A SENSE OF PLACE

Kristi Guldberg, who works for the Culture Department of Bergen City Council, will give a presentation detailing the council’s “Street Art Plan” on Day 2: Physical Space.

A Sense of Place
By Kristi Guldberg

Ever since reading Bachelard’s Poetics of Space and Tuan’s Topophilia as a student, I have been fascinated by how people infuse the space they live in with meaning, and turn space into place. How do people relate to the streets they walk through, the corners they turn, the bus sheds where they drink their coffee? How do the memories, and the preferences, and the cravings of people transform a street into something more than a strip of concrete and some bricks stacked neatly on top of each other?  The fragmented and chaotic signs and narratives that make up the urban landscape trigger the imagination, and are both confusing and appealing.

Placing art in public areas can change the way a space is being used or conceived. The Norwegian Government states that art in public space is an important way of expressing a democratic idea that upholds  the right of every person to experience art. KORO, the governments professional  body for art in public spaces, allocates over 40 million Norwegian kroner for art in public settings every year.  It is stated that art is an important  part of peoples well-being,  as a source of new experiences and insights.

So if art is good for you, and should be available for all, why then should the government or the city council not be interested in street art? It is art in your face, created to get responses from whoever passes. Some of the most innovative and provocative and exiting art is happening on the street art scene.  After working with a strategic plan for street art and graffiti in Bergen city, I still don’t have the right answers to what kind of role the government should play when it comes to street art. I just know it is important to get involved – or we’ll be missing out on all the fun!

    - Kristi Guldberg

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