Ma degree show 2015 tromso academy of contemporary art and creative writing

MA

MA Degree Show 2015 Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing Contents Hedvig Sofie Biong, 2–5, 44–47 Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu, 6–9, 48–51 Kåre Grundvåg, 10–13, 52–55 Calder Harben, 14–17, 56–59 Anna Kukielka, 18–21, 60–63 Georgia Munnik, 22–25, 64–67 Camilla Renate Nicolaisen, 26–29, 68–71 André Enger Aas, 30–33, 72–75 Introduction by Agatha Wara, 35 The Difference Between Curating an Art School and Organising Artistic Art Education by Markus Degerman, 77 Colophon, 82

2  Hedvig Sofie Biong

I sommerperioden er det mulig ĂĽ leie solstoler og parasoller.

Det koster mellom 5 og 8 euro for en dag.

3 Hedvig Sofie Biong

Langs strandpromenaderne foregår det en masse vannsportaktiviter. Det er f.eks mulighet for å spille beach volleyball, leie vannsykler, jetski osv.

4 Hedvig Sofie Biong

Solen er skarp i sommerhalvårt og brenner mer enn hjemme.

Det er en god ide å begynne med solkrem med en høy solfaktor de første dagene av ferien og å unngå helt den farlige middagssolen kl 12.00–15.00 under høysommeren, selvom det kan være vanskelig.

5 Hedvig Sofie Biong

Sanden blir utrolig varm på sommeren, så det kan være praktisk å ta med et par badesandaler på turen til stranda. Det finnes kråkeboller, selvom det er få. Skulle du være så uheldig å tråkke på en kråkebolle, kontakt lege så hurtig som mulig.

6  Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu

7  Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu

8  Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu

9  Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu

10 Kåre Grundvåg

11 Kåre Grundvåg

12 Kåre Grundvåg

13 Kåre Grundvåg

14  Calder Harben

We cannot help but view the world in terms of solids, as things.

But we leave behind something untapped of the fluidity of the world, the movements, vibrations, transformations that occur below the threshold of perception and calculation and outside the relevance of our practical concerns‌ intuition is our nonpragmatic, noneffective, nonexpedient, noninstrumental relation to the world, the capacity we have to live in the world in excess of our needs, and in excess of the self-presentation or immanence of materiality, to collapse ourselves, as things, back into the world. – Elizabeth Grosz

15  Calder Harben

16  Calder Harben

17  Calder Harben

18 Anna Kukielka

…deep inside the Earth story of birth…

19  Anna Kukielka

20  Anna Kukielka

21  Anna Kukielka

22  Georgia Munnik

23  Georgia Munnik

24  Georgia Munnik

25  Georgia Munnik

26  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

27  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

28  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

29  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

30  AndrĂŠ Enger Aas

We are revolving around a star that we call the sun. The sun, is one amongst 100 billion stars in our galaxy. And so far, we have concluded that there is around 100 billion galaxies, all containing, more or less, 100 billion stars.

All this, in our visible universe.

31 André Enger Aas

32窶アndrﾃｩ Enger Aas

Around 4% of the universe is made out of regular matter.

Solids, liquids, gasses and plasma.

Grass, water, oxygen and neon signs.

The rest is dark matter.

Undetectable.

Unknown known.

33 André Enger Aas

  Introduction by Agatha Wara

36 And there is a lingering [ 1 ] sense of awareness [ 2 ], that this unease [ 3 ] may be an underlying theme this exhibition revolves around.[ 4 ] There is no other subject that could touch upon the haphazard [ 5 ] context, [ 6 ] that has brought this heterogenous [ 7 ] group of people together here and now. Maybe not the right place and right time for every one [ 8 ] –but temporality and space is a common denominator. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] And certainly not the least one, as much as the artists like to insist on themselves not as reflecting a generation” or such, but rather a disparate aggregation [ 11 ] of individuals, even having spent a significant amount of time at the academy together, and with an artistic practice informed by this academic exchange. [ 12 ] How do you write about the artistic practices of twelve separate individuals [ 13 ] with as many diverse modes of expression? In what way have they influenced each other and been inspired [ 14 ] by the people they have met? How has their work evolved in the context of the academy, an environment somewhat isolated from the surrounding world? What is the cold? [ 15 ] [ 16 ][ 17 ] What if… Sea was solid concrete. [ 18 ] The landscape moved, instead of us or with us, as the plane takes off. The seasonally changing colors and contours of a mountain were not the kind [ 19 ] of organic growth we assume. There was something in an empty grey landscape. The raven captured in the painting was somehow not still after all. Or, embroidery was a political act. Familiar [ 20 ] turns strange [ 21 ] in front of our eyes, and in our eyes. The appearances of things become unfixed. [ 22 ] Do thinkable things already exist, or do we think things into being? [ 23 ] Thinking, in a way, calls things into being.

