A professional seminar exploring how art in, of and for public space may be a catalyst for new perspectives as society confronts existential challenges of increasing complexity.

This seminar is designed for artists and cultural professionals, as well as public sector operators and civil society (urban development, agriculture, industry, environment). The program will combine presentations, dialogues and physical explorations of diverse local terrains.

Fredrikstad
Meeting place: Østfold Internasjonale Teater, Dokka 3 a, 1671 Kråkerøy
01. and 02. November 2022, 09-18 both days

Registration by October 26th.

Methods, possibilities and challenges

The central case study will be Østfold Internasjonale Teater’s work with the international cooperation project (UN)COMMON SPACES and how this may contribute to establishing a transdisciplinary, tri-annual festival of international format in Fredrikstad. Since both are in early stages of development, the focus will be more on questions and methods, possibilities and challenges. How may selected places in and around Fredrikstad serve as context and material for meaningful artistic experiences?

In a spirit of thinking together we will consider how artists may engage and involve inhabitants in the creative development and implementation of innovative and unpredictable works that respond to and enliven regional territories. Here it may be helpful to conceive of the process as the work, and to recognize the durational aspect of time as equally important to that of place or site.

Important information

Parts of the program will be outdoors. Dress according to weather conditions and use
proper footwear.

Meeting place: Østfold Internasjonale Teater, Dokka 3A, 1671 Kråkerøy

It is recommended to participate both days, although you are welcome to participate only one day.

Lunch and refreshments are included.

At the end of each day, we will go out to eat. Everyone is welcome to join at their own expence. Please let us know if you would like us to book a seat for you at dinner!

Registration

Please use the registration form to confirm your participation and which day(s):

Registration deadline was 26. October 2022

Program

Tuesday 01. November

Wednesday 02. November       

(UN)COMMON SPACES 2020–2024

At a time when European societies are undergoing considerable changes, art must be at the forefront to offer new perspectives. To rebuild the pact between art and society, more and more artists are leaving conventional spaces to work in and with the public space, in direct contact with citizens and inhabitants. (UN)COMMON SPACES aims at supporting the strong growth of this sector at a European scale to reinvent the relation between the cultural sector and the civil society.

(UN)COMMON SPACES is an international cooperation project of IN SITU – European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space , and is co-financed by the EU culture program Creative Europe. The project brings together 16 partners from 13 countries, where ØIT has been the only Norwegian partner since 2014. A unique feature of (UN)COMMON SPACES is the move away from individual works, prioritizing rather a long-term, collective commitment to 16 Associate Artists and their practices over a period of four years.

Østfold Internasjonale Teater has currently engaged six of the Associate Artists, who are each in various stages of an exploratory development process. The plan is for their processual works to culminate in a public program in 2024. They are each investigating questions related to ecology, though with radically different methods and forms of expression. One of the goals of the seminar, which is part of a week-long artistic laboratory, is to support the building of a network of resources around their individual trajectories and the project as a whole. This will, in turn, enhance their ability to create works that resonate in the region.

Fredrikstad Tri-annual?

Do we need another festival? Do we need to reimagine «festival» as we confront the challenges of the 21st century? If we acknowledge that «we» (in a global perspective) must think, act, and live radically differently – how might a reimagined festival contribute to these changes as a generational undertaking?

ØIT is cooperating with Fredrikstad municipality to explore the prospects for establishing a transdisciplinary program with international ambitions rooted in local contexts and developments. The current proposal is for tri-annual program with the ambition of designing a pilot for 2024, and an inaugural program in 2027. A thread that will run through this seminar is the question of how durational, processual artistic works like those of (UN)COMMON SPACES may suggest models for a festival that does not result in an signal event every third year, but is rather a sequence of activities that transpire over a three-year period of time.

A circular frame

As both a contextual and literal framing device, Østfold Internasjonale Teater has traced a ring around Fredrikstad with a radius of 30km. Contained within this territory is a rich diversity of landscapes and activities. This includes urban centers, agriculture, natural landscapes, diverse industries, hydroelectric power production, international shipping, a national park that is more than 90% under water, and the river delta region of Norway’s longest river. It is seldom to have so many contrasting biospheres interwoven so intimately. (UN)COMMON SPACES and the proposed pilot in 2024 provide an opportunity to experiment with a an uncommonly decentralized program av artistic investigations.

