This two-sided work responds to an invitation from the New Carlsberg Foundation concerning a public artwork for the city of Ikast Brande, in Denmark. Context: The invitation was extended in 2017 to three artists - Cai Ulrich von Platen, Jørgen Carlo Larsen and Kerstin Bergendal – each asked to elaborate additions to a complex building, the new Cultural House of Ikast-Brande, designed by architects C F Møller (DK). From 1991 – 2005, these three artists constituted the core of an artist run platform, called TAPKO, pioneering site specific art in Denmark, by realizing more than 20 exhibitions in in-and outside of the exhibitionary complex, including works of participating colleagues from Denmark and abroad. Thus, as a point of departure, the invitation was linked to site-specificity. Ikast is a minor town in the region of Jutland. It is famous for its booming textile industry during the 1900s. This boom grew in harsh competition with a similar boom in the neighboring town, Herning – hence the title of the project. The work consists of two versions of the same content - a selection of recorded enquiries among locals and local agents of the town of Ikast. From these dialogues, the artist chose 176 quotes, subsequently used in two different ways: As parts of a physical artwork on site: Individual and subjective quotes from the taped dialogues were adapted to and engraved 4-6 mm deep into the slabs both of the indoor and outdoor “floor” of the new Cultural House. Indoors, the black ceramic tiles are rectangular. On the outside, the large white slabs, chosen by the architects, are five-cornered and irregular, in order to make up a complex pattern. Each quote was adapted, to fit the format of a chosen slab. By giving each quote a specific font and font size, it acts a singular “voice”. When grouped, a sort of dialogue or a poetic meaning through association can be generated between the different statements. The text fragments thus appear on site as a stream of subtle and variated sum of “voices”, spread irregularly over the entire surface of the large new square and meanders in through the interior of the imposing building. As text fragments pronounce surprising, odd, funny and melancholic opinions on life in the town of Ikast, they mechanically incite inhabitants to self-reflective dialogues, through which the semi-private square over time can be reclaimed as a commons, and open to a local publicness. The subtle nature of the engravings adds an ever changeable aspect of the work; In mid-day sunshine, concrete goes light and dry. The texts then almost disappear. On a rainy day, the inside of the text in the concrete becomes evident and black. On windy days, most of the texts are covered by sand, trash or leaves. Indoors, the text fragments are placed right in the middle of areas used for activities. They will therefore gradually be erased. Traces of life are added on with time – rust spots, wine spots, chewing gum and car tracks - the will transform the square into a Book of Life. As an app: In order for visitors on site to identify the individual and subjective quotes, Bergendal has created an app, which includes a GPS function. For the visitor at home, the quotes are also listed alphabetically. Clicking on a quote, connects you to a short poetic text by the artist and an image connected to its meaning. These texts ponder upon the essence of the quote in question, and/ or relates it to historical events of the local area, going back as far as 10 000 years. This part of the project is elaborated in collaboration with professionals at the Textile Museum of Herning, local archives of the region and the local paper Herning Folkeblad. The mixture of old and new, imaginary and factual, as well as the highs and lows of the quotes themselves, proposes a redefinition of the role of artist in contemporary society. It claims the artist as a transitory figure or ultra-attentive listener, calling for others to gather on a surface of contact, to engage in actually hearing and seeing each other again. “Know yourself”, as a strategy of resilience.