Untitled - Oiip

EXTRA EUROPA NORWAY
Discussion, Performance, music
Borders – control
or rock’n’roll?
SÁmi-Salami
Transborder Café / Second Evening
Transborder Café / Third Evening
“Borders – Control or Rock’n’Roll?” is the slogan of
the festival Barents Spektakel that is held in Kirkenes
every winter, with a satellite festival in Russia.
The slogan is supposed to convey that rock’n’roll
or, more broadly speaking, arts and culture provide
a non-state directed alternative to border controls.
k Rune Rafaelsen, the leader of the Norwegian
Barents Secretariat in Kirkenes, a dyed-in-the-wool
Barents bureaucrat and Barents enthusiast, will
start the evening by positioning us geographically
and geopolitically into the Barents Cooperation model
– a new security model based on regional political
cooperation and cross-border human contacts.
k Amund Sjølie Sveen, an artist and musician, will
follow with a performance called “The United States
of Barents”. He speaks to us from 2036, analyzing
what has led to the establishment of the USB and
demonstrates how the opening of IKEA in Haparanda
Tornio (a border-town at the Swedish-Finnish
border) is a major event in the history of the Barents
Region. Welcome to the brave new world of the
“United States of Barents”!
We zoom to the heart of the Barents Region—the
twin-cities Kirkenes (on the Norwegian side) and Nikel
(on the Russian side). What happens when the
region morphs from periphery to centre?
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k Olga and Alexander Florensky: Bringing charm
and their sense of humour to bear on the two towns
Kirkenes and Nikel, this artist duo from St Petersburg
will present their take in “Advertisement for
eternal values”.
k Blue Noses, an artists’ group from Moscow,
voices the stereotypes of “the Russian town” Kirkenes,
exploring the potential of a cross-border labour
market.
k Screening of the film “Kirkenes & Nikel: Dedicated
to Voiceless Immigrant Workers”. In Kirkenes
the mines are about to be re-opened, whereas Nikel
faces the closure of its nickel smelter which has
made this place one of the most heavily polluted
in the world.
k Presentation of the outdoor performance “Control
or Rock’n’Roll”, a sound event Rock’n’Roll
sampler of the Barents Spektakel 2009.
k Tequilajazzz, a rock band from St Petersburg will
conclude Transborder Café two.
Russian borscht will be served.
DATE
3.4.09 | 7 p.m.
WHERE
OK Offenes Kulturhaus,
Mediendeck
TICKETS
Admission free
PARTICIPANTS
Olga and Alexander Florensky,
Blue Noses, Rune Rafaelsen,
Amund Sjølie Sveen, Tequilajazzz
Tequilajazzz
Sámi-Salami is a tribute to the endurance of the Sámi
civilization as well as to its fragility.
k “Anisja Sleeping” by Yvette Brackman (Copenhagen)
pictures a Nenets girl (the Nenets are an indigenous
group in Russia) clinging on to a reindeer
sleigh. A strong wind is up yet the girl doesn’t fall
off – she is even fast asleep! You might almost be
tempted to call out to her: Hold fast!
k “The Catalyst”: This is a project involving a place
on the Kola peninsula in Russia’s North West that
Yvette Brackman began in spring 2006. She established
a contact between local craftsmen in Lovozero
and the Spanish shoe company Camper. And
the upshot – for Camper, for the people of Lovozero,
for the artist? – The audience is not in for another
case story. Instead, they are going to act it all out by
assuming the parts of the local craftspeople, the representative
of the shoe company, an entrepreneur,
a lawyer, the artist, etc. “You will be part of a play
written and directed by Yvette Brackman.”
k “Wolf-yoiking” by Lawra Somby from Tromsø
k Espen Sommer Eide, a musician from Bergen will
present his “Language Memory Project”, in which
he compiles a dictionary and a language databank
documenting the Skolt Sámi language. The embrace
by an archive kills a language in order to preserve
it; at the same time it creates the almost alchemical
possibility of a new lease of life.
k Mun Rahkistan: a version of Serge Gainsbourg’s
“Je t’aime” is performed by Norwegian artist Geir
Tore Holm in the Sámi language.
k “The Bridge”, with the queen of the Russian music
world Inna Zhelannaya, Sámi guitar virtuoso Roger
Ludvigsen, sax-player Oleg Mariakhin, and the
Link trio, from the northernmost region of Norway,
Finnmark, will make sure the Transborder Cafés
end on a high note.
Bidos, a Sámi soup, will be served.
DATE
4.4.09 | 7 p.m.
WHERE
OK Offenes Kulturhaus,
Mediendeck
TICKETS
Admission free
PARTICIPANTS
Yvette Brackman, Geir Tore Holm,
Link Trio, Roger Ludvigsen, Oleg
Mariakhin, Lawra Somby, Espen
Sommer Eide, Inna Zhelannaya
Anisja
Mun Rahkistan