[ 1 ] Dvelende – HSB [ 2 ] Feelings – CRN [ 3 ] Feeling – CRN [ 4 ] Introduction is a lingering sense of awareness, that this unease may be an underlying theme this exhibition revolves around. – RTB [ 5 ] Tilfeldig – HSB [ 6 ] Remove the comma here – GM [ 7 ] Heterogeneous – GM [ 8 ] Every one vs. everyone: “’everyone’: definition: all people, example: everyone in the audience was laughing. ‘Every one’: definition: each person, example: we wish each and every one of you all the best”. www.gingersoftware.com/englishonline/spelling-book/confusingwords/everyone-every-one – GM [ 9 ] ‘temporality and space are common denominators’ – GM [ 10 ] Evner – HSB [ 11 ] Uensartede aggregering– HSB [ 12 ] ? – GM [ 13 ] Eight separate individuals – AEAA [ 14 ] Feeling – CRN [ 15 ] Feelings – CRN [ 16 ] The coldest temperature recorded outside of earth is minus 458 Fahrenheit, in the Boomerang Nebula. – AEAA [ 17 ] What does this sentence mean?

– GM [ 18 ] “The job of solidifying and stabilizing the Sydney tar ponds (long considered one Canada’s most toxic waste sites) begins as work crews start pouring cement into the black, tarry sludge. The job is expected to take almost four years, after which the site will be capped and turned into a park.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/remediated-sydney-tar-ponds-unveiled-as-green-space-1.1304232 – CH [ 19 ] Feelings – CRN [ 20 ] Feelings – CRN [ 21 ] Feelings – CRN [ 22 ] Feeling – CRN

37 It is a process of becoming, both for the thinker and the things thought. [ 24 ] Tromsø is a tiny island, roughly the same size as Manhattan, [ 25 ]and is home to approximately 70,000 inhabitants, making it the secondmost populated city north of the Arctic Circle. With everything a person could “need” – a mall, three main shopping streets, and a few movie theaters – but nothing extra, Tromsø [ 26 ] felt more like a small suburb than a city. I first visited on short notice and its is not possible to say that I had any verifiable idea of what it would be like. It turned out to be a privileged point of view from which to discover a culture. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] The first thing I noticed was that the baggage was delivered on a conveyer belt that stopped as soon as the bags came into the pickup room, no waste of energy. The trip from the airport was a long barren vista punctuated by intermittent billboards that in their isolation from each other and from the lack of other signs of commerce, promised and threatened much, much more. Surrounded by mountains and fjords on all sides, it also felt isolated and wild [ 29 ].

Climate change, the exploitation of Arctic resources and environmental threats are topics of great public concern. [ 30 ] Studying in Tromsø allows artists to explore global issues from a close-up perspective.

It wasn’t meant to be easy…

It is both difficult and liberating to be an artist today. Everything and anything can be art. At first glance that might be a liberating feeling [ 31 ] – there are basically no limits to what artists can do, and still be integrated and acclaimed by their art communities. [ 32 ] However, freedom of choice

[ 23 ] “2.225 There are no pictures that are true a priori” (Wittgenstein, L. 1974. Tractatus Logico-Philosophics, London: Routledge, p. 10) – GM [ 24 ] I think this is a lazy and tired remark. – GM [ 25 ] Wait, what is the size of Manhattan? I guess it is roughly the size of Tromso – RTB [ 26 ] Feeling – CRN

[ 27 ] Feelings – CRN

[ 28 ] citation needed: www. theatlantic.com/health/ archive/2015/07/the-norwegiantown-where-the-sun-doesnt-rise/ 396746/ – CH [ 29 ] While others might experience Tromsø as home. – HSB [ 30 ] Feeling – CRN [ 31 ] Feels – CRN

38 can be frustrating [ 33 ] as well. Artists must define their own boundaries to create a realm where their work can become fully justified. Artists conduct [ 34 ] themselves in accordance with the rules, or non-rules, that exist in this world. Here, an action which, in another context, would perhaps have been denounced as being for example destructive or morally repugnant can be legitimized or even declared a stroke of genius. [ 35 ] In this way an artist’s work is twofold – first to create a space and then to create the art which will reside in this space.

Artists are freaks who don’t fit within the framework of any other profession – according to one of my very best friends, who is an artist. He reasons thus: the artist isn’t sick enough to end up in a mental institution, but must rather be institutionalized in another sort of category, a no-man’s land between normal and non-normal, in order to be categorized at all: the art world.

