Her Majesty Queen Sonja of Norway will open the Barents Spektakel 2011 festival in Kirkenes!

Pikene på Broen are happy to announce the attendance of Her Majesty Queen Sonjaat the opening of Barents Spektakel 2011, the opening concert ARCTIC SCOREand the exhibition MIND THE MAP!

As curators and organizers of the Barents Spektakel we are honored to receive the recognition of Her Majesty the Queen and we are looking forward to welcoming Her Majesty Queen Sonja to Kirkenes!

MIND THE MAP!
The Arctic map is changing – creating new stories, opportunities and challenges. This is the focus of MIND THE MAP!, the Barents Spektakel 2011, curated and organized by Pikene på Broen.

Opening show: Titanick «Furnace Symphony»
A magic hour in the Polar Night with the “Furnace Symphony” by the German Theater Titanick. Furnaces and pipes, breathing out fire cauldrons, symbolize industrialization of the North, but the Titanick orchestra turns them into musical instruments.

Opening concert: ARCTIC SCORE
The Arctic map of today is being re-drawn as a result of climate changes, undiscovered resources in the off-shore areas, development of the global logistics and transportation routes. There is a rising international anxiety over who controls the Arctic seabed. Old and new stakeholders re-consider and “update” their claims for the “Arctic pie”. A 40-year-old dispute over dividing the Barents Sea and part of the Arctic Ocean was resolved by the Russian President and the NorwegianPrime-Minister this year. Other claims in the Arctic are still on the agenda and remain the unresolved issues between Canada, Russia, USA, Denmark, etc.

This background is a point of departure for the new music production ARCTIC SCORE. Russian, Norwegian and Finnish folk music meet traditional sports, and the holistic choreography shows the historic context between music and sports. Alexey Arkhipovskiy, Moscow, balalaika on stage with Russian fist-fighters, Ragnhild Furebotten, Troms, fiddle, on stage with 6 brass players and Norwegian ”halling”/”høfsar”-dancers, and Kimmo Pohjonen, Helsinki, accordion, on stage with Finnish, Norwegian and Russian wrestlers. Historically, wrestling has been the most popular border-crossing sport that greatly contributed to collaboration across the borders between Norway, Russia and Finland. ARCTIC SCORE is a music-showfeaturing a symbolic fight: A meeting of three cultures on the Arctic battlefield. Do we fight to win or do we aim at working out rules and treaties that lead to solutions and “scores” favourable for all the participants?

Exhibition: MIND THE MAP!
Arctic maps revisited, new border agreements – to which extent do artists shape a political discourse and rhetoric?
The artists Morten Traavik (Norway), Olga Kisseleva (Russia), and Stefano Cagol (Italy) have stayed in Kirkenes on residencies and created new artworks inspired by the experience.

Music Spektakel: The festival turns Kirkenes into a hub of art, music, and theatre with among others Datarock, Casiokids, Alina Orlova and Markscheider Kunst playing concerts, and a contemporary dance-opera by the Berlin-based duo SpringerParker.

At the TRANSBORDER CAFÉ the writers Morten Strøksnes, Arne O. Holm and Aslak Nore will bring new perspective to the discussion on how borders are changed in the Arctic areas.

The VISIONARY ARCTIC seminar is a must for those interested in contemporary art, architecture and research. This years participants include: Lars Ramberg, Sami Rintala, Reiulf Ramstad, Eirik Newth, Jan Gunnar Skjeldsøy and Hans Wilhelm Longva.

We welcome you to join us at the Barents Spektakel 2011 in Hot Arctic Kirkenes!