A round oak at the linde
Borders drown us. Well said, the limits drown me, because there will be someone who sits well in the narrowness of the limits themselves. They choke me, but surprisingly, borders can be destroyed. The limits of a plot, the limits of a district, the limits of a town hall, the limits of a region, the limits of a province, the limits of a village, the limits of a language and the limits of ourselves. Physical boundaries, imaginaries, imaginaries -- we can all do and undo. It's in my hands.
Asier Gogortza, a native of Beratarra, has entered dismantling. He is a photographer and performs magnificent works, always linked to the territory, the landscape and the architecture most closely related to them; see asiergogortza.net: simple leaflets without left wall (free squares), facades of houses on the side of a rough environment (West), series of bunkers of the Second World War (Concrete landscapes) and the most beautiful camera on the front page. Yes, it was my favorite. But not anymore. I've experienced firsthand his last gigantic project, which almost blew my mind to go crazy. Five years ago, when he was riding a bicycle, he stopped under a pair of oak trees (Quercus robur), of which he had long known himself, and found a lot of acorns, which seemed to have been the "yes" and the "yes." Collect acorns and sow them. And the robles were coming. And the robles grew. And it has hardened the houses of the people of Bera and Urruña and created a parade in the municipal lands of the two municipalities that unite their borders.
It is an artistic work that is being created in a unique place, at the skirts of Mount Erentzazu. I only have words and games to tell him what I lived when I met him with Asier's hand. Among us was another great sound artist and yet a friend. Alex Mendizabal, who climbed the mountain to install his sound installations. The place is a hill or hill gate, that is, a step between peaks. It crosses a multitude of roads, roads, paths, slopes… It is not just any place. A lot of people will have arrived and then you will be able to go, give and receive. There are those who have lived. He has planted two oak circles over the border, as if they were sarobes or vegetable gardens. Cencerros. Mares. Sheep. Ticks. Acebo clubs. A terrible landscape. Its limits and an excellent collection of zancos and knights for its passage. Garomenes linking the roads (Pteridium aquilinum). These places feature excellent garolekus. A beautiful lot of ferns is located next to the Eltzaurdi farmhouse, which is not far away; a nice bed for the cattle of the house and then an excellent fertilizer for the orchard, the countryside, the apples.
On the development of the work he has already published two special books and a third is on the way. A growing action. A growing stand.
The ferns, the oak trees, the plants know no limits and they look at us: well, what bird can limit their life?