‘Do, or do not. There is no try’ Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back [ 36 ] I firmly believe that counterculture [ 37 ] is necessary, for there is nothing which cannot be said or gained within that realm. In many ways art is one of the only areas in contemporary society where things can be said without pulling punches. Many artists have already taken the step in full, making real compromises on what other consider normal living standards in order to be able to retain their artistic freedom. That almost sounds romantic, [ 38 ] and I never really thought I would ever get to a point where I can sometimes see myself as a romantic modernist. Yet I find that as things get progressively more controlled (as is the case with e.g. the Bologna Agreement, [ 39 ] the European

[ 32 ] ”Det er i utgangspunktet ingen grenser for hva kunstnere kan gjøre, og likevel bli integrert og hyllet av sine kunstmiljøene” Ifølge google Translate. – HSB [ 33 ] Feelings – CRN [ 34 ] Oppførsel – HSB

[ 35 ] ”blitt fordømt som for eksempel destruktive eller moralsk frastøtende kan legitimeres eller erklært en genistrek” I følge google translate. – HSB

[ 36 ] Yoda is being a douche.

Trying is essential in development.

Trying is how we get better at things. Yoda is just pressuring everyone to risk their lives for him.

– AEAA [ 37 ] Motkultur – HSB [ 38 ] Feelings – CRN

[ 39 ] – CH

39 standardization model for education, including education within the arts), I find it increasingly important that the arts retain and offer alternatives.

Art is a place of sanctuary, a no-man’s land which is an inherent part of the nature of the discipline/art, as it were.

The locations and places which are put at the disposal of artists are often really sacred; here on would rather whisper, and we gladly allow ourselves to be swept away by Art with capital A. This is where art is separated from what must be denounced as non-art.

At the same time, young artists from Tromsø need to have contact with art world centers. And this is not limited to making the acquaintance [ 40 ] of their peers as Tromsø is going through the consequences of an “isolation shock”. The art world, likewise experiences isolation very intensively [ 41 ] as visual art is international in its character and cannot be justified by a language barrier. How will this be reflected in the renovation of the academic system or in the establishment of new institutions? And more [ 42 ] importantly how will the new institutions reflect the particular developments of Norwegian society and art history to define reciprocally “international contemporary”?

[ 40 ] Bekjent – HSB

[ 41 ] Feeling – CRN

[ 42 ] Feeling – CRN

The artwork and its meaning. [ 43 ] Two quantities without any connection except the one the art world is establishing. Personally, I don’t fully subscribe to this theory, although it does provide some rather useful explanation for a lot of weird behavior.

The theory has all too many parallels to the dated vision of the artist as outsider or as the misunderstood genius.

Neither can i subscribe to the theory of the artist as a person with some

[ 43 ] www.youtube.com/ watch?v=RrlxtFuVWEs – CH

40 kind of “calling” that can be but followed. These theories may have relevance for some individuals in the field, but to me the question has its roots in other, more basic questions such as “what is art?” “what is art good for?” These questions are often glanced at over the shoulder in perfunctory gestures, as they seem to stir up too much inconvenience that rather should be buried beneath a huge pile of theory and dust. Anyone posing these questions might be either very ignorant or very naive, and perhaps not dealing with the issues as all is the best way to deal with them.

However, at times I can’t help but return to these questions over and over again, especially when I feel that I am about to embrace the cynical shield that too many of us in the art world lazily hide behind. [ 44 ] The reason for this state of affairs is that art is a concept arbitrary created by man during the Age of Enlightenment. Anything is possible, anything can become an artwork. [ 45 ] The limits of art have expanded strongly during the last decade, but they are also hold back.

The art world is setting the rules and everything has to be conferred from this institution. It is no conspiracy, just a simple and effective practice.

An agreement. The man in the street or the modernist member of the art world might find contemporary art somewhat strange, maybe even so different from the art one has been used to see that some of them are not prepared to use the word “art” for these activities. But even so one has to accept the fact that the standard art today is conceptual (or if one prefer, contextual). The interesting thing going on in contemporary art is probably the establishment of a norm and tradition for conceptual/contextual art. A period of quantity more than of quality. The breakthrough is

[ 44 ] What a question!!!! Seems like you are the only person in the ‘art world’ to lazily hide behind the question, the rest of us have answered that and moved on.

You’re not to think you are anything special.

You’re not to think you are as good as we are.

You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.

You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.

You’re not to think you know more than we do.

You’re not to think you are more important than we are.

You’re not to think you are good at anything.

You’re not to laugh at us.

You’re not to think anyone cares about you.

You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

And last (and least), Perhaps you don’t think we know a few things about you? – RTB [ 45 ] Alt er mulig , alt kan bli et kunstverk. – HSB

41 behind us and we cannot help looking for new directions. Where do we find them?

