About

The Okulus symposium is held the last weekend in August and forms a thematic framework for the arena as a whole. The title of the symposium in 2024 was “Forest Pieces” and dealt with an increasingly precarious situation where nature is being built down and turned into an area for economic development, and refers to a concrete situation where new art arises in the encounter with a forest observatory. This year’s symposium is titled “Refugium” and represents an in-depth and further development of the experiences from the first symposium. In response to the surroundings and to each other’s investigations and reflections in the forest observatory, the invited artists create new works, performative projects, concerts, lectures, film and sound art installations for the symposium.

 

 

Refugia

Okulus sets a framework in the landscape that facilitates movement, reflection and participation in a natural space. By being universally designed, the walkway balances physical barriers and makes it possible for everyone to encounter this small piece of forest on their own terms. In the same way, art can be seen as a kind of bridge or a “crossing point” where something invisible comes to the fore and makes us sense something still unfinished and unrecognized.

 

Nature also consists of different zones, each of which fulfills different functions in the great biological game. But where modern agriculture has largely contributed to creating a uniform nature, one also sees that similar social movements have managed to cultivate a uniform culture. This has, for example, led to the small and local losing their impact and to more traditional knowledge either disappearing or being relegated to a life in the marginal zones.

 

In the natural sciences, the term “refugium” has a number of different uses. It can describe a natural area that seems insignificant in a biological sense (edge forest, stream bed, etc.), but which possesses key functions both for its own survival and as a prerequisite for the survival of other species. For example, one sees that during the flood season, nutrient-rich refugia form in rivers that can create safe spawning areas for fish. Another example is the better-known “Nunatak refugia theory,” which states that the reason why certain plants and animals survived the ice age was that there were mountain peaks (the refugia) that stuck out of the ice. In other words: the state of emergency forces other premises for life and survival.

 

In our anthropocentric era, the refugium also represents those zones where humans – the planet’s most aggressive species – are not, but where other life forms and species can seek out, to have time to rest, survive and grow.

 

The word “refugium” also has an obvious etymological relationship with the English word for refugee. Perhaps one could say that the refugee, through having been displaced from his home, is also forced to create refuges that are not only meant to look back, but also create something new. In the face of majority culture and the streamlining of the “efficient” society, artistic expression also needs refugiums for survival and growth on its own terms. In such a perspective, the “refugium” becomes pockets in society where precarious struggles for survival and resistance are taking place, places where people can receive and give care, but also build new strength and creativity.

 

In this year’s symposium we wish to nurture, develop and be inspired by “refugial” practices, ideas and fields of knowledge of invited artists in various genres. Our claim and experience is that art also helps to protect and shape alternative ecologies, by constituting a temporary home and safety zones for something that would otherwise have been wiped out, and can thus serve as a starting point and dispersal corridor for life to come.

 

Participants

John Andrew Wilhite

Tanja Orning

Kari Rønnekleiv

Hans Kjorstad

Geir Tore Holm

Søssa Jørgensen

Fávri

Bjørn Hatterud

Axel Lindén

Sudesh Adhana

Ole Marius Støle

Cecilie Lindman Steen

Martine Bentsen

Anna Widen

Jon Balke

Ewa Jacobsson (kurator)

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo (kurator)

Maja S. K. Ratkje (kurator)

Dagur Eggertsson (kurator)

 

Program

Friday 29.8

16.00

Ankomst/mottagelse

 

17.00

Åpent program (Harpefoss hotell)

 

19.00

Middag/kveldssamling (Harpefoss hotell)

 

Saturday 30.8

09.00-10.00

Frokost (Harpefoss hotell)

 

12.00

Utstilling/perfomance (Okulus)

Søssa Jørgensen og Geir Tore Holm

 

14.00

“SignalCloth”, eller “Tre blinde kartografier (Okulus)

Bestillingsverk av John Andrew Wilhite, med Kari Rønnekleiv, Tanja Orning og Hans Kjorstad

 

16.00

Rundbordsamtale (salen 2. etasje)

+ Konsert med Tanja Orning

 

18.00

Middag (Harpefoss hotell)

 

21.00

Dublet foredrag (salen 2. etasje)

Bjørn Hatterud og Axel Lindén

 

22.00

Konsert (Okulus)

Hans P. Kjorstad

 

Sunday 31.8

09.00 Frokost

 

11.00 Dryades & Oreiades (Harpefoss hotell)

Presentasjon/dokumentasjon ved Sudesh Adhana m.fl.

 

13.00 Avslutning

 

Prices

Pris for deltagelse hele symposium

Ordinær 500,-
Honnør 400,-
Student 200,-

 

Billett per programpost:

Ordinær 250,-
Honnør 200,-
Student 100,-

 

Priser for måltider:

Middag: 200,-

Frokost: 100,-

 

Lunsj kan kjøpes i kafeens åpningstider lørdag og søndag kl 12-16