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The two projects that were presented during the summer of 2009 were the winners of a national competition which aimed at bringing forward fresh ideas. Seven artists participated in this competition. This is a short presentation of the five proposals not chosen for realization:

 

Sissel Mutale Bergh: Interweaving History and Present Time

The suggested project consists of two sculptural elements and a video. Both sculptures have a basic form which refers to a fossil or a brain. One of the sculptures is to be cast in concrete and placed at the Ekne beach where it will lie half buried in the sand and be corroded by the sea. The second sculpture is to be shaped in a transparent material with integrated rope lights and will be sited at the top of a frail, rickety watchtower by the Falstad building. The video presents juxtaposed interviews with people connected to the history of Falstad and with survivors from prison camps in Burma. In parallel, the utterances of the persons interviewed are repeated by local junior secondary school pupils and adults whose repetitions are mixed with their reflections on history, the war, experience and empathy.

 

Leif Gaute Staurland: Arrival

The project consists of a 15-minutes film in black and white which, according to the plan, is to be shown on a screen in the Falstad building and possibly on the net. The film shows an arrival to an undefined institution where the new inmate (a patient, a prisoner) is welcomed and registered by a representative of the institution. The new inmate is given instructions and has to answer personal questions. His personal belongings are confiscated. He has to take a bath and slip into grey, anonymous clothes. After 3-4 minutes of rendered dialogue, the structure of the film changes: the soundtrack is no longer the dialogue between the two protagonists but a voice-over that conveys the protagonists’ reflections on everything that takes place.

 

Maja Nilsen: I Hear the Winter Approaching

The project consists of an outdoor sculpture in the shape of an oversized black slug, preferably placed in the inner court at Falstad. Emphasized by its monumental format, the slug will take on the character of a symbol. By using the slug as a metaphor, the artist endeavours to connect it to ideas about the slowness of time, the ability to endure, memory, and to something which is partly threateningand irresponsible. At the same time, by playing with proportions, she wishes to enhance the experience of the public of being at this particular place, of the architecture and of themselves. The oversized slug is meant to underline the feeling of being tiny at this place; it is supposed to create confusion and encourage wonder and reflection.

 

Wenche Gulbransen: Mnemosyne

Gulbransen proposes to establish a series of publications which imparts themes tied to the history of Falstad and related topics in an aesthetic and sensuous language. The leaflets will combine images with poetic texts, choosing different approaches to or ways of treating various historical themes. The artist gives an outline of four possible issues: 1) “A Wonderful Summer”, based on amateur film shots made during the summer of 1942 by the Jewish family Isaksen as presented in the museum exhibition of the Falstad Centre, 2) “Aryan Cathedral”, about women and Nazi body ideals, 3) “Du må ikke sove” (“Do Not Sleep”, an anti-war poem by the Norwegian poet Arnulf Øverland), which combines Øverland’s poem with photos of empty and crowded open-plan offices, and 4) “The Invasion of Space by Architecture”, about the ideal of Nazism expressed in the language of architecture.

 

Kristin Tårnes: Archive from the Year ’09

The artist has collaborated with Sille Storihle on a process-oriented art project where the artists enter into dialogue with a group of six local school boys and girls about the Second World War and the role of art in this connection. The project is structured around three meetings or workshops which are documented by means of video, photo, sound recordings and texts. The youngsters’ thoughts and the learning process are subsequently made available in an archive which is broadcast on the net. The documentation is also stored in a specially made filing cabinet which will be donated to the Falstad Centre.