Projects

A line creates a new situation. A line marks the beginning of many art works, whether a stroke in a drawing, a rough draft, or a piece of writing. In the process, the line becomes the bearer of intentions and ideas. But in public space, a line is usually raw material, a means to an end. It provides for order, for the most part, organizing traffic and setting boundaries. Haubitz + Zoche work with a public line that connects its blunt character with a conceptual approach.

The blue line runs through the center of Copenhagen. It divides streets, squares, parks, buildings. Its dimensions as a whole can only be seen from a bird’s eye view. It has not been drawn straight and at right angles, instead it meanders like the coastal line of an island untouched by humans. The line, drawn concretely on the ground, demarcates bays, peninsulas and islands where piers, streets and city blocks are today. It is a contour line. It marks an elevation of 7 m above sea level. This corresponds to the rise in the sea level that would occur if Greenland’s ice shields melt. In this event, the average global sea level would be about seven meters higher than today. The earth’s largest island, an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark and politically tied to Copenhagen, is part of a mathematical model.