Publisert 17.12.2024
As the year is coming to an end, it is time to look back at what we have achieved in 2024, to reflect, and to look forward to what the future holds.
During 2024 we continued to work with our NORD – Cultural Bridges programme. Building on previous work in networks and new relationships, our focus was on implementing collaborative projects. We also focused on long-term projects and partnerships and on extending the life cycle of artworks and productions. We offered three residencies for Finnish artists and cultural practitioners in Norway. In connection with our projects, we had the pleasure of producing artist interviews throughout the year.
Together with more than 40 partners, we have realised and supported over 30 projects, involved 70 artists and cultural practitioners, and reached a total audience of 19 800. We would like to thank all of our partners, collaborators, funders, and audiences for the momentous year!
NORD – Cultural Bridges
Since 2022, the institute has worked actively to strengthen networks and activities between cultural actors in Northern Norway, Northern Finland and Sápmi. The NORD programme began with networking and building new relationships in the North, and over the past two years has developed into concrete projects in which the institute has played a key role.
The international indigenous drag show Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL premiered at the indigenous festival Riddu Riđđu in July 2024. It was the first time a drag show was performed in Sápmi. The project brought together artists from Australia, Canada and the Finnish side of Sápmi, and the artists were Aunty Tamara, Feather Talia, Randy River and Ritni Tears. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien
Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL was commissioned by Riddu Riđđu, and produced in collaboration with the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute and FCINY - Finnish Cultural Institute in New York. In February 2025, the project will travel to New York. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien
In collaboration with the curator collective Pikene på Broen, the institute invited artist Lada Suomenrinne to Pikene på Broen’s residence in Kirkenes in autumn 2024. The artist will return to Kirkenes for a shorter stay in January 2025, and the project they are working on will be shown at the international art festival Barents Spektakel in February. Photo: Lada Suomenrinne
Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL and the residency opportunity for Lada Suomenrinne were organised as part of pARTir, a collaborative initiative of the Finnish cultural and academic institutes promoting sustainable international mobility in 2024 and 2025. pARTir is funded by the European Union’s Next Generation EU initiative.
Residencies
The institute aims to improve Finnish artists and cultural practitioners’ opportunities to work longer in Norway. We enable longer stays and possibilities of more extensive and long-term collaboration between organisations, artists and curators. In 2024, we have been able to offer three residencies for artists and cultural practitioners.
The institute has established a multi-year residency collaboration for performing artists at Davvi - Centre for Performing Arts in collaboration with Davvi and the Swedish Cultural Foundation. In 2024, actor and director David Kozma and playwright and artistic researcher Vanja Hamidi Isacson were selected as artists-in-residence. Actor Luthando Jamda joined Kozma and Hamidi Isacson in Hammerfest, Norway.
The critically acclaimed and award-winning Finland-Swedish performance Cowboy försvunnen visited Vega Scene in Oslo at the end of October. The Finnish-Norwegian performing arts group behind the performance spent three weeks in residency at Davvi - Centre for Performing Arts in September 2023. Emilia Jansson, Ole Øwre, Tom Rejström, and playwright and director Otto Sandqvist were part of the performing arts group. Photo: Ilkka Saastamoinen
Other highlights from our program 2024
In August, the Helsinki-based gallery Forum Box presented exhibitions of contemporary Norwegian art. The artists were selected through an open call organised by Bærum Kunsthall and juried by Forum Box’s member artists. The exhibition continued a collaboration between the art spaces that began in 2023, when Forum Box juried Bærum Kunsthall’s programme for 2023. The institute has had the pleasure of supporting the collaboration between Forum Box and Bærum Kunsthall and bringing the organisations together.
In September, Sasha Huber’s performance “Stripped Down to the Bones” was re-enacted as part of the Oslo Culture Night. Held at the former Museum of Contemporary Arts, the performance confronted the audience with the invisible injustices in our society. It commemorates lives that have been systematically destroyed by colonisation and through forced migration. The performance was organised in collaboration with Kulturbyrået Mesén, and performed collaboratively with students from the Master’s Programme in Art and Public Space at the Oslo National Academy of Arts.
Sasha Huber's performance "Stripped Down to the Bones" was re-enacted during Oslo Culture Night last 13 September. Photos: Jon Gorospe
Gallery Forum Box’s exhibitions of Norwegian Contemporary art featured works by Bianca Hisse, Moderne Ruiner (Astrid Findreng, Elisabeth Engen & Grethe Britt Fredriksen), Magnhild Opdøl, Tonje Bøe Birkeland, and Qi Tan. Photo: Anna Autio
Forum Box presents Norwegian Contemporary 2024. Photo: Anna Autio
Coming up in 2025
Silent Film Concert: By Sledge and Reindeer in Inka Länta’s Winterland 17 January 2025
Live music by Lávre Johan Eira, Hildá Länsman, Tuomas Norvio and Svante Henryson.
Tromsø International Film Festival, Tromsø
Barents Spektaktel 2025: Lada Suomenrinne 20-23 February 2025
Pikene på Broen, Kirkenes
Premiere: Tze Yeung Ho – Nara 12 March 2025
Nara is a brand new chamber opera exploring power and ambiguity.
Borealis –a festival for experimental music, Bergen
We wish you all a cosy and happy holiday season!