I spent two days in Kirkenes, Norway, as part of my curatorial exploration. Kirkenes is a small town of some 4000 inhabitants in the very north-east of Norway, and some 200km from Murmansk. The place is alive artistically and culturally, especially thanks to the art space Pikene på Broen and also the Norwegian Barents Secretariat who have their main office in Kirkenes. All-in-all, it would have been a shame not to visit during my residency, and my double entry visa can at least come in handy.
I was really excited to hear that the journey is by minibus and not regular large boring bus. What an adventure! how intimate! how lovely! Given the state of some roads around here I was curious how the main connection between Murmansk and Norway will look, but it was super smooth and well taken care of, leaving the journey only to appreciating the snow-covered windswept landscape and listening to the Russian co-passangers chatting their way through the 4 hour long drive. The longest time we spent at the borders, first there are road patrols controlling the passports twice and then at the actual borders the lengthy and diligent process of passport-visa-checking begins. If you arrive in one car, you have to queue behind the driver, and stay in one line. The silent low-forheaded oficir took around fifteen minutes staring into my documents after which he had to call his colleague to decide whether I am not too dangerous to be let free. I was not! and after trying some of my by now insignificantly improved Russian I could go and join the rest of the car group. From the borders it is only 15km to Kirkenes and it is really striking how large the contrast is just some hundreds of meters over the borders, the look and state of the houses and roads, the immediate clean scandinavian-ness and order.
In Kirkenes, Franziska, the administrative director of Pikene på Broen already waited for me and showed me to their residency flat, where I could stay overnight. after settling in I set off for a short walk to Pikene på Broen's office space and got introduced to Ingrid, one of the co-curators, and Inger, an artist and current advisor of the space who was behind the initial foundation of Pikene. Other members were missing, including Cornelius, whom I had already met in Stockholm through Intercult's network, and Luba, the director, whom Franziska invited me to pick up at the local airport with her. The airport is some twenty minutes drive and charmingly small, everyone lnow everyone and the attendants even remember the frequent flyers' names.
Luba appeared as a distinctive character with shiny blue hat and what looked like a very comfortable, if vegetarian non-friendly, seal skin pair of boots. She seemed energized by her ski trip and only after a brief chat with the two of them I started to wonder how come everyone here in the north is so incredibly nice.
I was really excited to hear that the journey is by minibus and not regular large boring bus. What an adventure! how intimate! how lovely! Given the state of some roads around here I was curious how the main connection between Murmansk and Norway will look, but it was super smooth and well taken care of, leaving the journey only to appreciating the snow-covered windswept landscape and listening to the Russian co-passangers chatting their way through the 4 hour long drive. The longest time we spent at the borders, first there are road patrols controlling the passports twice and then at the actual borders the lengthy and diligent process of passport-visa-checking begins. If you arrive in one car, you have to queue behind the driver, and stay in one line. The silent low-forheaded oficir took around fifteen minutes staring into my documents after which he had to call his colleague to decide whether I am not too dangerous to be let free. I was not! and after trying some of my by now insignificantly improved Russian I could go and join the rest of the car group. From the borders it is only 15km to Kirkenes and it is really striking how large the contrast is just some hundreds of meters over the borders, the look and state of the houses and roads, the immediate clean scandinavian-ness and order.
In Kirkenes, Franziska, the administrative director of Pikene på Broen already waited for me and showed me to their residency flat, where I could stay overnight. after settling in I set off for a short walk to Pikene på Broen's office space and got introduced to Ingrid, one of the co-curators, and Inger, an artist and current advisor of the space who was behind the initial foundation of Pikene. Other members were missing, including Cornelius, whom I had already met in Stockholm through Intercult's network, and Luba, the director, whom Franziska invited me to pick up at the local airport with her. The airport is some twenty minutes drive and charmingly small, everyone lnow everyone and the attendants even remember the frequent flyers' names.
Luba appeared as a distinctive character with shiny blue hat and what looked like a very comfortable, if vegetarian non-friendly, seal skin pair of boots. She seemed energized by her ski trip and only after a brief chat with the two of them I started to wonder how come everyone here in the north is so incredibly nice.
I was invited for lunch, where I also met Nina, who has been volunteering at Pikene in the past and is now writing her thesis about art tourism. I was trying to gather as much information as possible about the art projects Pikene på Broen have been delivering and I received a crazy amount of books and materials very much exceeding my expectations. The conversation ranged from curatorial roles in rural areas to a broader sociopolitical context of Kirkenes and the way life works here. I spoke a lot of my living in northern Scotland and the art organizations up there, as the conditions felt quite similar to those of this small but vibrant border town.
