the miniature landscape.
At one side, the soil sloped away to make space for the gallery's wood-burning stove.
![Not Red But Green by Per Kristian Nygård](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/Not-Red-But-Green-by-Per-Kristian-Nygard_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
Photography is by Jason Olav Benjamin Havneraas.