Art has certainly a theory. “Art is an aspect” [ 46 ], Duchamp, beginning the beginning of today’s art. The object has no identity to be seen, what it is about as a work of art, must be ascribed to it. [ 47 ] Theoretical backup is always at hand and must be because without it there would not be any art - in our sense. This opinion of art in the contemporary art life is normal and accepted. But outside the international all the controversies still is going on; before art became conceptual it seemed not to be conceptual, that is the object was supposed to carry some sort of meaning to be felt and hardly or not at all outspoken.

The history of art made short goes like this: Kant brought the subject of art to that height which we since then are used to. Art is a part of the main philosophical discourse. Kant didn’t mean that art was theory, quite the opposite he found a way of bringing a relevant level of sensous experience matching philosophical discourse. It was hardly a correct decision by the professor from Königsberg. But the consequences were in fact that since that day art has its elevated position because of a strong [ 48 ] and dependent relation to philosophy. Philosophers after Kant made it even better for art. Schelling, Schiller and Hegel paid there tributes in even stronger formulations and argued that art actually was something in itself, a nobler state of mind, the sublime mystics. Hardly so, when such speculations begun to crack up during this century, but there remained more than what one could expect. Having lost its sublime sphere, and having lost the supposed content of the artwork it came out that what was lost could easily be replaced by

[ 46 ] Kunst er et aspekt – HSB

[ 47 ] Objektet har ingen identitet å bli sett, hva det handler om som et kunstverk , må tilskrives den. – HSB

[ 48 ] Feeling – CRN

42 a new and even stronger theme, that of theory. Now, one should not expect art to be theory or even about theory.

Most artists are not theorists, and artwork is clearly something else than theory. [ 49 ] But to become art the artist [ 50 ] and the artwork need the support of the discourse and this discourse should be placed on a high and advanced level. I guess I [ 51 ] am a romantic at heart (underneath my at times cynical exterior), and I believe that at the end of the day, a single art piece (an essay, a theatre production, a motion picture, etc.) can have the power to change the world. For me, art is the only true meta-structure we have of the “reality” in which we live.

This makes the role of the artist crucial in society.

In 1890 Oscar Wilde wrote [ 52 ] in The Picture of Dorian Gray “all art is quite useless.” It was not his intention to make a statement for art’s autonomy and differentiation from society as in “art for art’s sake” rather, he pointed out that the admiration for art is the only legitimate reason for art to exist. Can we – in the light of art’s development since then – agree that art is useless? Surely, art has proven to have a much more important role than just to be an object of admiration: to mediate human expression, catalyst ideas, engage its audience, criticize and scrutinize our society. [ 53 ] But even as the role of art expands and collapses at the same time, it is always followed with a touch of admiration – not only for art itself, but first and foremost an admiration for the courage of artists that embark on a huge and seemingly complex task.

Back then, the exhibition was considered the ‘gate’ that moved the group of students from the educational system into the professional ‘art

[ 49 ] ”Nå skal man ikke forvente kunsten å være teori eller selv om teorien . De fleste kunstnere er ikke teoretikere , og grafikken er helt klart noe annet enn teori.”

I følge google translate. – HSB [ 50 ] Feels – CRN [ 51 ] Feel – CRN

[ 52 ] Feelings – CRN

[ 53 ] ”Å formidle menneskelige uttrykk , katalysator ideer , engasjere sitt publikum , kritisere og granske samfunnet” I følge google translate. – HSB

43 world’. Following their graduation the graduates ceased to be considered as students, beginning instead to be officially acknowledged as artists.

We now believe that they did not in fact transform into artists on the day of their graduation, but long before – when they began engaging with their artistic practice, even prior to their formal art education. Today, young artists’ work brings to mind the story of the game between the world’s greatest chess player and a computer.

Man lost the first two games. But then he won, simply by making such idiotic moves that no one could anticipate them.

2158 words taken from MFA graduation exhibition catalogues from Scandinavian art academies from 1997 to 2015, and one The Atlantic article, compiled [ 54 ] by Agatha Wara for MA degree show 2015 for Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art.

[ 54 ] – CH

HSB: Hedvig Sofie Biong, RTB: Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu, CH: Calder Harben, GM: Georgia Munnik, CRN: Camilla Renate Nicolaisen, AEAA: Andrè Enger Aas

44  Hedvig Sofie Biong

Husk ĂĽ drikke rikelig med vann.

45 Hedvig Sofie Biong

Det er mye man kan handle her og som regel til fordelaktige priser sammenlignet med prisene der hjemme. Det gjelder mest for vin, sprit, sigaretter, skinn og gullprodukter (14­–18 karat), som det lønner seg å kjøpe. Se deg omkring på markedene. Der kan man ofte gjøre noen funn av verdi.

