Friday
Arriving late, first impressions; conversations into the early morning, exchanging ideals and theories, plotting courses to follow for the journey ahead. Oh, it’s cold, it’s expensive, but it’s so clean!
Journey? 1st time on an artist residence, so some trepidation, Subject matter that is close to the heart, but with other artists that share similar ideals. Although late, the atmosphere still sparkles with a taste of what has been, the Notam studio space(notam02.no) studios crammed to the rafters with analogue music making and manipulating equipment, artists creating soundscapes in cooperative spaces, collaborative networks starting to be established and more to be experienced. To be able to discuss the change that an artist led project that can help the way that people see the change that we have to make to our environment.
Saturday
Exploration, Cultural differences.
Having experienced cultural differences and attitudes to the arts in both Europe and North America, being given the opportunity to explore in such a diverse city poses the question, where does one start? A course plotted the previous evening saw Daniel Hopkins, Becky Mayhay and myself at the Atilier Nord ANX gallery on Olaf Ryes Plass to experience “Infinite Monologue” by Tor Jorgan van Eijk
An installation of pulsating colour, rolling scan lines, noise and sound, the installation utlising video feedback loops to create its own points of reference, small adjustments externally creating an infinite amount of possibilities to the sound and the visual effect.
What strikes the viewer first is that Atilier Nord is an old church, and on entering the piece, it gives the impression of coming to worship, screens either side of the viewer, a tryptic of screens placed at the end and the sound all-encompassing as a church organs drone, acoustically, the sound being hypnotic, like a chant or a mantra.
From here our course veers to the Podium Oslo on Hausmanngate (www.podium.enterprises) to see the exhibition of “Wall One” Ayman Alazraq and Emanual Svedin
The piece reflects on the constriction of thousands of refugees being constricted in one place, a murmur of a heartbeats emanating from behind the wall. The wall of rough construction, but plastered white, its edges rough, hurried, almost as if to hide what is within, the thin clean veneer hiding what our society doesn’t want to acknowledge. The heartbeats are but a murmur, but on placing ones hands on the wall, they become real, the thub thub resonating with us, amplifying the plight of refugees in these environments.
What struck me walking back along the river was the smell of the paint can, the signature haze of the graffiti artist. More so was the diverse nature of the graffiti that was being encountered. Political statements, anti-facist, anarchistic, works portraying the plight of the refugees that the wall had referenced. Graffiti chased around buildings, along floors over doorways, similar to the west area of Amsterdam, every fire-hydrant, street sign and brick being included is the street artist’s palette.
Coming from an inner-city area that is well known for its graffiti, and street art, Digbeth, in Birmingham, the differences between the work in the Uk and Europe as a whole were striking. European graffiti it seems is a lot more political, the messages rammed home in multicolour acrylic and cellulose. But large graffiti arts pieces largely untouched by the taggers paint pens, a mutual respect between art and anarchy. Almost as if it was an agreement that the pieces that carried the social political messages needed to be seen and that the taggers were signing their agreement to this.
One thing that’s strikes me about Oslo is just how quiet it is. In most major European cities, there are always the sounds of a city, cars, laughter, sirens, the hustle and bustle. Oslo is different. Noise is a pollutant. Be it actual or electromagnetic smog, it is always there in a metropolis. Here, not so, the peace is almost deafening. The stress that this noise causes is a factor in underlying stress induced problems, does this mean that by removing this noise, we can start to make more spaces that are conducive to an arena of positive solutions’ to nature looking problems?
Sunday
Day of Rest?
One gets to know what makes a city’s heart beat by wandering the streets, exploring places that some would fear to tread. Sunday, when traditionally everybody rests isn’t the best day for this. However, the artist community in the Grunerlykken is still fairly vibrant even then. Artist markets abound, natural crafts, a part of the countryside in the big city.
Walking up to the Kulture Huset to see Dele Sesimi, the musician responsible for keeping the music of the afrobeats movement alive, gave plenty of time for contemplation and approaching the subject of how we change society to think locally and in the wider world about our relationships with nature and how we can help her. Messages come from everywhere, street art prompting self- reasoning, birds battling over food ; small birds faster than the larger ones, deft of foot, individual rather than pack mentality. Frightened away, their dance forgotten by the shadow and call of the seagull, lands amongst them all and scatters them to the winds. Like small ideas, quick efficient, which get left behind in the larger flocks and then get squashed by big corporations?
