24 Sep 2009

COMMON LANDS - Allmannaretten, Oslo

The development of waterfronts is a current trend in post-industrial cities where industrial harbor areas are being transformed into new urban spaces that emphasize mercantile, residential and recreational purposes. The curators Åse Løvgren and Karolin Tampere of the exhibition project Common Lands uses the process of redevelopment around Bjørvika in Oslo to highlight a number of issues associated with urban development, democracy, access and the distribution of power. The project is in process following this specific development and relates it to other urban developments around the world.

The artist duos Bik van Der Pol, Dellbrügge & de Moll, Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen, are commissioned to develop art works taking the transformation of the area as a starting point.

In addition to the art projects, Common Lands contains of a series of seminars and workshops, accompanied by online readers, sharing the investigations of the development. The readers aim to follow Common Lands on a parallel track and put focus on important aspects of the development, along the process.

The discursive program and the readers will together with the art projects investigate, comment on and intervene in this extensive urban redevelopment

Common Lands asks the question for whom is the new part of Oslo developed for? The title also points to art as a potential and political site for critical reflection concerning the public sphere both as concept and site.

Bjørvika has played an important role throughout the history of Oslo, and was the place where the city came into existence 1000 years ago. From 1840´s and onward, new industries emerged and the area was the site for ship building and functioned as the port of Oslo. During the next years, Bjørvika and its surrounding area will be opened up for use by the general population of Oslo and transformed into what is branded as The Fjord City. This can be seen as a virtual place, considering that its identity currently is envisioned by politicians, commercial developers, architects, city planners and other communities in the city. More than just a building site, The Fjord City contains several interrelated, but different spaces, economies and discourses, including political decisions, public debate, architects' and constructors' building plans and the cultural life taking place in the newly built opera and museums to come. Karolin Tampere and Åse Løvgren are the curators for Common Lands.

The invited artists will present their works during the autumn 2009 and spring 2010.

One fine day, all this will be yours
Dellbrügge & de Moll
Intervention in Public Space, Bjørvika, Oslo, on the sites for the planned commons
25.9-27-9 2009

If someone gave you the promise: One fine day, all this will be yours, would you trust it? Or would you insist on getting it black on white? On the future grounds of the newly developed district of Bjørvika in Oslo's harbor area the city gave a promise. It's the promise of free access to public space and communality connoted in the term allmenning (common lands). Seven areas, drafted as seven fingers of an outreaching hand, are designated as common lands. But it is not its label but its use which will decide upon space.

Living in Bjørvika
Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen

Following the public goals of a cultural and social diverse population in the new city areas of Oslo. Investigating Richard Floridas theories around the creative class and artists influence on urban development and the future of our cities.

Is there a wish for artists as inhabitants in Bjørvika and how can it be realized within the frames of a contemporary city development project?

Speculation
Bik Van der Pol

Can we think of a reflection of the future? What might be the reflection on cultural, artistic events when Bjørvika will be an active cultural area, the 'place to be'? The opera will function as opera, but performances are mainly are taking place in the open air, on the big public square, the roof of the building. The Munch museum will have sold all its famous paintings to generate finances to invest in the climate. What has the Oslo citizen experienced on the evening of, lets say, June 21, 2021? What play or show has he seen? Will there still be a newspaper where a review will be published? What will be written?

In Bjørvika, the former harbor of Oslo in transition to become a new neighborhood by the fjord. Common Lands is taking the designated public spaces in Bjørvika as its working space.

PREVIOUSLY ON COMMON LANDS:

Fjord City Summer Camp, August 24-30th
Institute for Colour

The artist group Institute for Color examined the development of Bjørvika through activities like fishing, sailing, games and discussions n the one-week project Fjord City Summer Camp. The project aimed at producing concrete expressions of different aspects of Common Lands, and the results were presented to the public on Bjørvika's Open Day, August 30 2009. With Chris Evans' video Company and the installation Voluntary Security Check by Jumana Manna.

Art as Protagonist?

What were the desires of the commissioners, Bjørvika Development Ltd, when they included a program for art and to what degree could Common Lands create an independent space to maneuver within such a commission? A workshop held at Sparwasser HQ during July 2008 was a platform for discussions around the role cultural producers, artists and the works of art can have in a development such as Bjørvika.

Art as Protagonist? is an online publication with contributions from Michael Baers, Heidi Bergsli, Markus Degerman, Anne Beate Hovind, Åse Løvgren and Karolin Tampere.

To be released September 2009 on www.commonlands.net

Common Lands
The project is initiated and supported by Bjørvika Utvikling AS
Common Lands are supported by The City of Oslo, Agency for Planning and Building Services (City of Oslo), Nordic Black Theatre and MS Innvik