blog.peterfagerstrom.net

Archive for the ‘Seminars and Conferences’ Category

Just back from a few days of talks and discussions in Copenhagen with a bunch of really smart people. Yet again a success as it has been the six times before this Oasis ( http://www.nurope.eu ). The Nurope Project is in it’s last phase and a new direction and form is in the making, however this process is not as easy as one could think as the group is very diverse and the process itself very open.

The project has created a strong network between the participants and spin-off projects have emerged during these two years that the project has been going on. Some of them were presented in Copenhagen as a basis for future discussions.

For me personally these seven Oases (conferences) have formed a kind of, vision of, what I want to develop in regard to a personal development regarding issues discussed on these meetings. The very open and including atmosphere during these oases has for me been most important, even though I have no or near to no background in Art, Philosophy and Enterprise. I feel like I have been a part of the group and there has always been someone that explains this part or that to me even though some of my questions have been very basic.

When this journey started out I frequently called myself an Art Virgin – meaning that before this moment I’d had no “real” contact with art (if i exclude music that is). Now during two years I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a multitude of artwork with a growing interest.

In Stockholm about 7 months ago someone guided me gently through a part of the “Moderna Museet” and opened my eyes. Before that I’d felt some pieces “talk to me” but I’d not really had the confidence to trust myself in regard to that experience. The Truth is Out There, as well as in here. This is part of the Nurope experience to me.

to be continued…
This Text is powered by Nurope.

The latest oasis, the first in the 2nd expedition of the Nurope has just finished and I was again happy that I attended. During the days we met a lot of different people, to describe it a bit, we met “1/4th” of Laibach something of a national icon part of an awakening in Slovenia regarding media censorship public participation democracy philosophy etc. They told us about the process how they came to be, what the reactions were to their work, how they overcame some of the negative reactions and described to an extent how they work. One thing they said I can’t help but repeat

“You can’t come with flowers or you can but the idea is bizarre.”

This is I suppose is part of what I think art is, simple sometimes everyday things that can move or affect in a great way, “…a little bit”.

On Saturday a party was arranged in the City Museum, DJ Emil was playing. We, me and Kim had our first public screening of our road movie a rough cut version. To which we got some really good feedback and even some professional advice as some of the participants have a little experience in cultural productions.
The local hosts had done a wonderful job and everything worked very smoothly. We were mostly working in the City Museum but also had sessions walking around the city, at the ministry for commerce and Moderna Gallerija.

Ljubljana is one of my favourite cities in Europe and not because of the nice riverbank cafés or the great architecture, the nice small squares, the castle looking down over the city, no, those are just a small part, the nicest part of Ljubljana by far was the people! Friendly, helpful, nice, beautiful and smart ) Thank you all for making my stay a great one.

But back to the culturally vibrant side of town or in this case the capital of Slovenia. Ljubljana felt more alive than many other cities, and for me I think it’s partly because of the graffiti. The art form was everywhere but in most cases done very tastefully and with great skill. You often see graffiti and tags written all over and with most larger works on smooth surfaces. I was impressed that they in Ljubljana used the weave of the surface as a part of the piece. As an example, there was a city painted on a wall at an under-pass, however the wall was made up of vertical lines in the cement  ||||||||||||||||| this pattern was simply used as a part of the work and made into sky rises by painting windows on them short black lines simulating windows and floors the material painted on did the rest.

In ten days I will be attending the oasis in Istanbul and I look forward to the experience immensely.

During the past month I’ve taken part in an Environmental Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. A conference about Energy efficiency and a Partner Search Forum for the next EU, Baltic Sea Region (BSR) programme for 2007-2013. More to come about these two as well as other things I’ve picked up during this past month.

Documenta 12, I was visiting Germany between the 25th of June and the 3rd of July. I took part in the 3rd Oasis of the 1st Expedition with NUROPE, the Nomadic University of Art, Philosophy and Enterprise in Europe. http://www.nurope.eu We visited and discussed the 12th Documenta an exhibition of contemporary art. For a little bit of information about the Documenta 12 visit http://www.documenta12.de.

For me personally it was a crash (course) into the world of contemporary art, having a background in natural science makes the art world for me something new and interesting. Combining this with philosophy as well as theories of business and management makes it all the more exciting, however at times quite hard to grasp.

The reasons for why I’m taking part in Nurope and the different expeditions are quite selfish. I’m working on educating myself in one of the 4 aspects of a sustainable society. These being; Governance, Economy, Ecology, Social/Cultural. As I’ve studied 3 of the four aspects to some extent at university as well as during my work life (Governance, Economy and Ecology) I thought it was about time for me to get to know the 4^th one. I’ll be posting pictures from Germany on my Flickr account in the coming days http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterfagerstrom/ a few can be found there already. If you are a Nomad of Nurope reading this, please contact me and I’ll add you to the group Nurope on Flickr.