Songs, poetry and art

We asked Elmer, a teacher, project leader and musician, to share his thoughts on the connection between Tvindkraft and the arts.

As a member of the first team at DNS, The Necessary Teacher Training College, that started its programme in 1972, he was not directly involved in the construction of the windmill. However, the building of Tvindkraft  was an open “project in development,” and everyone chipped in however they could. Everybody in Tvind were invited to participate actively in the groundbreaking event, for example, to mark the start-up of the construction of the world’s tallest wind turbine.

A  source of inspiration

Elmer recalls being part of a band during his time at Tvind, and he remembers writing a song about Tvindkraft, which they played all the time, ”Møllen i Tvind” – “The windmill at Tvind”. The song eventually developed into some sort of folk dance that demonstrated the height of the windmill: 45 people would line up in a row, and that would approximately demonstrate the height of the windmill. Many other songs, poems, and art pieces inspired by the windmill were created in those times.

When asked why Tvindkraft inspired so many artists, Elmer explains that the windmill is an art piece in itself. Nobody knew exactly how to build a windmill, back then: some people thought that it could have two, four or five ”wings”, for example. But Tvindkraft ended up beautiful and harmonious in its basic shape and proportions, and it looks nice in the landscape. And with the colourful design, which was added later, it looks really iconic.

A people’s windmill

However, there’s another reason why it inspired so many artists: it is because it represents some strong elements. Tvindkraft is the “people’s windmill”, because so many contributed to making it happen, and because the technology has always been open-source. It is the materialisation of people’s power – a fantastic example of how people, together, can solve a problem. There’s also a poem inspired by the windmill. The poem compares the windmill to the tower of Babel: unlike it, Tvindkraft doesn’t divide and confuse people, but it unites.