46 Hedvig Sofie Biong

Dette er et av de mest populære reisemål. Det betyr, at her i høysesongen er det mange mennesker, men ikke alle dessverre har ærlige hensikter.

47  Hedvig Sofie Biong

Ferien er en herlig tid. Med litt sunn fornuft og forsiktighet kan den gi mange gode minner med hjem i bagasjen.

48 Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu “Everyone will tell you it’s been there for more than 60 or 70 years, the tree, its girth of more than the span of five men. It has soft pockets of growth around its root, so weary travelers would rest and take relief under it whenever they pass by. All around its branches hang breads of rope, scarfs and beads. On the main trunk is a sash tied high so no one would reach it. And butter is anointed atop a few places on its branches. It’s been said that over the years, three appointed leaders of the community have tried to have it cut down, but failed due to its malice towards the cutters. They say of the cutters that one died, the other lost his mind and the last one went mad as a dog and was never seen again. Nonetheless, the tree is a highly respected and revered entity. In the winter, water flows like fountain from its base.

Beyond the tree, along the road that takes to Dessie, is the church of Mary.

And yonder, at the intersection to Aregawi’s monastery, is a rock hill – which they call the Adbar. ( 1 ) Christians, Muslims, even the atheists and sorcerers, when they were to pass by that road, would leave whatever they had in their hands, be it stick or rock from places afar, on to the hill. They believe it will prevent unexpected peril.” ( 2 ) The Adbar is not an institution, The Adbar is not a religion, The Adbar is not a race, Tis spirit; Exalted by its lover Willed by its actor.

It is a spiritual theory with which mankind faces the greatest questions that arise in one’s physical stay on earth. As the height of spirit rises, even though answers may never be found for the questions, it leads to the clear asking of them, for asking clearly is a sign of lesser questions being answered. For one to understand the other, one wields language. That language evolves with the extent and depth of its understanding. Based on its norm, it is born, raised and laid to rest. Hence, the Adbar is one of these languages. It is the language of a society, and its aspirations in the world. Men find that with the Adbar, they can inquire their thoughts which are void of flesh, explain the yearnings of their spirits and seek answers therein.

To see the issue dissected in all its forms, to palpate the world we inhabit and the other world we know not hitherto, we employ ‘agents’ without bodies to facilitate the process. Be it Research methods that use reason, or rituals led by spirit; they have a central process that has meditation as its core.

Spiritual fathers, mothers and scholars of science, they feed their height of spirit as a ladder to enhance and address what is without body- the spirit world. A mesh of relation is then spread between the spiritual ‘body’ and the flesh. And out of sheer contemplation by the spirituals, the spirit crosses the ideal and verges on its embodiment. Even though mere contemplation cannot be of enough power to give it a body, the process the spirituals go through and experience while atoning with the spirit, makes the act embody the spirit. Atonement gives the spirit form.

49 Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu “Even the widest speculations about what the universe was like during the first milliseconds after the big bang are still experiences.” ( 3 ) In research centers and shrines of faith and temples, the scholars, after having finished contemplating, studying and explaining their subject, they give it form through the use of print, sermons and rituals. It is through this process, any myth or scientific discovery reaches down to the ‘common’ public.

The ‘common’ public has its own ways and methods to assert, and divine its own experiences in its own way. Among the ways are hierarchical spirits such as Adbars, shamans, knowers, magi, witches and the like. These ways have been before the advent of religious institutions and after, they had kept their presence molding into different forms in different times. Some were incorporated to these institutions while others were condemned at the behest of them.

There are even times when the adapting of these ways’ rituals and invoking ceremonies into religions were observed. Amongst these, Ginbot lideta ( 4 ) and seilet ( 5 ) are mentionable.

These rituals, the magi, knowers, judges and tempests, depending on the situation at hand, have a vested interest on the inquiries and wants of individuals; and the spirits do come on individuals. Whereas Adbars and ‘kole’ serve societal or shared purposes. These spirits are the resolvers and atoners of issues deemed impossible by embodied creatures.

“From all the Adbars found in our country, the one that is given the utmost place and could be said to be visited everyday by people who often make coffee and plead to, is the Irreechaa ( 6 ). People view this as idolatry. But it is not so. When the congregation pleads, they do it saying, ‘The maker of this water, the maker of this tree, the maker of nature’ and not ‘oh water, oh tree, oh wood, oh stone’.

When Adam was forbidden from paradise, he was found sheltering under a tree. There is a little stone inside the church. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses engraved on a stone. That’s why they call the stone here Sida. It means covenant. Incense is burned in the church; it is what burns at the grail also.

