Mapping The Twist

It started with two artists chatting over a coffee in their studio collective. They had both moved back to Umeå after stints in larger cities, and discussed the possibilities to develop their art careers in a smaller town in the north.

Looking at their geographical position - far far away from the capital in the south, Stockholm, they wondered how artists in the same situation - but in the neighbouring countries of Norway and Finland - were dealing with the same issues and obstacles. They decided to find out.

Trondheim, Umeå and Vasa are three fantastic cities in the north on the same latitude, but they have little communication. Though actually neighbours, the lack of infrastructure makes the cities feel very far apart. 
Eight artists from this area decided to narrow the gap - to come together to exchange knowledge, develop ideas and to see if we could reach further together. Instead of directing focus toward the southern major Scandinavian cities, to instead look sideways and then further out into the wider world.

Please continue reading for a glimpse of our journey so far.

Part 1: Twist the Map

We received Opstart funding from the Nordic Culture Fund for ' Twist the map': a project for knowledge exchange between artist communities in Trondheim, Umeå and Vasa. Through visits in each location new relationships were formed and we had the opportunity to share experiences, opportunities and challenges. The group taking part was diverse but some commonalities could be identified. The takeaway from these conversations were:

1) a will for potential new models and ideas for artistic practice/survival (helping each other position ourselves outside Scandinavia) that we would like to explore further, and

2) common artistic interests to do with our specific location in the Arctic region with several artists interested in exploring the landscape collectively

Part 2: Mapping the Twist

After initial networking in Trondheim, Umeå and Vasa we decided to apply for more funding through the Nordic Culture Fund to delve deeper into these questions - and our project, Mapping the Twist, was supported. The project consisted of three strands:

- AR(c)T MBA: a networking and artist support programme for artists based in the Southern Arctic and above, including seminar series with invited speakers that we want to learn from and connect with

- 'Evocative Landscape- Short residencies for networking and artistic collaboration,  to sites in the north of Scandinavia

- Artistic explorations and curatorial programming that resulted in the travelling exhitbition  Lay of(f) the Land

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