22/07/16
New Plans
Since our last post, we have, together with Bergen City Council, concluded years of complicated negotiations with our landlords. It is now agreed that Bergen Council will continue to rent the property in which Wrap is located for the next 20 years on behalf of the arts centre.
This means not only that we can finally invest in major improvements to the structure of our facilities. It also means that we finally meet the requirements to apply for funds from the state which have until now been unattainable.
We have already succeeded in raising financial support towards major renovations and restructuring. We hope to be serving the independent artistic community with our new facilities by the end of 2016.
What Might A Radical Arts Institution Look Like?
In honour of our new situation, Leo and Veronica are traveling through Europe in search of radical arts initiatives and institutions. This research trip is funded by Bergen City Council, The Norwegian Arts Council and Fritt Ord, and will culminate in a presentation during a collaborative event with Freethought, entitled What Might A Radical Arts Institution Look Like In Bergen? The event will take place at the Partisan Café in Bergen's former fire station, during the Bergen Assembly triennial.
Autumn Program at Wrap
We are also proud to present two unique series of concerts involving the cream of Bergen's music scene this autumn. These series are:
Audioglimt, where musicians perform their own specially composed/improvised soundtracks to films.
...and Sonisk Selskap, a project designed to bring musicians together for creative sessions with local producers in the AV Lab, with informal Thursday evening concerts and monthly Saturday concerts where each months recorded highlights will be released on a new record label - co-owned by everyone who buys a ticket.
Other Activity
Recent notable productions to take place at Wrap have included the dance performance, Heimevernet by Lisa Nøttseter, the original opera, Tycho Brahe by Ursus Productions, and the forthcoming performance for one dancer and four record players, Table Turns by Roar Sleteland and Karen Eide Bøen.
Dancing Tables in the Partisan Café Program “Specters of Infrastructure” by Freethought at Bergen Assembly 2016
5th of September 2016, 17.00-21.00
What might a radical arts institution look like in Bergen?
The enactment of Bergen's Kunstplan in 1997 was followed by 18 years of rapid developments to the cities cultural infrastructure. A pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit has driven these developments, and enabled a new ecosystem of artistic production to grow, in spite of disruptive market forces.
How can this energetic and vibrant spirit continue to thrive and to serve the artist community on it's own terms, in an increasingly multifaceted cultural economy? How does the politics of property ownership affect Bergen's cultural infrastructure and creative spirit? And what alternatives might be explored?
Looking at these questions within an international as well as a national and local context, we aim to develop a broader understanding of where we might be heading, and what might be an appropriate vocabulary with which to communicate our positions within this dynamic landscape – particularly as we approach the re-evaluation of Kunstplanen in 2017.
Presentations:
Florian Malzacher, Leo Preston & Veronica Thorseth
Conversation:
Moderated by Melanie Fieldseth with special guests Evelyn Holm, Sven Åge Birkeland and Iver S. Findley, which will be opened up to the whole floor.
There will be writing on the walls.
Inside information will be shared.
In collaboration with Wrap (Leo Preston and Veronica Thorseth)