Jesus Christ preached on mountains. Made the water his seat. Water is everywhere. But because God chose it, this one is reveled here.” ( 7 ) Just as the spirit possesses man, the Adbar, makes its sitting on natural bodies like trees, waters, mountains and rocks, and serves the people who reside close by. It attends to issues beyond personal. This process paves way for a united rite. And the process of pleading and making sacrifice requires gathering together. It unites those around it.

“Go along the fence and when you reach the water tanker, ask where prayers are held and anyone will show you. Ask the people of the neighborhood. They know it well. The area around the tele tower is powerful, I’ve worked there for two years. If you have a clean conscious it will show you your future in your dreams. An elder told us that when we were chewing. He said ‘keep this place cautiously, there is power here.’ So we made coffee there every Friday. Back in the old times even horses couldn’t gallop up the hill. But now, they say its land has

50 Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu gotten smaller. My friends and I got into arguments then it got rid of us. Every one of us had changed then. We had fought when we left the place, but the elders of the community plead with us not go like that, holding grudges and being hurt lest it would kill us. So we slaughtered sheep and made coffee before we left.” ( 8 ) These places observe the rites of animal sacrifice, gratification for the past year’s crop yield, making coffee and lighting vigils, singing praise, food offering, congress, and resolution of feuds. There are also who leave food, money, drinks and candles by it.

“This alcove, it’s found on the road to Teklehaymanot [Church]. In the old days during the Ethio-italian war, the Italians used it as a fortress. Nowadays it is used for putting grass ceremoniously. When people pass by they throw coins, they throw 25, 10 cents even children would not dare pick up. When you ask them what it is, they’ll tell you it’s the Adbar.” ( 9 ) Its power to make social happenings make Adbar different from other spirits.

Centering on reunions, closeness, and human relations, it has an immense part in social relationships and their continuity. The Adbar, which is without body, takes the form of natural landscape and facilitate the congregation and closeness for humans. This is why the concept of Adbar, expanded and taking a human character, is used to refer well respected and feared elders of the community. It is because these people are the refuge for the poor, resolve feuds and have attained peace.

You may ask, Hath man bound the Adbar to its place? Or Hath the Adbar bound man to his place?

The answer lies within the question. In the space between flesh and spirit, lies a landscape. The relationship between the flesh and the spirit has a bridge between the soul and the flesh, a space where the two meet to be one; a metaphysical landscape. With the concept of the Adbar as an earthly place, one can begin contemplation on the Adbar of one’s spirit.

If the physical location of the Adbar is the image of the physical Adbar, what of its metaphysical place? What would the image of the metaphysical Adbar be?

Contemplating the imaginary landscape of the Adbar, visualizing and creating it in the mind, one may dare to also ponder on the spiritual Adbar. Most important on our journey to find the answers to these questions is the process. For it is within the process where we live and dwell. And the lead actors of the process, are ourselves. The answer is that in the end, we find ourselves to be the life of the process.

Robel Temesgen Translation Surafel Mathewos

51 Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu Footnotes ( 1 ) Adbar is an abstract Amharic term for the embodiment of a spirit connected to a specific community, it exists within nature – for example; Adbar can be embodied by a tree, a lake, a mountain or a rock. Adbar serves many communal purposes, most notably, as a place for prayer, as a meeting point for rituals and offerings, and as a place for resolving discrepancies. ( 2 ) Adefris, Dagnachew Werku, 1962, page 77 ( 3 ) Michael Bitbol, Never know but the knower, Berlin, 2013 ( 4 ) Celebration of Nativity of St. Mary in Ethiopian Orthodox ( 5 ) To pledge ( 6 ) Irreechaa is the Thanksgiving holiday of the Oromo people in Ethiopia to Waaqaa (God). ( 7 ) Irreechaa, Debrezeit, Research interview, 2014 ( 8 ) Eslam Meqabr, Dessie, Research interview, 2014 ( 9 ) Khat Bet, Dessie, Research interview, 2014

52 Kåre Grundvåg

53 Kåre Grundvåg

54 Kåre Grundvåg

55 Kåre Grundvåg

56  Calder Harben

57

58  Calder Harben

59 Calder Harben I have heard them coming long beforehand. It did not happen all the time. But just as it is, I can hear them coming.

I have forever scouted, waited with agitation, anxiety, hope, faith of ones to come from the sea. When you live like this, you sense other things. One hears it not inside your head or in your mind, but so that you hear sound forever. Even the sound of someone breathing, you can hear.

