PNEK (Production Network for Electronic Art, Norway) is a national network for electronic, digital and inter-disciplinary art. Supporting a series of exhibition spaces and workshop laboratories funded by Arts Council Norway. Providing artists and organisations with project development, workshops and delivery. Developing international collaborative opportunities, seminar and exhibition programmes.
Notes on our metting with Katya, Director Office for Contempory Art, Katy spent two years working for the Ikon in Birmingham 2002/03.
OCA are working with the City Council to contribute to developing a 5 year cultural plan leading up to, and beyond, the 2019 Green Capital of Culture.
There is a triannual called Oslo architecture and there will be Oslo Pilot, exploring art in the public space, being developed by Curators commissioned by the City Council.
The OCA program empathise is on the North of Norway, in relation to Climate change, Borders, resource extraction. But especially the indigenous population of the nomadic Sami. Working on bringing visibility to and disseminating Sami culture. The region extends trans-nationally, with the indigenous area cut up by nation states. Katy’s has just taken part in an annual congress in Art, the last being ‘Sami Rage’. The Sami were subject to cultural discrimination, they had no land rights, their language and culture was disappearing. In 1989 they were granted a regional government. There is Sami House H.Q. in Oslo that is open to visit.
Olav Mathias-Eira is a reindeer-herder. He is a member of the Sami community, one of the largest indigenous groups remaining in Europe.
There is a series of court actions at the moment taken by young Sami acting as nature defenders. Green developments like the building of wind farms across rain deer tracks in Sami land, asks the question what does it mean to become Green, whose Green technology is it? What are the diversity plans. This is part of OCA’s program making.
There is a link with New York’s Eye Beam, Sally Swade’s leading a series of workshops on technology and how it can empower indigenous communities, called indigenous New York.
One of the only way to effect change is to bring in the international perspective, focusing the indigenous perspective on this international level. The situations in the other Baltic spaces are even worse.
Other project to look at is Dark Ecology, part of which was curated by Hilde Methi, who is based in Kirkenes City. There is a biennial called Liaf in Lofoten, just happened this September.http://liaf.no/?lang=en
Norway as a country is only 100 years old, and is still in a phase of nation building, a priority of which was securing the coast and so the Sami population on the coast was the most threatened.
In the north there is Pikene pa Bruce, in, Kirkeres, art centre for residencies and a gallery http://www.pikene.no/
OCA can help by proving funding for Norwegian artists working internationally, in the form of:
1. Travel and expenses for commissions and exhibitors
2. Expenses for giving lectures and presentations
3. The translation of texts.
OCA does not fund production costs, although Norwegian artists can apply to Art Council Norway for this, it can’t be matched with OCA funds
OCA will help us by a two bedroom flat and studio as part of our exchange program, depending on times.
