2009 September

Written on September 30, 2009 at 17:10, by maya

Flaggfabrikken Presenterer in collaboration with Ira Ira this Saturday!
The evening is supported by the Municipality of Bergen and the Norwegian Arts Council

Written on September 28, 2009 at 02:35, by maya

ONE FINE DAY, ALL THIS WILL BE YOURS
Dellbrügge & de Moll

Intervention in Public Space, Bjørvika, Oslo, on the sites for the planned commons

‘If someone gave you the promise: “One fine day, all this will be yours”, would you trust it? Or would you insist on getting it black on white? On the future grounds of the newly developed district of Bjørvika in Oslo’s harbor area the city gave a promise. It’s the promise of free access to public space and communality connoted in the term allmenning (common lands). Seven areas, drafted as seven fingers of an outreaching hand, are designated as common lands. But it is not its label but its use which will decide upon space.’

ONE FINE DAY, ALL THIS WILL BE YOURS is part of the exhibition project
COMMON LANDS – Allmannaretten wich runs from May 12th, 2009 – March 12, 2010. It is taking place in the designated public spaces of Bjørvika, the former harbor of Oslo, Norway, which is currently under transition to become a new part of the city by the fjord. www.commonlands.net

The development of waterfronts is a current trend in post-industrial cities where industrial harbor areas are being transformed into new urban spaces that emphasize mercantile, residential and recreational purposes. The curators Åse Løvgren and Karolin Tampere of the exhibition project Common Lands uses the process of redevelopment around Bjørvika in Oslo to highlight a number of issues associated with urban development, democracy, access and the distribution of power. The project is in process following this specific development and relates it to other urban developments around the world.

The artist duos Bik van Der Pol, Dellbrügge & de Moll, Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen are commissioned to develop art works taking the transformation of the area as a starting point.

In addition to the art projects, Common Lands contains of a series of seminars and workshops, accompanied by online readers, sharing the investigations of the development. The readers aim to follow Common Lands on a parallel track and put focus on important aspects of the development, along the process. The discursive program and the readers will together with the art projects investigate, comment on and intervene in this extensive urban redevelopment

Common Lands asks the question for whom is the new part of Oslo developed for? The title also points to art as a potential and political site for critical reflection concerning the public sphere both as concept and site.

Art as Protagonist?
What were the desires of the commissioners, Bjørvika Development Ltd, when they included a program for art and to what degree could Common Lands create an independent space to maneuver within such a commission? A workshop held at Sparwasser HQ during July 2008 was a platform for discussions around the role cultural producers, artists and the works of art can have in a development such as Bjørvika.

Art as Protagonist? is an online publication with contributions from Michael Baers, Heidi Bergsli, Markus Degerman, Anne Beate Hovind, Åse Løvgren and Karolin Tampere.

The publication is available from www.commonlands.net.

The project is part of the overall plan for art in public space, initiated by Bjørvika Utvikling AS

Common Lands are supported by The City of Oslo, Agency for Planning and Building Services (City of Oslo), Nordic Black Theatre, MS Innvik.

Book release at Hordaland Kunstsenter 9/11 20.00

Written on September 8, 2009 at 10:23, by maya

Ctrl+Z Publishing was approached by the Bergen Kunsthall winter 2008 with a request to edit a publication on the occasion of the Bergen Biennial Conference in September 2009 which would in some way mirror the local art scene’s response to the City of Bergen’s proposal to create a Bergen biennial. The anthology Localised is rooted in, but edited independently from, this conference.

Texts by: Knut Ove Arntzen, Malin Barth, Jørgen Blitzner, Espen Sommer Eide, Øyvind Pål Farstad, Melanie Fieldseth, Gisle Frøysland, Are Hauffen, Ingvill Henmo, Toril Johannessen, Erik Joung, Annette Kierulf, Eva Kun, Per Kvist, Jørgen Larsson, Sissel Lillebostad, Jørgen Lund, Rita Marhaug, Marie Nerland, Heidi Nikolaisen, Anngjerd Rustand, Arne Rygg, Steinar Sekkingstad, Hilde Skjeggestad, Torunn Skjelland, Renee Turner, Maia Urstad, Ole Mads Sirks Vevle, Synnøve Vik, Jeremy Welsh

Participants: Anne Sofie Bertelsen, Sven Åge Birkeland, Hans-Jakob Brun, Anne Marthe Dyvi, Marianne Gathe, Erlend Høyersten, Frøydis Lindén, Trond Lossius, Åse Løvgren, Nina Malterud, Sjur Nedreaas, Julie Lillelien Porter, Dag Sveen, Sveinung Rudjord Unneland, Solveig Øvstebø

Edited by Anne Szefer Karlsen, Morten Kvamme and Arne Skaug Olsen