It lies deep in some of us. My grandmother on my mother’s side, she would hear them arrive from the sea. My mom tells I have a strong Vardøger, that she hears me in the same way. It reminds me a bit of deja vu, only you experience the event before it happens and are conscious of it over a long time. The reason why this can happen I feel is that everything really is energy and in fact we can be in several places at once. It is a way to communicate to those far away in distance or far away in time. Neither of us are particularly religious, but we believe in the spiritual.

We at certain times in life have more need of Vardøger than otherwise, but it is always those who needs it most. There is a strong attachment to the person who sends the Vardøger, one fine-tuned to take in the movements and behaviors. It is something one has in their senses. Distance and climate have always made communication take time in a natural way. Or, did. It happens less often than it did before. Perhaps mobile and data has taken over, now can be only key or call to obtain another.

We surround ourselves with so much sound in our time that we do not hear those coming, unless there is a natural explanation or way. But when living is more slow, when you are more in touch, yourself and your mind is set to another frequency.

Humans have always sought explanations for inexplicable phenomena. I do not rule out that the whole thing is imagination, but on the other hand it feels very real to me.

I send it to you anyway. If you can use it, I pray that my name not be published.

60 Anna Kukielka

…deep inside the Earth story of birth…

61  Anna Kukielka

62  Anna Kukielka

63  Anna Kukielka

64  Georgia Munnik

65  Georgia Munnik

66  Georgia Munnik

67  Georgia Munnik

68  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

69  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

70  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

71  Camilla Renate Nicolaisen

72 André Enger Aas

73  AndrĂŠ Enger Aas

The universe is expanding.

A growing vastness caused by dark matter. Dark energy.

Warping our concept of time and space.

Tearing galaxies even further apart. Increasing in speed.

Making the universe seem infinite.

Well, our visible universe, at least.

Considering the enormous vastness and a universe that might seem indifferent, one can still see how it is all interconnected, some way or another.

Neutrinos are electrically neutral, and almost mass-less elementary particles that can pass through miles of lead unhindered. The Neutrinos are now passing through your body as well. These particles are formed in the supernova explosions of dying stars, but also in healthy stars.

Thus far, the neutrino particle is the only identified candidate for dark matter.

Particles in our sun behaving the same way as particles in our in our body.

It’s pretty trippy.

74 André Enger Aas

75 André Enger Aas

The Difference Between Curating an Art School and Organising Artistic Art Education by Markus Degerman

78  Those employed to lead and plan artistic education face difficult challenges in a contemporary society characterised by individualism where everyone is expected to market their aptitudes. It takes time to gain public recognition as an art educator only through pedagogic work. It is really only after graduation, when the former students have established themselves in the field, that their educational background will be noticed. As an artist and institutional leader in an art academy it is therefore easy to be tempted to cut corners and try to manifest creativity through the framework of the institution, its syllabi, profile descriptions and other regulating documents. For professors, teachers, rectors and other staff at art academies it is, in other words, tempting to use easily disseminated methods that clearly point towards a content or a property.

These shortcuts also fit well with the increased focus on measurability, quantification and management by objectives in the last decades. But will these simple and transparent methods produce desirable long-term effects for the students and the art scene? I think not. There are good reasons to be careful today in order to not overly rely on the description of a work rather than the work itself when evaluating its content and quality. The fact that the mere description of a project sounds exciting or that a school is active on social media or a CV is long and full of good references does not automatically make the content, which this description refers to, exciting, vibrant and of high quality. This is not to suggest, however, that one should cancel the other. Working to develop syllabi is important, but it is alarming to note how much the daily work with the students is falling in status. It is, after all, the quality of this meeting between students, professors, teachers and staff that to a large extent influences the results of these educations.

It is difficult to reach a broad overview of the art field in an era when it has become larger and more comprehensive, which makes an inflated belief in certain characteristics understandable. This in turn gives rise to the need for simple markers that can act as tools for communicating a potential quality and status.

In the field of artistic research it is for example common to encounter practices where individual ambitions are explained by referring to historical characters, radical institutions, popular tendencies within theory or named pedagogic methods. It is an

79 approach that has similarities with branding strategies where products are linked to celebrities, ideas about exclusivity, or other already established indicators of quality. As the educational sector has developed to work, think and speak more like the corporate world, it has increasingly become uncommon to formulate something without leaning on already accepted references or markers. This is, of course, especially unfortunate in artistic education as it signals anxiety and a lack of innovation.

