“Gnistsambandet / SPARKS”

Participating artists: 
Astrid Ardagh, Ayo, Birgit Hagen, Dávvet Bruun-Solbakk, Eileen Myles, Elisabeth Brun, Elise Macmillan, Flis Holland, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Ilija Wyller, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, KINOBOX (Ruth Aitken & Sarah Schipschack), Lilla Georgine Hansen, Livingstone Office for Contemporary Art—LoCA (Anawana Haloba, Kabila Kyowa Stéphane, Banji Chona, Bwanga 'BennyBlow' Kapumpa, Listening at Pungwe (Memory Biwa & Robert Machiri)), Michael Tsegaye, Monica Edmondson, Morten Torgersrud + Ellisif Wessel, NORDTING/Amund Sjølie Sveen, Nyksund Reloaded (Elisabeth Brun, Ivar Kjellmo, Gusztáv Hámos, Katja Pratschke), Simen Engen Larsen, Siri Hjorth og Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas, Sissel Solbjørg Bjugn, Sørfinnset Skole/ the nord land, Viktor Bomstad & Magnus Holmen, Wong Kit Yi. 

Island Eye Island Ear, Lofoten 2024: You Nakai, Norimichi Hirakawa, Kei Komachiya, Hiroko Myokam, Katsuya Ishida, Daisuke Funato and all from SIAF Lab., Jacob Kirkegaard,  Robert Monnier & Gill Eatherley and Margaretha Åsberg. Island Eye Island Ear for Knavelskär, Sweden, originally conceived by David Tudor, in 1974, in collaboration with Billy Klüver, Fujiko Nakaya, Margaretha Åsberg, and Jackie Matisse. Advisory board: Phil Edelstein, Composers Inside Electronics and Julie Martin, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). 

Curated by: Kjersti Solbakken

Location: Multiple venues in Svolvær (Norway)

Lofoten International Art Festival—LIAF—is the longest-running art biennial in Scandinavia. Presenting works by local and international artists in a location-conscious context, LIAF seeks to be an open and experimental meeting place for artists, contributors, collaborators and audiences. LIAF does not have a set venue but takes place at different locations in Lofoten each time it is held. LIAF is organized by North Norwegian Art Centre in collaboration with LIAF Artistic Advisory Board. 

Curated by Kjersti Solbakken and entitled “Gnistsambandet / SPARKS”, Lofoten International Art Festival 2024 is inspired by the history of the Lofoten Line: a large-scale national initiative from 1861 which sought to make the Lofoten fishery more efficient. Through its 170 km of underwater cables and land lines, the facility constituted the country's first telegraph line outside the main telecommunications network. During the long, cold winter months when the Lofoten fishery took place, a temporary connection was established between nine fishing hamlets. The telegraphed messages conveyed information about the movements of the skrei—a migrating cod that swims every year from the Barents Sea to Lofoten to spawn. The messages could also give warning of upcoming storms and bad weather. Read more at nnks.no.

LIAF 2024  will constitute a vibrant network of temporary connections which, in dialogue with a wide range of collaborators, through art projects, collective approaches and cross-institutional partnerships, will help reveal what the Lofoten Line could look like today. The festival will consist of a large exhibition spread across a number of venues alongside a programme of lectures and readings, performances, concerts, workshops and talks.   

In addition to the main exhibition in Svolvær, the festival will take place at various satellite arenas through a program that launched in April. 

Collaborators: Sørvågen Radio/Museum Nord, Stiftelsen Gamle Å, Skrova Fyr, Svolvær Kunstforening, Sør-Troms Museum/Trastad Samlinger, Manndalen Husflidslag, NŌUA, Nordlandsmuseet—Bådåddjo/Buvvda Musea, Stormen, KINOBOX, Livingstone Office for Contemporary Art—LoCA, SIAF-LAB., Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), Composers Inside Electronics, Metode/ROM for kunst og arkitektur, The Kitchen, Filmkunstskolen i Kabelvåg, Grenselandmuseet/The Borderland Museum, Vågan Historielag, Festspillene i Nord-Norge, The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute (FINNO), Bodø 2024, Worlding Northern Art (WONA) UiT, The Oulu Museum of Art, Vågan Havnevesen KF, Árran Julevsáme guovdásj, Hallingdal Museum/Stiftelsen Buskerudmuseet, Kristiania University College and Vågan Bibliotek. 

For further press information, please contact: Robyn Deane or Alex Finch at Margaret on robyn@margaretlondon.com / alex@margaretlondon.com / Norwegian press inquiries: Christopher Brautaset, christopher@nnks.no / General inquiries: liaf@nnks.no