a new arts and culture festival
§112 Fredrikstad is a new arts and culture festival that asks what kind of world we leave behind for future generations. The name refers to the Norwegian constitution’s §112, intended to ensure the protection of nature.
Through cultural experiences, conversations, public meetings and debate, §112 Fredrikstad will examine climate issues in a new way. 2024 is a pilot year, a trial year with the ambition to develop the festival into a three-year event. The initiative comes from Fredrikstad Municipality and Østfold Internasjonale Teater. We collaborate with a wide range of partners and contributors from Fredrikstad’s art and cultural life.
Are we good ancestors?
The “century of progress” is long gone; its utopian visions transformed into dystopian angst and questions of survival. Today, we find ourselves in the Anthropocene, the age of humanity, where our species and our technological advances have fundamentally changed the biological basis of all life on Earth. More and more people believe that our way of life is unsustainable.
The global community is facing existential crises such as climate change, species extinction and nature loss. While the challenges are global in nature, a surprising number of them are also local to the Glomma region. Are we aware of how complex the region’s biospheres are? How do we take responsibility as a local community? Are we good ancestors?
§112 Fredrikstad + (UN)COMMON SPACES
A significant part of ØIT’s program under §112 Fredrikstad consists of productions that come out of (UN)COMMON SPACES, an international program for art in public space, where artists from all over Europe have worked under the same thematic umbrella.
(UN)COMMON SPACES is powered by the European platform for art in public space, IN SITU. As the Norwegian partner, Østfold International Theatre has chosen to focus on the relevant issues in the context of local urban development, agriculture, industry, nature management, energy production and waste management.
As a curatorial starting point, we have drawn a ring around Fredrikstad with a 30 kilometer radius as a frame, and invited several international artists to use selected places in the area as a starting point for new works. Landscapes and urban spaces are not just a stage for the art – they are part of the work’s materials, so that the works become of the place as much as in the place.
Artists cannot solve the global problems of our time. But they can offer new and alternative perspectives, conveyed through the sensuous and poetic, the wondrous and unpredictable. We invite you to a series of artistic experiences that are unusual, challenging and unforgettable – and local!
This is art that is in, by and for Fredrikstad and its surrounding area!
Østfold Internasjonale Teaters program during §112 Fredrikstad
- Watchtower by Johannes Bellinkx (part of (Un)Common Spaces)
- The Reception by Alexandros Mistriotis (part of (Un)Common Spaces)
- Material Displacements by Nana Francisca Shottländer (part of (Un)Common Spaces)
- Korn by Tiril Pharo
- Sandstorm by Carl Andre Johansson
- Verden sa ja from Teater Viken
- Det Siste Værste by De Utvalgte and Motorpsycho
See the full program for §112 Fredrikstad at
>>paragraf112.no
(UN)COMMON SPACES is coordinated through IN SITU, the European platform for artistic creation in public space, and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.