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The group Skupina ("Group") constructed a new home for the outsider artist and mystic, Borut Holland, who lives in the forest. The project started in 1999, with a desire to build a house for the artist in the neighbourhood of Pecovnik, Slovenija, where he had lived his whole life but was now homeless. The local people opposed the idea, as his behaviour was very strange. For example, he likes to run naked in the middle of forest, and swims in the river Savinja, in freezing temperatures. His biggest desire was to live in the middle of forest. After negotiating with the local people they finally agreed. The next step was to find a site to build the house. We found a landowner who agreed to lend the land. We received official building permission. All without any budget. In 2003 we started building. The cottage was based on a design by the Slovenian artist, Joze Barsi, which had originally been shown in the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. We recycled the materials of Barsi’s work, using them to reconstruct the cottage in a forest for Borut to live in. We adapted and improved the function of the cottage by using recycled and salvaged material. Paddy Bloomer, an artist from Belfast, constructed a bicycle-powered electrical system to charge the lights. Near the cottage we uncovered a good source of drinking water. More than fifty people from different fields contributed volunteer labour to the project.
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