Øystein Rø - co-founder and director of the 0047 architectural gallery (Oslo), head of the Transborder Studio, curator, researcher. He came to Moscow to participate in an open discussion "Pezaniki: Russian-Norwegian Neighborhood" organized by the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, about the emerging cross-border agglomeration on the border of Russia and Norway.
Archi.ru: Your gallery 0047 curated the Year of Architecture 2011 in Norway - the 100th anniversary of the national association of architects. Then there were conferences, open days in historical and modern buildings, other "interactive" events, but there were no official exhibitions [Archi.ru talked about the Architectural Festival 2011 in Oslo]. How did you come up with this strategy?
Oystein Ryo: We were appointed curators based on the results of the competition. We saw the Year of Architecture as a celebration in honor of the National Association of Norwegian Architects (NAL) and its members, so we wanted to "mobilize" its rank-and-file members to create this holiday themselves, rather than show some exhibition "100 Years of NAL" organized by "At the top". We have come up with new ways for NAL and its architects to work in dialogue with society. As a result, in 2011, more than a hundred events took place throughout Norway, and I believe that during the Year of Architecture, architects renewed their union and re-decided for themselves why it is so important for them to gather outside their offices - on this common platform for discussion and debate. which is NAL.
In the Year of Architecture, we questioned the usual way of enlightening society in architecture: it is very architecturally centric - all these traditional exhibitions with models … Too often architects like to talk exclusively with other architects. We made the organizers and participants of the Year look for other ways to popularize architecture. I think the result was impressive: it was TV and radio broadcasts, open debates, implemented projects, programs in the field of activism - different types of conversation about architecture.
In general, there is great potential in researching new ways of architectural enlightenment, and one of the successful examples is Moscow's Strelka Institute, which is beautifully integrated into city life through its summer program of public lectures.
The main event of 2011, the Oslo Architecture Festival, was the amalgamation of all these activities in one place for 10 days. At the same time, an international conference was held: we invited speakers - foreign architects to discuss how architects can participate in the development of society.
Archi.ru: And now you are organizing another conference - for the Oslo Architecture Triennial, which will take place in autumn 2013. What will it be?
O. R.: It will be part of a project by the Belgian studio Rotor, which is doing the main exhibition and has developed a curatorial platform for the entire triennial, and we are responding to the tasks set by it. The theme of the triennial is “Behind the Green Door”: it is dedicated to the idea of “sustainability”, its historical and contemporary values and its place in architectural practice.
We are hosting a conference entitled The Future of Comfort, in which we look at comfort as the driving force behind architectural creativity and the environmental implications of the everlasting pursuit of ever greater comfort and luxury. We want to talk about how architecture can create a more “sustainable” lifestyle, how architects can help people start living in a way that does not harm the environment as much as they do now. We will look at architecture as a "mediator" that influences the conditions of human existence and sets the framework for a new way of life.
Archi.ru: In 2009 you published a book about the Barents Region "Northern Experiments" based on the Barents Urban Survey 2009 [Excerpts from this book were published in PROJECT International # 30]. What has changed in these territories since then?
O. R.: Three important things happened. The most important event is the settlement of the territorial dispute between Russia and Norway and the establishment of the state border between them in 2010. Now the political map is fixed, and the game can begin, so to speak. Another milestone is the introduction of a border pass for local residents of both countries, by which they can cross the border as often as they like. This can really change the use of border areas.
Another topic is the development of the Shtokman gas field, a large-scale Norwegian-Russian-French project that was supposed to become a key one for the future of the Barents Sea. It has now been canceled, and this is a major change - probably for the better. This reminds us that the world is changing and the role of this region may change as well.
Archi.ru: On June 7, you took part in the discussion "Pezaniki: Russian-Norwegian Neighborhood" at the Strelka Institute. What was the most interesting for you there?
O. R.: The most interesting was the message of the former Russian consul in Kirkenes, Anatoly Smirnov, about plans to build a new port in the Pechenga bay (fjord). This means that new types of activities will come to the border areas, their capabilities can be interpreted in a new way. This will be an important step in developing the potential of the region. It also means the demilitarization of the Gulf, because now it is controlled by the military.
The second interesting topic is the conversation that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will present a plan to clean up the zone of the Pechenganikel chemical plant (this company of Norilsk Nickel is located in the village of Nikel and the town of Zapolyarny). It will be great if this turns out to be true, because this area of ecological disaster is in dire need of change.
Archi.ru: But if we leave aside the ecological catastrophe and military facilities that hinder the development of this region, there remain the general problems of life in the Far North. For example, in the polar regions of Canada, in Greenland, there is a high level of unemployment, alcohol consumption, etc. And what is the current socio-economic situation in the north of Norway?
O. R.: For a long time there were problems there too: people were constantly leaving, especially young people, but now the situation is changing. In Finnmark county the population is growing now, and in the border commune of Sør-Varanger (which includes the city of Kirkenes) many municipal posts are vacant to fill them, new people are needed - and they come, but even more are needed.
Finnmark is still a region with a lot of government support: subsidies, a special tax system. Residents are reimbursed for part of their education loans, and there are other financial incentives to encourage people to live and do business there. But the moment when these measures are no longer necessary will come sooner rather than later, as I believe.
Archi.ru: There are mines and other "non-ecological" enterprises there. What is the Norwegian state doing to neutralize their negative impact on the environment?
O. R.: In my opinion, the state is doing too little, it could be more interested in this problem. After all, a new issue has been added to the agenda - the formation of a new mining industry in Norway, especially in the north of the country. The term “colonial model”, which Tatyana Bazanova [Head of the International Relations Department of the Pechenga District of the Murmansk Region] used to describe the financial model of Norilsk Nickel’s operation in the Pechenga District during our discussion at Strelka, refers to the mining industry’s favorite behavior in general.
I think that this will be a key topic in the future discussion about the development of the Arctic, it is very relevant for Norway, especially for the mining industry, because such companies are doing the same there. They do not pay the local tax to the municipality - only the people working in the mines pay it. But in Kirkines, most of the miners do not live there, but only work for a week, and then fly home and pay taxes there. So Kirkenes gets nothing but ruined nature. This is a kind of modern colonialism. It is “not sustainable” and therefore cannot remain a way of mining in the future, at least in Norway - or Russia, for that matter.
In Norway, these companies invest as little as possible in the local economy. This is a striking difference from how things were about a century ago, when Kirkenes was founded. Then the mining enterprise was responsible for everything: housing, infrastructure, social support of the population. It founded the city because it needed people to live there and live well. And now companies are reducing their responsibility to a minimum.
We had a training workshop at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design focusing on the new mining industry - not only in Norway but around the world. Mining companies are capturing new and still undeveloped territories on land and even under water: we are witnessing their dramatic, unprecedented hunt for minerals, which is changing the topography of the Earth.
Archi.ru: If we take the Arctic as a developing global region, how can architects benefit there?
O. R.: Architects can develop urban development models for the North, design methods for cities and towns. These should be new types of cities, harmoniously combining built-up and natural environments. This is absolutely necessary given the growing activity of people in the Arctic and the fragility of the local nature. I think that architects can and should be the driving force behind the “sustainable” development of the Arctic.
