A sunny day in Sitka / A sombre day in Sitka, 13 litres of pollen from Sitka Spruce are dispersed throughout Pollok House. This powdery light-yellow substance is composed of microscopic grains that safeguard the offspring of the Sitka Spruce: a coniferous tree named after the Alaskan community of Sitka. The material was harvested in Scotland and generously donated by the Forestry Commission, but also a gift from the trees themselves – thanking their abundance in Scotland to Sir John, lover of trees and one of the last inhabitants of Pollok House. With his work, Dutch artist Jasper Coppes, revives these old relationships in the form of a feedback loop. Pollen becomes a metaphor for the spreading of information across the globe. But it also testifies to the coming and going of narratives with which we attribute purpose to our environment – and the lives we live in it.
Jasper Coppes, 2018