Contributors

Anne Beate Hovind (NO)
Anne Beate Hovind is an urban developer and a commissioner of public artworks that challenge conventional notions of art production, especially as regards time and duration. Most notable are the internationally renowned Future Library by the Scottish artist Katie Paterson, and Losæter/Flatbread Society by the collective Futurefarmers. Operating at the intersection of art, culture and business, Hovind has drawn upon her background in project management–including the construction of Ahus hospital, and designing passenger services for the new terminal at Gardermoen airport–to excel at “multi-lingual” approaches to transdisciplinary collaboration. In 2017 she was awarded Oslo municipality’s Artist Award in recognition of her achievements.

Nora Vaage (NO)
Nora S. Vaage is associate professor of art and media studies at Nord University in Levanger, and lead researcher at NOBA – Norwegian BioArt Arena in Ås. NOBA is the first permanent arena for bioart in Norway, and creates exhibitions and facilitates interaction between artists and researchers working on the biosphere. Nora’s research has included topics such as ethical challenges of using biotechnologies for artistic purposes, the metaphor of microorganisms as «living machines», representations of science in art and what it means to produce knowledge within the arts. She is one of the principal investigators of the six-year research project Anthropogenic Soils: Recuperating Human-Soil Relationships on a Troubled Planet, which she will be telling us about during the seminar.

Andy Merrifield (UK)
Andy Merrifield is a writer and independent scholar with a PhD in Geography from the University of Oxford. Merrifield was a contributor to the project PICTURE Budapest–Østfold: Investigating Artistic Interventions in (Post-)industrial Contexts , which was a bilateral research and exchange project of ØIT and the Hungarian IN SITU partner Artopolis Association in 2017. For this he wrote a short essay Artists and Planetary Urbanization. He is author of more than a dozen books, translated into ten languages, including Metromarxism, Henri Lefebvre, Guy Debord, John Berger, The Wisdom of Donkeys, Magical Marxism, The Amateur, and Marx, Dead and Alive. His latest book, Beyond Plague Urbanism, will appear with Monthly Review Press (New York) next Spring.

Bjørn Frostad (NO)
Bjørn Frostad is an ornithologist, nature interpreter, and photographer who is working as teacher and guide for the newly established Øra Økopark.  

Randy Gunnar Bohmann-Lange (US/NO)
Randy Gunnar Bohmann-Lange is a nature interpreter and permaculture farmer who combines active stewardship of nature with pedagogical activities. In addition to his position as lecturer and guide for Ytre Hvaler National Park visitor center, Bohmann-Lange founded Ravn naturveiledning and Eikeløkka permaculture farm on the island of Kirkøy in the Hvaler archipelago. He also lectures at the Norweigan University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Ås. In addition to his formal education – including a bachelor in ecology from the University College of Telemark, a master in nature stewardship from NMBU, and a year studying birds and birdsong at University College in North Trøndelag – Bohmann-Lange has sailed the Atlantic, journeyed through Australia and North America, and practiced nature conservation and permacultur in Costa Rica. 

IN SITU artists

Johannes Bellinkx (BE)

• Johannesbellinkx.com
• Reverse in Fredrikstad

Eva Bubla (HU)

• Evabubla.art

Leonardo Delogu (IT)

• Casadom.org

Seth Honnor (UK)

• PIG in Moss in 2018
• PIG – An experiment in collective decision making – UCLG Report
• An experiment in collective decision making- Article
• Kaleider.com/

Emke Idema (NL)

• Emkeidema.nl/en/

Alexandros Mistriotis (GR)

• The Reception in Moss
• Å avdekke tapt mening, artikkel av Arve Rød

Nana Francisca Schottländer (DK)

• Nanafrancisca.wixsite.com    

IN SITU associate citizen

Marius Grønning (NO)

• Criticality in site based art

IN SITU partners

Katrien Verwilt, Metropolis (DK)

• Metropolis.dk/en

Kees Lesuis, Oerol Festival (NL)

• Oerol.nl/en/