How Do We Want to Live Together
At the invitation of Kunsthuset Kabuso in 2017, by leader Sissel Lillebostad, artist Katrine Meisfjord was invited to develop a participant-based social art project in Hardanger. The project started in 2018 and is still ongoing. Since 2021, the project has been developed in close collaboration with Cristian Stefanescu; a-works. See all collaberators here.
The theme of the project
Norwegian culture has been through great change in the post-war period; demographic change, welfare growth, and technological innovation. The artist examines how people in Hardanger stand in the face of the new, and thereby how social norms change over time.
The advancement of the project
PHASE 1 2018: Brainstorming around new types of social meeting places together with a multicultural group of Kvam's inhabitants. See the pre-project (norwegian).
PHASE 2 2019—2020: Youth project. At the invitation of Utekontakten in Kvam, the artist, together with the youth, has developed ideas for what a new arena for social interaction in the village can look like. Artistic methods and the youth’s ideas work towards expanding our notions of what a meeting place outdoors can be. See images from the creative workshops (Norwegian) or see pictures from the exhibition at Kabuso in 2020.
PHASE 3 2021—2022: The youth's ideas are realized with permanent constructions and new activities. This part of the project is developed in close collaboration with architects Cristian Stefanescu (a-works), and Christof Mayer (RaumlaborBerlin). See photographs from the realization of the youth's ideas here (Norwegian).
The art plays an important role
The project sees the art and its methods as important in the development of an active society with critically thinking individuals. The project contributes to reflection, debate, dialogue, and participation. Imagination, wonder, intuition, and aesthetic preferences are important ingredients. The goal is to stimulate the participants' belief in their own intuition and preferences and to dare to face the incomprehensible with free thought. The artist has arranged creative workshops with local youth to make their initiative visible and expand their view of what an outdoor meeting place can be.
See images from the creative workshops in 2019—2020 (Norwegian).
From idea to architecture
In October 2020, the young people exhibited their ideas in self-built models at Kunsthuset Kabuso. Based on these ideas, the young people work with artists, architects and craftsmen to build temporary structures on the site in 2021. In 2022, the project will be completed with permanent structures on the site, where the method and results will be presented.
The Kvam youth club
The project is centered around a youth club in Kvam in Norheimsund. It is the club's "Dozere" who have driven the project forward together with artist Meisfjord and youth leaders Siriann Lillevik and Hallgeir Kjosås. Teacher and rope maker Ingunn Undrum brought in 3 classes with middle school students, and youth in Kvam were involved in constructing ideas in outdoor spaces in the summer of 2021. The project is currently named BASE CAMP.
About the artist
As an artist, Katrine has chosen to focus on dialogue and participant-based art. Her focus is on intercultural meetings in local communities with the goal to introduce members of different groups to one another, mixed across age, social strata, and cultural affiliation.
The aim is to, over time, gain a greater understanding of differences, resulting in a common deep awareness of multiple positions to behold.