Norway | Lofoten International Art Festival

Lofoten International Art Festival – LIAF – is Norway's only international Art festival and the one with the longest running history, dating back to 1991. LIAF 2013 takes place in Kabelvåg – in the Lofoten archipelago of islands in northern Norway where around 1700 of Lofotens 24 000 inhabitants live. The curatorial attitude of LIAF 2013 aims to create a reflection on how art can position itself as a profession and as a vocabulary within societies in which the protocol of contemporary institutional art practice is built on the idea of instigating, designing, or manufacturing some form of antagonism through its programming. The scarcity of art institutional structures in Lofoten offers LIAF 2013 an opportunity to seriously consider the conditions described above, immersing itself in the fabric of the local community, its domestic, commercial and public spaces while exploring the current moment’s global uneasiness. ‘Just what is it that makes today so familiar, so uneasy?’ intends to establish an aesthetic, intellectual, and political position by bringing the public and those shaping contemporary art discourse closer to a heightened and sensitive understanding of the conditions that shape our consciousness and existence today. LIAF 2013 will feature a balanced variety of art projects that create connections with each other and their surroundings, forming a circuit of intense emotions, ideas, and positions. Additionally, great attention will be given to mediation, intensifying the project’s impact within its locale. The contributors include artists from Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Pakistan, Belgium, India, France, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Germany and beyond. See website for full programme and biographical details.

Image: Morning view from a traditional Rorbu (seasonal house used by fishermen) in Kabelvåg. (July 2012)