Flatbread Society Soil Procession and Declaration of Land Use, Oslo
Losæter
www.flatbreadsociety.net
www.slowspace.no
Soil Procession, Oslo, 2015
On June 13, 2015, a procession of farmers carried soil from their farms through the city of Oslo to its new home, where the soil offerings were spread and a Declaration of Land Use was signed.
Soil from over 50 Norwegian farms, from as far north as Tromsø and as far south as Stokke, now form the foundation of Losæter, a new cultural institution in Bjørvika, Oslo. Soil Procession is one of several actions initiated by Futurefarmers in the framework of Flatbread Society.
Flatbread Society
Flatbread Society is a permanent public art project created in a “common” area amidst the waterfront development of Bjørvika in Oslo, Norway. In 2012, the international arts collective Futurefarmers formed Flatbread Society as a proposition for working with local actors to establish an aligned vision for the use of this land. Flatbread Society uses grain as a prismatic impetus for considering the interrelationships of food production and realms of knowledge sharing, cultural production, socio-political formations, and everyday life.
Urban agriculture policy
Futurefarmers’ dynamic activation of the site through public programs, a bakehouse, and a cultivated grain field has attracted the imagination of farmers, bakers, oven builders, artists, activists, soil scientists, and city officials, while simultaneously inspiring the formation of an urban gardening community called Herligheten and an urban agricultural policy.
Flatbread Society’s activities in Oslo facilitate an open framework for collectively developing this site into a permanent stage for art and action, as well as a shared resource for urban food production and the preservation of the commons. In 2014, an official renaming of the site took place. The collectively coined name “Losæter” combines two Norwegian terms for the commons, Loallmenning and sæter—Lo points to the location of the site near the water, while sæter refers the right to put animals to pasture and to put up a house for the summer. Losæter captures the spirit of the project at large and connects to Norway’s agricultural heritage in a continuum of past to future. As Losæter evolves, the practice and metaphor of cultivation are linked to larger ideas of self-determination and organic processes in the development of land use, social relations, and cultural forms. The openness and fluidity of the projects evolving at Losæter stand in stark contrast to the rational logic of development in the surrounding areas of Bjørvika. Situated amongst the National Opera, the Munch Museum, Deichmanske Library, and the National Stock Exchange, Flatbread Society positions Losæter within the cultural legacy of the city.
Read & download Karolin Tampere’s new essay on the Flatbread Society Soil Procession here.
Read & download the Declaration of Land Use here.
Watch video:
Soil Procession
Support
Flatbread Society is a permanent public art project initiated and rooted in Oslo by Futurefarmers. It is part of the Slow Space public art program for Bjørvika Harbor, a curatorial vision conceived by Situations, and is commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling and supported by The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Eastern Region).
About Futurefarmers
Futurefarmers is a group of diverse practitioners aligned through an interest in making work that is relevant to the time and place surrounding it. Their work manifests itself as temporary public art, museum exhibitions, publications, bus tours, public programs, and most recently, permanent public art. A consistent line running through their work is the sustained questioning of how “nature” and “culture” are perceived. They use various tactics to uncover histories and currents related to this divide by challenging systems of exchange and tools used to “hunt” and “gather.”
Futurefarmers’ work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY, MAXXI in Rome, New York Hall of Sciences, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. They are currently on the shortlist for Artes Mundi 7, the seventh edition of the UK’s leading biennial art prize.
Contact
Lead Artist, Futurefarmers
Amy Franceschini: amy [at] futurefarmers.com / T +1 415 602 6917
Skype name: futurefarmeramy
Project Director, Oslo
Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director, Bjørvika Utvikling, Oslo
anne.beate.hovind [at] bjorvikautvikling.no / T +47 (0)909 42528
Skype name: anne.beate.hovind
