The Earth Spirit (Jordånden)

The Earth Spirit (Jordånden) is a pair of oversized green-painted concrete sculptures by the waterfront in northern Fredericia. One element is an enormous open hand reaching skyward as if pleading; the other, a few steps away, is an equally enormous bare backside also rising from the ground.

The whole thing is meant as a piece of environmental commentary — protect the planet, or it will moon you — but it works just as well as a piece of slightly silly outdoor art. Easy walk or short bike ride from the centre, free, and worth fifteen minutes on a sunny afternoon.

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A story
The Earth Spirit was commissioned in the late 1990s as a piece of environmental art for what was then a derelict stretch of harbour. The artist — Erik Brandt — placed a giant green hand reaching out of the soil and, a few metres away, an equally giant green bottom mooning out of the same earth. The pairing is unmistakeably Scandinavian: ecological warning delivered with a straight-faced joke.

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