To be able to name something ‘international’ has become another simple marker of quality. The concept refers to a desirable high standard, for example when institutions define their goals, and is often recurring within artistic education as an indicator of excellence. This notion of quality is built on a model where society is arranged in a system of concentric circles beginning with the municipality representing the local, going onwards to counties, regions and the national level to, in the end, move on to the great world stage outside, that is to say, the international context. It might be so that this perspective was more justified in the art world up until the 1990s, before European integration, cheap flights, globalisation, mobile phones, Internet and artist’s studio programs connected people in a novel way. It is today, and since a long time back, perfectly possible to be active in large artistic contexts without residing in New York, the place that more than any other has represented a highly problematic notion of internationalism. This means that labels of ‘international’ and ‘internationalisation’ to a great extent have lost their significance. Few artists would today, probably, voluntarily seek to define themselves as nomadic subjects who create art with an ‘international’ expression.

The value of a firm anchoring in a local milieu has been strengthened in the Bologna process that brought with it increased competition between art schools, but also improved possibilities for exchanges for students and faculty. When the world becomes more and more homogenous and competition intensifies, singular qualities become more important. It is difficult to formulate something particular and unique if one treats the physical location of the educational institution as an unimportant factor and if one fails to realise the value in terms of institutional representation and competencies that the geographic context with its political, social and cultural specificities brings.

80 This is not to dismiss the importance of exchanges, contacts and outlooks towards different contexts. Naturally, these remain crucial but the key questions revolve around how the specificity of the context and these exchanges with the rest of the world are organised and come to have an imprint on the institution.

The northerly location of the Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing in Tromsø is instantly noteworthy.

One could say that this is something that really separates the Academy from many comparable art schools. But the location is of course more than mere geography. It is important to stress the particular cultural history and context of Tromsø. Political initiatives in education in the north focus on nature and climate change. This is a pressing subject, but it has the tendency of becoming too dominant. The cultural perspective brings us back to the fact that Tromsø is the second largest city in Sápmi (Murmansk is larger but it has a very small sámi population).

The Tromsø Academy has an important role to play here. It is worth noting that art institutions and art schools in the Nordic region have in the last decades shown a large interest for global postcolonial questions while rarely connecting them to similar problems closer to home.

As this year’s graduating class of the Masters program shows, the learning environment at the Tromsø Academy is highly international with students and teachers from a wide range of countries. However, the concrete studies have used the fact that we are an institution situated in the north of Norway and in Sápmi. The inclusion of local elements in the pedagogical practice is made possible by the knowledge of the faculty and staff of the context in which they operate. Again, it is imperative to stress that an understanding of place and context is not in conflict with outlooks, collaborations and exchanges with the outside world. But if the artist begins in that end, it is probable that the resulting work will lack profundity.

The students who are now graduating show that they have managed to establish such a profundity as their works are often related to personal cultural belongings and experiences. Concretely, this is manifested in works that explore special phenomena and questions originating in, for example, the contexts of South Africa, Ethiopia, Canada and Norway. One of the aims with the practical setup of the studies has been to put the

81 artistic practice first. This has entailed a focus on work in the studio and the concrete production and results that the students have presented. This might sound commonplace, but it is not to be taken as a given that art education values the creation of art as its most important ingredient. A thinking that reduces the educational context to one product amongst others, where the signalling of markers become important, often downplays this element.

As stated above, it is the daily work in the studio as well as the efforts of faculty and staff that in the end lead to students developing viable artistic practices. I hope, and indeed think, that we at the Academy have achieved the aim of establishing a good foundation for our graduating students’ future artistic careers. The point of departure for the development of artistically conscious works is to have an understanding of who one is and where one works. In order to achieve this, it is crucial to constantly take stock of the processes and factors that have contributed to producing one’s specific situation. The graduate exhibition is a good indication for how well an art school has managed to give a solid education, but what really counts is, as mentioned above, the coming work and careers of the students.

What we are shown by the graduates in this year’s show gives us a hint of what we can expect from our students in the future. Even if most of the works are finished processes, they are at the same time running inventories of the process of art production described above. To become an artist and to create art is, in one way, a process-based work that itself generates experience and knowledge. At the same time, anyone is free to call him or herself an artist or pronounce an opinion on art, which gives the field openness and public relevance. However, knowing things about art is not the same thing as knowing how art is created. When many factors and competing interests downplay the importance of this knowledge, it is important that the education of artists defends it. Individual experience from exhibiting works and an exam from an art school is supposed to, after all, vouchsafe for the fact that one knows something about creating art. And this is a unique and discernable knowledge separated from practices like thinking about art, organising art or administrating artistic production.

MA Degree Show 2015 Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing Edited by Hanne Hammer Stien og Agatha Wara Designed by Research and Development Printed by V-TAB, Göteborg UiT Norges arktiske universitet Kunstakademiet Postboks 6050, Langnes 9037, Tromsø, Norway kunstakademiet@kunstfak.uit.no www.kunstakademietitromso.no ISBN 978-82-690199-0-2 © 2015 Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing

2015 ISBN: 978-82-690199-0-2