C A R I N G
The artwork CARING is a large neon sculpture specifically developed, designed for and located in the new Statoil Business Centre Forus Norway.
In 2009 Lars Ø Ramberg was assigned to be part of the team to develop new visions and concepts for a modern Statoil business and identity centre. The new building should be located on the main plant in Forus Stavanger. Being able to attend the team at an early stage Lars Ø Ramberg contributed to the overall concept and contextualised the project in relation to the discourse of the Statoil identity. The centre should offer a multifunctional space where both visitors and employees could get a fresh and updated version of new Statoil identity. Social and cultural elements from cuisine food to art and films, should go along with high-tech multi media meeting rooms, a theatre / auditorium and press rooms. Lars Ø Ramberg critically focused his research on Statoils own publications; The Ethics Code of Conduct – Statoil. The company even stresses the importance of it when it says: “Commitment to our values, in words and actions, is not negotiable”. The constitution of the values are CARING, OPEN, COURAGEOUS, HANDS ON. Ramberg developed his concept for four artworks questioning and scrutinising these values, who are even printed on every identity card worn by employers. The planned new Business centre was going to be the new “cooperate home” for internal business meetings as well as hosting visitors and business partners from all over the word.
The intention was to visualise the high ethical standards as physical sculptures, freely interpreted based on the four paragraphs.
By sufficiently finding, collecting, and refining natural gas and oil, Statoil is proven to be one of the highest skilled high tech entrepreneurs in the world. Still, the final product is as basic and archaic as it possibly gets. Statoil is after all – and literary – selling fire.
In the history of man the first major technological step to civilisation was when humans learned to control the fire. The fireplace became the place to survive from cold and wild animals, but also to cook and share stories. So it was also the first human academy for sharing ideas around the fireplace.
On a conceptual mission to find some links between the new cooperate visions of the 21st century energy business and some archaic values of the past history of man gathering around the fireplace. It made Ramberg insist on CARING to be located in the heart of the building, both vertically and horizontally.
Statoil as namely a state owned successful global oil and gas entrepreneur giving Norway economy strong enough to allow free higher education, free health care and high general high ethical standards is great.
But still it means Norway, as a leading fossil fuel manufacturer is being part of the global problem. Caring became the reminder that Statoil has a large responsibility to care.