Dele Sesimi’s talk of the history of Afrobeats brought back many memories. Been brought up in Handsworth, I can remember the sound system playoffs between the reggae and the beats across street corners, us as children having our ears massaged by historical African beats and the cloth stringed bass lines of Marley. It’s as children that Dele made reference to us, as in music, one can give us a toy, there are three types of children who will receive it. One will take it, examine and cherish, put it away, unplayed and stored, away from the world. One will play, take it apart, see how it works but abandon it through boredom or lack of reconstruction skills. The other will do this, but learn the skills that are required to make it whole, examine the mechanisms, re-build it to be as good if not better than the original. Dele took the music that would have died and made it more, kept it alive. Given the gift and the opportunity, he seized it and made it more. To return it back better than before.
How many times in our lives can we apply this analogy to ourselves, our practice and the environment that we live in. to Receive, study, learn, question resolve and make better?
Meeting Karen O’Brien provided some of the answers, Karen is a Professor in the department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo
To enable the change in attitudes needed to make biophilic relationships work, we felt that the approach should be multi-faceted, raising awareness from different viewpoints, either from a sub-culture change or an obvious, on the surface one. From little acorns grow big trees but one tree doesn’t make a forest. Plant more Acorns. Grow more trees.
Too many times, issues with the environment are sensationalised, once the initial message is out there, it ebbs away. The facts may be exaggerated in a wave of sensationalism; by relying on true properly researched facts and using them as part of a properly planned framework of education, better results could be achieved.
Monday
Meetings and Mountains.
Early morning meeting with Gyrid of PNEK, Production network for Electronic art in Norway, an organisation that connects with over 50 international partners and partner networks.
As an artist whose work encompasses this media, it’s important to see how potential partners react to the ideas that we bring with us, and how we can all work together on our common goal. Refreshingly, the network is already switched on to the ideas of Biophillic cities, and the role that artists and academics have to play,
After being here for three days now, it intrigues me how I’m dissecting ideas brought with me. The smallest thing, such as a hoarding cut out to let a plant grow, bringing home how this city cares about nature and its impact on it. The city also gives an inspirational backdrop to the swopping of ideas about art in general, its approach to diversity, and subjects such as mental health and addiction. Ideas and opinions that may have stayed hidden come out in the environment that the residency has provided. Although walking around the city may provide inspiration, the swapping of ideals and opinions provide the perspiration behind the finished product.
Tuesday
Ice and Imagination
Snow! As quiet as Oslo is, the cloak of snow over the city silences it even further, but glad to hear the bustle and chatter at Kunsternernos Hus, where we met Madaline Park, curator and manager of the RAM gallery. It was interesting to hear of the same struggles that artists have here in Norway, moving into spaces abandoned by industry and business, making them work as arts spaces, only to have industry and business take them back over again once the artists have breathed life back into them. At least here, arts industry and business work together to create a harmony between their own needs, unlike Germany and the UK, where gentrification are the order of the day and the artists, their job done are pushed out to start the cycle all over again.
Onwards to exploring, with Coral Manton, new media artist and researcher down to the fiord through and industrial powerhouse of regeneration. Stark towers take the fumes away from the cars that escape to Sweden, urban gardens reside amongst the concrete, houses built like boats, with earth built pizza ovens. A paradise in a dystopian landscape.
It’s rare in our busy lives to get the chance to let the brain go, walking 5 miles round Oslo may have made for sore feet, but the wealth of knowledge, understanding and ideas that were exchanged were invaluable, and a good starting point for future projects. It also detracts that we are walking 5 miles….
Oslo, even in winter is a beautiful city, sunset over the fiord reminded me of what we could lose if we don’t look after what we have. Inspired by my surroundings, the Astrup Fearnley Museum topped the day providing insight and thought provoking works by artists such as Koons, Kiefer Sherman and Hirst. Protected and displayed for future generations. Bit like what we should be considering for our planet really.
