Utopiske signaler

An opportunity to learn more about the International Nyksund Project, which has been reactivated through Nyksund Reloaded.

Since 2022, Nyksund Reloaded has used archival practice, media art and film to reactivate and reinterpret a forgotten international ecoproject in Northern Norway.

From 1984 to 1992, an eco-town was built in the former fishing village of Nyksund, initiated by students from Technische Universität in West Berlin. The International Nyksund Project (INP) was intended to become an international youth town, bringing together radical social pedagogy, experiments in eco-technology, architecture and cultural heritage preservation. In a time shaped by the Cold War and an emerging climate crisis, young people were to learn to take responsibility for their own future. Then the project collapsed, and its material legacy was scattered.

Nyksund Reloaded explores how the ideas, visions and energy of INP—represented in collected archival material and embedded in the places shaped by INP—can still be reactivated and inspire action and reflection in response to societal challenges. The project is being developed by the artist groups NODES with SOAP – Some Online Architecture Practice – and is led by media artists and filmmakers Katja Pratschke and Elisabeth Brun.

ROM for kunst og arkitektur is a partner in the further development of the project’s international collaborations. The project has also contributed “Utopiske signaler”, an interactive essay (https://metode.rom.no/articles/essay/utopian-signals-accidental-archivism-of-the-nyksund-ecotopia) published in ROM’s METODE vol. 3: Currents.

At Cinemateket, you can meet Elisabeth Brun and the artists involved in the project and see VR and film works from Nyksund Reloaded, including completed works, archival film and works in progress, as well as sketches from a workshop with film art students from Filmkunstskolen i Kabelvåg.

Please note that the VR works are shown at Bølgen at 14.30 (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=nw7SEF7WUkaulOSTrPtoSnLuFvWEp_RPjmOknnx8EwNUNVZQS01CQkZOV0dSNjZPQ0dYNERWV1dSVy4u&route=shorturl) and at 16.00. (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=nw7SEF7WUkaulOSTrPtoSnLuFvWEp_RPjmOknnx8EwNUNVlPTlNUWjdOVVkzM05XWk0yRVZDTDBOQi4u&route=shorturl) These screenings are free, but registration is required.

The illustrations are collages by Iryna Kliui and Katja Pratschke, using images from the International Nyksund Project.

Venue: Cinemateket i Oslo, Dronningens gate 16, 0152 Oslo