Opening Days Programme: across, with, nearby

The fifth edition of Bergen Assembly is titled across, with, nearby and opens to the public on Thursday, 11 September 2025 with a four-day programme of collective inquiries and modes of engagement relating to processes of learning and knowledge formation, shaped by acts of neighbouring and participation. This programme, much like across, with, nearby as a whole, is experiential: it unfolds across waters, schools, libraries, exhibition spaces, and airwaves, and through practices of sharing rather than showing.

On Thursday morning we invite you alongside others to a welcome reception at Bergen School of Architecture (BAS), followed by the first of three live performances by Jana Winderen, whose Meet the Locals: Underwater uses hydrophones and field recordings to bring marine soundscapes into urban spaces. The day continues with afternoon visits to Entrée, where Maasai Mbili Artist Collective blurs the wish to see their work with the need to touch it, and Stranges Stiftelse for an introduction to the Archives for Social Change, with readings of stories from the archives. At Bergen Kunsthall you can experience a late-afternoon happening by Susan Philipsz inspired by co-ritus, echoing the participatory spirit of artist collective Gruppe 66. At ROMMET we are introduced to the Open Form approach by Espen Folgerø through the example of the Builders' Hut. There will also be a sharing of the Trajectories that will unfold throughout the assembly period at BAS and during weekly public programmes. The day draws to a close with food, music, and an opening party at ROMMET, and the sound of waves aboard the Literature Boat Epos docked nearby. On this evening you can also experience the inaugural transmission of Karen Werner’s Night Air, either on air via FM, AM, shortwave signal or with a shared listening at ROMMET. Night Air is a 60-night-long radio project where a lullaby, shared between strangers, carries listeners over thresholds into sleep.

On Friday, the day is set in motion through conversation and space for encounter: at Amundsen Bar, artist Monica Ursina Jäger and Kikki Flesche Kleiven from Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research reflect on the unseen ecologies of the fjord. With the Communist Museum of Palestine, members of the public can embark on a Mujawarah, a gathering nurtured by neighbourly care, as stipulated by thinker Munir Fasheh. This takes place in the P1 Mobile Studio by Tenthaus Art Collective, at Bergen Katedralskole 'Katten'. From there you can make your way to the Bergen Assembly Open Office to join a talk between BAS’ Emma Nilsson and Tom Chamberlain and the architects of Al Borde about their practice and the commission they have developed for the Open Office. After that, the public is invited to a conversation with Munir Fasheh, Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri and Tenthaus Art Collective on the topic of creating meaning through storytelling. Sajan Mani shares his durational performance Yamandan: Eruptions from Where You Buried Us back at Bergen Kunsthall, in which he navigates the weight of caste, colonialism, and bodily memory. Nearby, in the Tårnsalen at KODE, Lapdiang Artimai Syiem performs Laïtiam, embodying the voices from a Khasi folk tale of grief and ancestral knowledge. In the evening, Literature Boat Epos, docked at Bryggen, hosts Blocknotes, a creative writing initiative for imprisoned people in the Netherlands, which offers readings by Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Christine Otten. At the Bergen Assembly Open Office you can join for an evening with an open bar and music, where Luke Drozd will perform his trace Impulse/Signal alongside Simone Ghetti. Once again, the day turns to night with Night Air drifting across the airwaves. 

Saturday takes us on paths that disperse across land and over sea: the Bergen Library hosts a conversation with Nabil Ahmed about the work of INTERPRT and Climate Rights. At noon you are invited to join the first fjord journey with the Literature Boat Epos to the Textile Industry Museum in Salhus, where we encounter Jakkai Siributr’s long-running textile project There’s no place for which former textile workers of Salhus and different community members are gathering in an embroidery workshop, adding new layers of experiences, stories, and labour. In the late afternoon, Literature Boat Epos sails to Salhus once again, where a programme unfolds, starting with an offering to the sea by Elin Már Øyen Vister and collaborators. The offering is connected to their audio work Along the currents — an ocean of voices, a choral of beings installed on the boat. The programme continues with a talk by Izz Aljabari, readings by Layli Long Soldier and Gunnhild Øyehaug, and ends with a presentation of The New New Norwegian — a collaborative project with the literary journal Vinduet — including readings by Priya Bains. When the boat moves back to Bergen, Elin Már Øyen Vister will continue with a DJ set on board.  At the Fisheries Museum, Sarah Kazmi performs Cooking at Sea, a poetic reflection on migration, memory, and the shifting meanings of language, while Jana Winderen returns to the waterfront for her second live underwater transmission, this time close to the Bergen fish market. The day is brought to a fitting end with a student-organised party at BAS — food, dancing, and conversation take us on a journey well into the night.

