Our Gruesome Cultural Heritage
“Our Gruesome Cultural Heritage” is a 12 day workshop that will take place on the Norwegian island of Håøya in the Oslofjord, approximately 40km South of Oslo. The students will investigate the very site and its identity reverberating its complex history. They will create three scenography’s relating to three specific aspects of the island’s history which gave rise to a distinct understanding of the role of Norway in the 2nd World War. In this context we will discuss and realize scenographic statements in the form of memorials. The concept of a memorial will be reflected on while staying in an immediate sensory contact with island. The Håøya project is research not primarily based on scientific inquiries but on somatic, sensory experience and reports of people visiting us on the very island itself where the students live for two weeks. The workshop is organized and run by Prof. Serge von Arx and archeologist Kjartan Fønstelien, together with social anthropologist Christian Sørhaug, with scenography, sociology and museology students from the Østfold University College and the University of Oslo.
The small island Håøya Oslo today is visited in the summer as a site of recreation. As of September it can only be reached with private boats. The lack of electricity and running water become part of the research project as most food caught in the surrounding waters, the remoteness in raw nature emphasizes the somatic immediacy inherent to scenography. The projects mainly are nurtured by personal sensory experiences on the island in combination with scholars and other guests talking about the history of the island. In this sense even the preparation of food and eating become a part of the artistic inquiry. The workshops begin with one hour of silence to be maintained by all students, the focus must lie on the experience with all senses and the contradictions and disturbances which can be witnessed by those who listen carefully to their surroundings. From there the projects are being developed and realized on site, it is mandatory to realize the scenographic concept, to conclude the sensory circle. The full immersion into a site and its apparent and hidden history, primary to the theoretical context which mainly was conveyed through lecturers as very little documentation exists on the three stories above, will allow the students within two weeks to touch upon deep and complex aspects of memorials which aim into the future, rather than commemorating something past risking to simply put it ad acta, as past workshops on Håøya have proven.
The students are be divided into 3 groups which will investigate one of the three stories each. They will realize concepts of memorials as scenographic reflections on history. How history is imprinted into the landscape and materialized remnants, often is not directly accessible by analyzing traces. The vague, the blurry and the hidden being the capacity of the arts will be employed to develop the projects. The students would develop, design and realize structures reflecting the concept of memorials. They would not begin the tasks by extensive studies of documentation (there actually barely is any) but by immersion into the place's identity in silence. By investigating contradictions and disturbances the students fully had to rely on their senses, these remained the key triggers for the creations. During the workshops we eat in the house which is related to the second of three histories the students have to inquire, and we sleep in two houses nearby.
The relevance of how to deal with, remember and remind others about our past is one of the core tasks of the arts. Scenography, understood as the blending of architecture and theatre into a time-based spatial art form evoking all senses, inherently relates to our physical environment, the manifestations, left overs and the traces of our cultures. The workshop questions the notion memorial in this context, to create materialized statements which refer to the past by pointing into the future, while critically reflecting contemporary conditions in the mirror of history.
Host: Østfold University College, Norwegian Theatre Academy
4 ECTS
Time: October 17th-28th
Place: Håøya island (Norway)
Participants: 6 students from DAMA networks schools.
Scenography, sociology and museology students from the Østfold University College and the University of Oslo
Target group: contemporary Scenography/Land Art
Application procedure
Students should send a short letter of motivation/ a small portfolio of few selected works to:
Henri Hütt, DAMA network henri@mimproject.org
Deadline (for motivation letters/portfolios)
September 20th, 2016
Grant info
DAMA network students (outside of Norway) participating in the workshop will get Nordplus travel grant 330 (660 from/to Iceland) and board 140 eur/2 weeks
Accommodation info
Please, see in description
Travel info
From the airport Gardermoen, students have to take a bus to Oslo and then a bus to a little place called Drøbak.
In Drøbak one of the teachers will meet students with a boat and take them to the Island.
Students can arrive on Monday (17.10) at 18.00 in Drøbak – or on Tuesday (18.10) at 10.00. The trip to Håøya then takes about twenty minutes.
Return can be Friday 28.10 afternoon/evening from the airport Gardermoen.
Please bring with you
South east of Norway in the end of October is often cold with temperatures below zero degrees. Bring warm clothes and shoes. Rubber boots and clothes for rainy weather. It is no electricity in our part of the island, so bring a flashlight with you. Everyone have to have a sleeping bag or a warm quilt and pillow.
More information
We need to know if it is any the any form of allergy, vegans or vegetarians.
It is not possible to buy anything on the island. Approximately someone will go to the mainland every third day. It will also be possible to take a shower on a nearby island two or three times during the workshop.
Information/contacts
For special wishes about food, if anyone have to go to the mainland during the two weeks, and other practical questions, please contact Kjartan Fønstelien 0047 915 48 909, kjartanfonstelien@gmail.com