Publications 2006

Connection Barents: DVD documentation

by Katarina Eismann in collaboration with the Barents Institute

Connection Barents: DVD documentation by Katarina Eismann in collaboration with the Barents Institute

Connection Barents: A Cross Art Collaboration with Everyday Life was initiated and developed by the four Nordic art institutions NordScen: Nordic Centre for the Performing Arts, NIFCA – Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, NordBok: Nordic Literature and Library Committee, and Nomus: Nordic Music Committee together with the Norwegian art producers Pikene på Broen. A two week inter-disciplinary laboratory and symposium was held in June 2006. More than 50 artists within the fields of visual arts, music, literature and performing arts from Northwest Russia and the Nordic and Baltic countries were encouraged to share local and international, traditional and contemporary art and culture during the lab. Connection Barents was a cross-border collaboration aiming to create a sustained space for artists and local experts involved in cultural negotiation through contemporary art, with the changing societies of the Barents Region. The Barents Region consists of northern Scandinavia and northwest Russia. The region is a multi-ethnic area, with ancient cross-roads and traditions of local cooperation across national and cultural divides.

The Singaporean leader of TheatreWorks, Ong Keng Sen was the artistic leader of the laboratory. Navigators at the laboratory were filmmaker Wu Wenguang, Beijing, China, and artist Coco Fusco, New York, USA. Main speakers at the symposium were Akram Zaatari, video artist and curator, Lebanon; Tadashi Kawamata, visual artist, Japan; Ayu Utami, writer, Indonesia; and Kaffe Matthews, composer, UK.

The Barents Institute's cultural programme commissioned artist Katarina Eismann to portray and convey the events of Connection Barents; the result is an audio-visual document, available on DVD. Eismann has followed and been involved in the processes of the journey, presenting an artist’s view on the exchanges, meetings and developments that took place during the two week workshop.


The Barents Institute is situated in Kirkenes, Norway. It conducts research within social science and the humanities. The institute runs a cultural programme that regards cultural exchange as a means of building alliances in the far north, and that takes a special interest in the borderland between scholarship and creative art.

For further information, please contact info ( ) barentsinstitute.org, or see www.barentsinstitute.org