BARENTS RESIDENCY

Residency organised by Pikene på Broen, Kirkenes 1st-10th of December 2013. I researched rømmekolle, an indigenous fermented milk "yogurt" that will materialise as a project for the arts festival Barents Spektakkel 2015 in Kirkenes, Norway. I interviewed many elderly people in Sør Varanger county about their rømkolle traditions and nearly got hold of an old heirloom culture that had been cultivated by the 92 year old Ovidia Kurti since childhood. Unfortunately it had died 4 months previous to my arrival (!), probably due to her using shop bought milk that must have been contaminated by antibiotics. I am still looking for a culture, and also looking into other ways of creating the starter from a mountain plant.
I also researched milk fermentation in Murmansk, North Russia, and had the pleasure of meeting a lovely family from Tjetchenia and a lady from Arkangelsk. They both had amazing foraging traditions that they introduced me to but unfortunately thy had no fermented milk traditions in their areas. I would hva to travel all the way to Caucasus next time!

GREEN LIGHT FOR THE ARTS - COMPENDIUM

A compendium on Green Arts and material choices (Grönt Ljus på Konsten) researched and developed by Artlab Gnesta.
I was invited to write an introduction on The Art of Widening Perspectives.
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SUSTAINABLE ART – A CREATIVE CHALLENGE

”Sustainable Art – a creative challenge",  A booklet on green art and sustainable choices  published by Stockholm City Council, Sweden.  I wrote an article for the booklet.

 

GREEN LIGHTS FOR THE ARTS - SEMINAR

 

The seminar Green Lights for the Arts took place at Liljevalchs Konsthall 11th November 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden. Organised by Stockholm City Council in collaboration with Artlab Gnesta. I did a talk on
The Art of Discovering New Perspectives.

 

 
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LIVING CULTURES WORKSHOP

BREATH

Just returned from an amazing trip to Island filming the earth breathing. Breathtaking scenery, frothing and spurting water, bubbly mud and steaming hot vapours. Inspiring and expiring all at once. I am nearing the end of my filming and now look forward to sculpting the images together to create this longer version of the film Breath!

NY ORK

New Ork is an arena to get inspired by sustainability and green thinking and practice initiatiated by Osebakken Green Neighborhood in Porsgrunn in collaboration with Grenland Artgallery (Norway). The goal is to see how new knowledge and aesthetic experiences can inspire and create a foundation and understanding of sustainable ways to collaborate and develop urban areas. This years theme was earthand the one day event was a pilot project that will continue in 2014-15. I was responsible for the artistic foundations as curator, and also showed my film Breath as part of a film program at the Art Hall Grenland. Invited artists and contibutors: Kultivator from Öland, Sweden and Marianne Leisner, Gaia Architects, Norway.

BIOCHYMICKAL ARTS - FOAM WORKSHOP

No, its not a misspelling but a deliberate mix of Alchemy and Chemistry. A word coined long before the arts and sciences were separated, according to Maja Kuzanovic, initiator of FOAM. This workshop, initiated and organised by the cultural lab FOAM in Brussels, was a master class bringing together practitioners and enthusiasts in the art, science and technology of biochemistry and fermentation, to and learn from one another and ferment together while exploring connections between our different fields of interest.

TREES - the lungs of the world Part II

This was the second part of the project about getting children to connect with the wonders of trees through aesthetics, poetics, play and stories. The project was a collaboration between storyteller Georgiana Keable and myself for the project Kunstsprang - a Norwegian initiative working with art and ecology for young children. Through storytelling and creative work with the children we focused on the relationship between humans and nature that inspired the children to think of trees not only as a resource we can use for our own benefit but as an arena for play, sensory experiences and aesthetic development. In this way we want to facilitate a more holistic experience of trees, nature and the environment. The project was in two parts with four days in May 2013 and 5 days in September 2013 to enable us to bring the seasons into the work. Our goal with the project is that the kids involved should be allowed and given time to dwell on the various experiences we introduce and with plenty of room for imagination, curiosity and wonder. For more information and pictures see the website (in Norwegian only).