The Norwegian-Russian Gathering project kicks off in Kirkenes, Norway on February 5th, 2020. Here seven Russian and Norwegian artists gather to begin their cultural collaboration with a research trip through the Barents Region. The following artists were chosen through an open call process: Geir Hytten, Natalia Lazareva, Yuri Elik, Konstantin Gladkov and Daria Yaromenok. As part of the project the artists are travelling by bus to various places in Norway, Finland and Sweden, including the Vinterlys Festival, which takes place in February in Mo i Rana, in Norway.

The Gathering is a Norwegian-Russian collaboration which attempts to address themes of belonging, and a better understanding of cross-border collaborative projects exploring themes of history, language, international dialogue, art and democracy. One of the aims is to stimulate deeper collaboration, create opportunities for innovative new projects and positive networking among professional performers based in the Barents region. The Gathering aims to achieve this by initiating dialogue-based democratic collaboration.

The Norwegian side is represented by the company GullBakken, founded in 2018 by Gull Øzger and Wenche Bakken, with the aim of developing new art and performance. The Russian side is represented by Nickel Art Residency, curated by Sasha Kremenets.

The initial part of the Gathering project is a Research & Development phase which will provide the artists with a lot of impressions about what to see, and new things to learn about the Barents Region. They will be visiting Rovaniemi (Finland), Haparanda, Luleå, Moskosel, Tärnaby, Umeå, Tornedalen (Sweden) and Mo i Rana (Norway), immersing themselves in the cultural and natural beauty of the far North. Not only are they going to attend the Vinterlys Festival in Mo i Rana to see work, but they are also going to take part in the festival programme with a collaborative performance.

Artists

Geir Hytten is a dancer and choreographer with education from London Contemporary Dance School and Laban (MA) London. He has collaborated with several international companies such as Punchdrunk, Vincent Dance Theater, The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs, Frantic Assembly, Daniel Kramer / Frauke Requardt (Sadlers Wells), Coisceim and Complicite. In Norway he has worked with artists such as Jo Strømgren Kompani, Impure Company, Brageteatret, Ulf Nilseng, Kjersti Engebretsen, Simone Grøtte, LATERNA (iRo/Skjeldal), Katrine Kirsebom and Karstein Solli. He is currently employed by SKUDA.
Hytten has previously choreographed and performed in the performance "Vi Synger" (2016) made with Marie Bergby Handeland, and "YOUR FAN" (2018). "hello brother" (2019) is his third full-length performance.

Yuri Elik is a videoartist and VJ from St.Petersburg, Russia. Yuri started doing his video art around 20 years ago. His main areas of interest sit between live video performances with musicians playing live, but he also does a lot of other video-related things, like video installations (interactive or not), museum exhibits, projection design for exhibition and festival spaces, and visuals for theatre and ballet.

Daria Yaromenok is a Russian artist and ceramicist. Her professional activity includes contemporary art and product design. But collaboration projects are close to her heart and forms the core of her practice with personal objects made by Daria herself. Since 2014, Daria has been participating in exhibitions of contemporary art, and since 2018 she has been realizing projects with volunteers of all ages and backgrounds.

Natalia Lazareva is a scriptwriter, composer, theatre and stage designer, stage director, actress, musician and singer. She holds qualifications in Linguistics, English Teaching, Landscape Architecture, Ikebana Art, Theatre and Music, as well as in pedagogy and the teaching of children. She is also one of the two founders of the ClayTale theatre.

Konstantin Gladkov is a Russian artist and designer interested in local design, performative practices and visual experiments in the intersection of art, photography, technology and other creative techniques.

Ole-Henrik Lifjell is a Sami performer from the Norwegian side of Sápmi. He has a background in both theatre and dance, and recently began working as a singer and joiker, who goes under the name ÅVLA. He has been performing in productions by the Sámi theatre - Åarjelsaemien teatere, and has studied dance later in his career.

Anne Katrine Haugen
Anne Katrine has her education from London Studio Center (1987-89) and London Contemporary Dance School (1989-91). She worked with the Dutch choreographer Angelika Oei in all her productions and dance films from 1991-98, which toured across Europe, Canada and USA. She was one of the founders of RadArt in Tromsø in 2004, and she is also an active member of FNND and Noda. Anne Katrine creates work for both the stage, black box and site-specific performances in the landscape, in private homes and also in restaurants. She makes use of documentary techniques as well as immersive and interactive techniques in all her performances. She is also very interested in devised theatre, working with cross overs between text, film, installation and dance.


About Art Residency Nickel and GullBakken

GULLBAKKEN was founded in 2018 by Gull Øzger and Wenche Bakken, with the aim of developing new art and performance. The project also has the aim of building capacity within the creative sector through initiating new networks and collaborations, by facilitating courses, seminars and workshops. GullBakken wishes to create an incubator for new innovative ideas for art projects and network building, in collaboration with artists, organizations and institutions, whom they would like to invite to join them in this new and exciting venture.

GullBakken is formed by dance artist, producer and facilitator Gull Øzger and festival curator, producer, writer and cultural worker Wenche Bakken. GullBakken is based in Mo i Rana.


ART RESIDENCY NICKEL (curated by Alexandra Krements) is the Russian partner for «The Gathering». They have their base at The Second School in Nickel, Murmansk region, where they offer facilities for artist in residence, with several studios and various work rooms. During the residency period, the artists are invited to organize and facilitate different activities such as masterclasses and workshops, which can encourage a creative dialogue with participants and the local population.

Produced by:

GullBakken
Nickel Art Residency

Partners:
DanseFestival Barents
Stellaris DansTeater

Supported by:
BarentsKult
Ministry of Culture and Equality, Norway