FRI 7 KL1445.ERIC NESS CHRISTIANSEN (NO). NORWEGIAN STREET ART PRACTICE PANEL

Eric Ness Christiansen (NO) is a graffiti artist and curator of UGANGprosjektet in Drammen, one of the biggest graffiti happenings in Norway, covering close to 5000m2 with up to 50 artists annually.

UGANGprosjektet started in 2014 as a pilot project by Drammen city council. Until February of the same year, the city had taken a zero tolerance approach towards graffiti and street art for nearly 10 years. Christiansen presented his plan for the city and called it Ugang, playing on the Norwegian words for mischief (Ugagn) and underpass (Undergang).

The festival has since hosted international artists such as Sofles, TelmoMiel, Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen and Felipe Pantone, and is now expanding to Måløy on the west coast of Norway; an exiting new chapter of UGANGprosjektet’s history led by curator Tone Holvik-Eriksen.

SEMINAR DAY 1
Friday 7 September, Tou Scene
14·45–15·30 Norwegian Street Art Practice
Presentations by Viktor Gjengaar (Director of Urban Samtidskunst in Oslo), Arne Vilhelm Tellefsen (Curator of KRS Gadekunstlaug in Kristiansand) and Eric Ness Christiansen (Graffiti artist, curator of UGANGprosjektet in Drammen)

Graffiti and street art have become significant artistic movements in Norway and around the world. Practices such as graffiti and street art disrupt the traditional processes of art curation that have dominated how art is displayed, enjoyed, and consumed. 

Curatorial aspects of street art are complex and involve not just artists and galleries but a far more diverse network of interests than is typically seen with other contemporary art movements. Because street art exists in public space, curation also includes urban planners, policy-makers, law enforcement, and cultural institutions and may be undertaken by artists themselves working in the city or enacted through urban policies, street art galleries, festivals, and through cultural heritage and preservation mechanisms by municipalities or other institutions. 

Street art curatorial practices are well developed in different Norwegian cities, from Stavanger’s Nuart Festival to Bergen’s self-organised street art practitioners to Oslo’s new Street Art Action Plan. Norway is thus an interesting case to explore the different modes of street art curation that have not been fully explored or discussed elsewhere.

15·30–16·15 Panel debate: Public/Private
Discussion led by: Dr. Susan Hansen
Panel: Viktor Gjengaar, Arne Villhelmsen and Eric Ness Christiansen

The aim of this panel is to facilitate a discussion on the challenges and opportunities faced by street art curators and artist-practitioners in Norway, and different modes of working with an art form that is, by its nature, resistant to order. The panel hopes to address a number of issues, asking how street art can be curated, how it is being done in Norway, and exploring the points of resistance.

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