Translation of article by Johanne Nome in Klassekampen, 10. August 2009
By Johanne Nome, Gamvik
At 71 degrees north, out in the fresh air and in a temperature of about five degrees, over 300 people have gathered in the area surrounding Slettnes lighthouse. The building is the world's northernmost mainland lighthouse and is located on the edge of the Barents Sea.
The lighthouse towers over the open, flat landscape and is four kilometers from the Gamvik fishing works.The lighthouse area is a regular venue for visitors, but today the crowd is due to the official opening of the Kultur Dugnad Gamvik 2009, under the auspices of Gamvik Art. The lighthouse is filled with an exhibition of home-baked cakes, the machine room houses Russian paper dolls, you can see a video installation in the annex, whilst the sculptures in various sizes are found to the right of the area around the lighthouse.
Slettnes lighthouse marks the end boundary of Europe and has a strong symbolic power as a potent marker of civilization on the edge of the wild." says the coordinator and the leader of Gamvik Art Association, Oslo resident, Marius Hauge.
Purely by coincidence, Hauge bought a house outside Gamvik a couple of years ago, and as a newcomer felt he had a responsibility to help create a little life in the small community, which was threatened by depopulation. So in September last year he took the initiative to establish Gamvik Art Association in cooperation with local forces.
"Although Gamvik has a small population, the area has a strong tradition" says Hauge. He hopes that the new culture the area can offer will help to recreate some of the best of Gamvik's past, as a lively community next to the great ocean. "It is amazing what we've achieved together, by daring to see the greatness in the small and by bringing the great over here. Everyone has contributed with enormous creative pleasure, both local and visitors." says Hauge.
Vigdis Steinvåg, board member of the Art Society and co-worker at Gamvik museum, shares Hauge's optimism, "Kultur Dugnad proves that something big could happen here just as much as elsewhere, and the event will help to put Gamvik on the map, "she says. Cultural Life on Gamvik has gradually been reduced in accordance with emigration from the fishing village. Steinvåg thinks it is important that new energy enters into the local life of the organisation. The result of this year's Cultural work has been an exhibition where visiting artists will exhibit alongside local forces. Hauge has chosen to draw local traditions into the gallery. Literally. Part of the exhibition is devoted to cakes, all baked by Gamvik women.
The acclaimed artists exhibit side by side with local artists, and Gamvik cake is put on pedestal, making people a little prouder of the place." says Steinvåg. "Art may have been associated with something foreign, high culture that some rich people in Oslo take part in, and it would have been unthinkable to see their own work as something elaborate," she says. Steinvåg hopes the gallery's work can help to refine some of the myths about art, and show that it can be a generous term. Steinvåg is supported by Karin Stoltenberg, who opened the "World Class Cakes" exhibition. "Cakes are art," she says,"and show that women's work and time has traditionally been channeled towards the home, and it is here that their pleasure of creation and aesthetic perception has been expressed. Despite the bad times, women have always taken the time to bake cakes and create a good atmosphere in the home, but unlike the other art forms, women's art has primarily had a practical function." says Stoltenberg. Small community, great art. The feminine dominates the lighthouse area in Gamvik, both in the artistic selection and in the various works.
The most strikingly feminine are three of Marit Benthe Norheim's mobile sculptures from the installation Campingwomen. The sculpture Maria the Protector, The Bride and Campingmamma, have travelled from Silkeborg in Denmark for the occasion of Kulturdugnad Gamvik.
"It is fantastic to see the Campingwomen in this landscape, says Norheim, who has kept the Campingwomen company on the last leg of the journey from Mehman to Slettnes, along the Barent Sea coast in the sunshine and through the low, misty clouds. The Norwegian artist is resident in Denmark, and even she is surprised at the wanderlust of the sculptures. Earlier this summer the Campingwomen were in Reykjavik and they have also travelled around Denmark. It is amazing to see Norway like this, and I was in doubt right up until the last minute whether it would be possible to undertake this project." the artist says. Else Marie Bukdahl is a professor of Art and previously Rector of the Danish Royal Academy of Art. She has also, almost like a sixth Campingwomen queen, followed the Campingwomen on all their journeys. Bukdahl is enthusiastic about the northern destination. “The sculptures create dialogues with their surroundings and influence the areas they visit," says Bukdahl, who believes strongly that art has something to offer everyone. "The aesthetic experience is diverse, everyone can get something out of art," she says, pointing to the fact that the Campingwomen have created wonder wherever they have travelled. "The sculptural projects build bridges between art and the people, something traditional and innovative," says Bukdahl.
FACTS Kultur Dugnad Gamvik 2009: Arranged at Slettnes Lighthouse 2-20. August. Gamvik Art Association was founded in September 2008 and chaired by Marius Hauge. This year's exhibition was opened by Thorvald and Karin Stoltenberg, and contains, among other things "World Class Cakes" with local homemade cakes, video work by Adventure Camp residents Charlotte Nilsen, puppets by the Russian textile artist Tatiana Gombash from Murmansk,preparatory models by the sculptor Claus Ørntofts for his artwork The Hour of the Wolves, and also models in fibreglass and lithographic prints. Three of the five sculptures in the installation exhibition by Marit Benthe Norheim are also in the exhibition, with specially written music by composer Geir Johnson. Slettnes Lighthouse: The world's Northernmost mainland lighthouse, at 71 degrees north. Café Open during the tourist season, with accommodation. Protected as a heritage site (1998) The lighthouse is located four kilometers from the little Fishworks in Gamvik, Gamvik municipality on Nordkyn peninsula in Finnmark county. The community has just over 150 inhabitants, while the municipality has a total of just over 1000 residents. The nearest airport is located in the Municipal Center Mehman four miles away.