Last year’s Barents Spektakel festival in Kirkenes opened on 23 February, the day before the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. “That was a poignant experience,” recalls Neal Cahoon, who, together with Ingrid Valan, has curated this year’s festival. Opening on 24 February, the festival will last six days and is the biggest edition to date. “We have chosen to open on the first anniversary of the large-scale outbreak of the war, and we hope that we can do something good on that day. It’s important for us to show that cooperation is still possible, even in such a difficult situation,” Cahoon told Kunstkritikk.
Barents Spektakel is organised by the curatorial collective Pikene på broen (The Girls on the Bridge), one of the few actors working with contemporary art in Kirkenes. Valan, a trained art historian, is from Kirkenes and has been part of collective since 2014. Cahoon comes from Northern Ireland and has worked as a curator in Pikene på broen since August 2020.
The Barents Spektakel festival has taken place annually since 2004, and the programme includes art exhibitions, concerts, debates, and theatre productions, as well as the festival’s very own sauna. Valan stated that the organisers have a strong desire to involve the local population: “We work hard on our communication and interdisciplinary collaboration. The festival aims to appeal to the general public through a mixture of niche art productions and more accessible events. The opening show, for example, will be very spectacular.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has informed the planning of the festival, with this year’s theme being “trust.” The idea came up during last year’s festival. “Trust is a word that is often bandied about, but it changes from one context to the next. There’s a difference between trusting a friend and trusting a politician. This festival is not about coming up with concrete answers; rather, we want to pave the way for conversations,” Cahoon said.
The festival and Pikene på broen aim to create meeting places between the peoples and countries of the Barents region, which spans parts of northern Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. However, exchanges with Russia have been complicated since before the invasion. Because even though Europe slowly opened up after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russians had their own vaccine which made crossing the border more difficult. “In the past, we could have a satellite program on the Russian side of the border, but crossing the border has been off the table since before the pandemic,” Valan said.
Cahoon thinks trust is absolutely crucial in any collaboration between artists. By happy coincidence, many of this year’s projects are about listening. In Dialects of the Deep, for example, Anastasia Savinova and John Andrew Wilhite-Hannisdal collaborate on a research project about listening to codfish. There will also be an exhibition on fisheries policy in Kirkenes, and, indeed, the field of fishery is one of the few where cooperation agreements with Russia still stand. “You can look at the project in the context of the war, but also in terms of the ecosystem in the Barents Sea,” Cahoon said.
The curators describe working on the festival as a year-round process. They have devoted particular attention to keeping in touch with Russian artists who are still working in Russia, and the disparate group of artists who have left the country and taken temporary or permanent residence in other countries. “There is a Russian diaspora community with which we keep in touch and create projects. Another aspect is the security situation for artists who express themselves from inside Russia. There are many considerations we must take into account and we have a great responsibility, together with the artists,” Valan said.
One of the projects the curators highlighted is by the Russian artist collective Yav. Headed by Anastasia Vladychkina, the group works with protest art and street art, among other things, and will create a digital exhibition in Kirkenes. Cahoon describes it as an activist project, comprising works that were shown in Russia, but have been removed by the Russian authorities.
In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a public discussion arose on the issue of a boycott of Russian artists and cultural workers. However, the curators believe that their co-operation with Russian artists is not controversial. Valan emphasises that they have no contact with official Russian institutions or authorities, and that they collaborate exclusively with independent artists – some of whom still live in the Russian Barents region that many have fled. “Perhaps we will see some reactions after the festival, but I think we will be able to get across the message that we are trying to bring forth independent voices from Russia,” she said.
According to Cahoon, Pikene på broen has collaborated with cultural actors from the Russian Barents region over several years and met people who do not want to live in a country that is going to war. “There are many who want to present an alternative position, showing that we are on the same side. At the same time, we try to maintain a balance and show consideration for the Ukrainian voices we have in the festival.”
Another project featuring Russian artists is the festival bar. Known as the Nomadic Base, the bar is a regular feature of Barents Spektakel and is intended as a meeting place in the broadest sense of the term. This year it is organised by the formerly Murmansk-based festival Inversia, which has transitioned to a nomadic state. According to the Barents Spektakel website, Nomadic Base is, among other things, intended to be an “uncomfortable café.” Cahoon elaborated: “The Inversia festival are the organisers, and they have invited others to contribute, including international and Russian artists. It will be a melting pot of performance, music, bar, workshops and laboratory. We don’t even know exactly what we’re going to find there. The project is a work in progress and is intended to challenge us a bit.”
The article is translated from Norwegian.
