Two public art project Future Library and Flatbread Society/Losæter are commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling in collaboration with the artists and have been unfolding in Bjørvika since 2011.
Background
Challenging preconceptions about the forms and timespan of conventional public artworks, these projects promise a new approach to working with artists in sites of regeneration. Conceived as a programme that will unfold over time, through collective activity, often in collaboration with existing organisations and artist-run initiatives across the city.
Bjørvika Utvikling is responsible for the construction of the commons, water promenade and technical infrastructure in the new city district in Oslo. More than 1% of the investment budget for the commons is dedicated to art in public space. In addition to the permanent art projects, Bjørvika Utvikling established Kunsthall Oslo as part of our overall art strategy in 2010.
Katie Paterson in front of a model of Deichman Bjørvika that will open in 2020. Photo: Anne Beate Hovind.
Katie Paterson’s Future Library 2014-2114
Future Library is a new public artwork by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, which will unfold over the next 100 years in the city of Oslo, Norway. A thousand trees have been planted in Nordmarka, a forest just outside Oslo. It will be 100 years before the trees are cut down to provide the paper for an anthology of books – a Future Library for the city of Oslo – read for the first time in 2114. All 100 manuscripts will be held in a specially designed room in the new Deichmanske Public Library opening in 2019 in Bjørvika, Oslo.
Every year from 2014 to 2114, a writer will be commissioned to contribute a new text to a growing collection of unpublished, unread manuscripts held in trust in a specially designed room in the new Deichmanske Public Library in Bjørvika until their publication in 2114.
The prizewinning author, poet, essayist, literary critic and environmentalist Margaret Atwood was the first writer to contribute to Future Library in 2015 with the text “Scribbler Moon”. The multi-award winning British novelist David Mitchell was the second writer to contribute to Future Library with a manuscript titled «From Me Flows What You Call Time«. The celebrated Icelandic poet, novelist and lyricist Sjón was the third writer, Turkish Elif Shafak the fourth, and South Korean Han Kang the fifth author.
Norwegian Karl Ole Knausgård is the sixth author to hand over a secrete manuscript to Future Library on 23 May 2020.
Conceived by Katie Paterson, Future Library is commissioned and supported by Bjørvika Utvikling and managed by the Future Library Trust. Supported by the City of Oslo, Agency for Cultural Affairs and Agency for Urban Environment.
Guiding the selection of authors is the Future Library Trust, whose trustees include artist, Katie Paterson; Publishing Director of Hamish Hamilton, Simon Prosser; former Director of the Deichmanske Bibliotek, Liv Sæteren; Publishing Director of Forlaget Press, Håkon Harket; Editor-in-Chief of Oktober Press, Ingeri Engelstad; and Bjørvika Utvikling’s Project Director for Art, Anne Beate Hovind.
Read more:
www.futurelibrary.no
Future Library på Facebook
Future Library på Twitter
Flatbread Society bakehouse at Losæter (photo: Monica Løvdahl)
Futurefarmers’ Flatbread Society
Established by Futurefarmers and lead artist Amy Franceschini at Losæter in Bjørvika in 2011, Flatbread Society is a group of people including farmers, oven builders, astronomers, artists, soil scientists and bakers, working together towards the development of Bakehouse Bjørvika; a public bakehouse, field with traditional grains and allotments, and sustained public programming in Bjørvika.
The project is commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling in collaboration with the artists. Supported by The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Eastern Region).
For more information, check out:
www.flatbreadsociety.net and Flatbread Society on Facebook.
www.futurefarmers.org
Losæter
Losæter has grown out of Futurefarmers Flatbread Society initiative. Losæter is now a new cultural institution on a common along the waterfront in Bjørvika dedicated to a range of activities related to art and urban food production.
Losæter is a space that has been in constant organic development since 2012 and now includes Flatbread Society’s activities, Herligheten allotment community, an ancient grain field, a beautiful bakehouse, Oslo’s first City farmer and many others who have a passion for art and urban gardening.
Photo: Vibeke Hermanrud
The project is commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling in collaboration with the artists. Supported by The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Eastern Region). Bjørvika Utvikling and The Norwegian Farmers’ Union are collaborating to develop urban farming, and in 2016 they hired the city farmer to work at Losæter. Other supporters include Norgesgruppen, Sparebankstiftelsen, Oslo Municipality with the Agency of Environment (Bymiljøetaten), and many others.
Losæter has formed an association overseeing the overall running of the place, and Bjørvika Utvikling has the overall responsibility and ownership of Losæter until it is taken over by Oslo Municipality after 2020.
Contact person in Bjørvika Utvikling: Vibeke.Hermanrud@bjorvikautvikling.no, +47 90116493
For more infomation about Losæter, see www.loseter.no and Losæter on Facebook.
View from Ekeberg towards Bjørvika with Losæter (green area in the front). Foto: Vibeke Hermanrud
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