Sunday invites further reflection on processes of learning across, with, nearby: at noon, an introduction to Elsebet Rahlff’s new work All we are saying..., experienced at the docks near Epos, sets off the final voyage of the Literature Boat to Salhus and the Textile Industry Museum with a workshop in association with Jakkai Siributr’s exhibition there. The day also offers space to revisit artworks and take part in mediation events, such as guided tours for families at Bergen Kunsthall. You can join a collective listening session in the Singing Wells with founder Tabu Osusa. At the Fisheries Museum, Sarah Kazmi performs Cooking at Sea a second time.

Throughout the Opening Days, all venues in Bergen are open from 11:00–19:00 (Sunday until 17:00) for you to spend time with the artworks. On Saturday, the Textile Industry Museum in Salhus is open until 20:00. The Bergen School of Architecture’s own sauna welcomes early risers each morning between 9:00–11:00. 

The Opening Days Programme is a continuation of ongoing processes already set in motion by convenors Ravi Agarwal, Adania Shibli, and Bergen School of Architecture together with the practitioners of across, with, nearby. Throughout the autumn, this fifth edition of Bergen Assembly will carry on with varied and dense programming in Bergen and beyond, taking the form of weekly events, gatherings, and mediation programmes. Amongst these are the Bergen School of Architecture Trajectories, which will be held regularly on Wednesdays at ROMMET. On four Thursdays (11 and 18 September, 30 October, and 6 November), you are welcome to join us at Bergen Kunsthall for a co-ritus-inspired event, and every Thursday during the early evening, the public mediation programmes deepen your engagement with the works. Tracing the currents of the water and the connections of the land and the sea, the Literature Boat Epos continues its journey. It offers space for three residencies with Layli Long Soldier, Shahram Khosravi, and Maaza Mengiste as it moves between Bergen, Valevåg, Lofthus/Grimo, Odda, and other sites along the Hardangerfjord, fostering encounters and collaborations with artists and institutions including Olav Bleie, Leander Djønne, Lars Korff Lofthus, Agnes Ravatn, Tora Sanden Døskeland, Einar Økland, Odda's Literature Symposium, and many others.

A detailed programme with dates and precise timetables is accessible on our website.

We hope you will join us on this journey.

across, with, nearby
With: Ken Are Bongo and Joar Nango, Prabhakar Pachpute, Susan Philipsz, Koki Tanaka, and Jana Winderen at Bergen School of Architecture. Vikrant Bhise, Marcus Coates, AgriForum: Acts of Re/Collection (facilitated by FICA, with contributions by Anga Art Collective, Malavika Bhatia, Ankan Dutta, Sanchayan Ghosh, Gram Art Project, Blaise Joseph, Rashmi Kaleka, Shubham Kumar, Maksud Ali Mondal, Ashis Palei, Bhikari Pradhan, Gopa Roy, Sheshadev Sagria, Niroj Satpathy, Umesh S, and Gyanwant Yadav), Kåre Aleksander Grundvåg, Gram Art Project and Matskogen, Clara Hastrup, Ánddir Ivvár Ivvár/Iver Jåks, Sajan Mani, Gruppe 66, Karen Werner, Singing Wells, and Karan Shrestha, as well as co-ritus events by Susan Philipsz, Maasai Mbili Artist Collective, Jakkai Siributr, and Tenthaus Art Collective at Bergen Kunsthall. Izz Aljabari, Priya Bains, Olav Bleie, Blocknotes with Christine Otten and Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Leander Djønne, Shahram Khosravi, Lars Korff Lofthus, Layli Long Soldier, the Literature Symposium in Odda, Maaza Mengiste, Elsebet Rahlff, Agnes Ravatn, Philip Rizk, Tora Sanden Døskeland, Einar Økland, Gunnhild Øyehaug, Elin Már Øyen Vister, and the Hardangerfjord community at the Literature Boat Epos. Nepal Picture Library: Dalit Archive, Feminist Memory Project, PARI Archive (Grindmill Songs Project), and Norwegian Queer Archives at Stranges Stiftelse. INTERPRT and Climate Rights at Bergen Public Library and MLAG. Monica Ursina Jäger at Grand Hotel Terminus, Amundsen Bar. Maasai Mbili Artist Collective at Entrée. Floating University at Kristiansholm. Builders' Hut and Trajectories at ROMMET, USF. Communist Museum of Palestine and Tenthaus Art Collective with Rana Anani, Ayreen Anastas, Rana Batrawi, Munir Fasheh, Rene Gabri, Mandaloun Experimental Arts Lab, Mezna Qato, and others at P1 Mobile Studio at Bergen Katedralskole 'Katten'. Lapdiang Artimai Syiem and Monica Ursina Jäger at Nonneseter. Al Borde and Traces at Bergen Assembly Open Office. Jakkai Siributr and Erlend O. Nødtvedt at Textile Industry Museum. Sarah Kazmi at Fisheries Museum. Hans Petter Blad, Pedro Carmona-Alvarez, Shwan Dler Qaradaki, Ulla Schildt, Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold, and others in Vinduet.

Also appears in Klassekampen’s Bokmagasinet and other publications.