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HOUSE OF BROKEN UTOPIAS (2024)
Variable dimensjoner. VR + Archival material.

Lofoten International Art Festival LIAF, 20.09.-20.10.2024

Curated by Kjersti Solbakken

 



NODES Collective (Elisabeth Brun, Ivar Kjellmo, Gusztáv Hámos, Katja Pratschke, Nicole C. B. Pedersen, Rune Mikkelborg)

The House of Broken Utopias is an evolving, immersive and interactive VR experience and archive exploring the function and failures of Utopias. Utopia here refers to desires and aspirations for a transformed existence − ethical signals manifested in artistic, societal, and cultural practices. How can artists and scholars receive and transmit these signals for future gain?

The work centers on utopian visions embedded in Nyksund, Nordland, a former fishing village abandoned in the 1960s and 70s. Over time, locals and visitors envisioned varied futures for Nyksund, from nature reclamation to amusement hubs. "The International Nyksund Project" (1984-92) also emerged, driven by eco-political ideas from central Europe. Supported by the municipality of Øksnes and led by students from Technische Universität West-Berlin, they repaired houses and implemented sustainable solutions like windmills and solar-cell showers. Over 3000 young people from West Berlin and Europe participated. Their original and eventually “broken” plan, was to build an international "youth village" giving young people agency over their futures. “The International Nyksund Project” was central to Nyksund's survival, giving it an international flair due to the place´s concentration of utopian desires. HOUSE OF BROKEN UTOPIAS includes material from the Nyksund Berlin Artistic Archive (NBAA), preserving and reactivating the project's legacy.

The VR experience explores layers of utopian desires embedded in Fryseriet − a modernist green cube for fish processing built in 1950. By the 1970s, it stood empty, mirroring Nyksund’s desolation. Fryseriet later offered a space for artists, housing exhibitions, concerts, and experiments. Today, it contains layers of signals pointing to diverse desires and activities envisioning various possible futures. The NODES Collective explores these signals by digitizing Fryseriet's structure for an immersive VR experience, allowing viewers to explore its rich material history.

Courtesy of the NODES Collective.
Supported by: The Nordic Culture Fund, The Goethe Institute Norway, The Berlin Senate for Culture and Europe, Culture Moves Europe and the Goethe Institute. 

The NODES Collective is an international artist group consisting of artists and researchers from Norway, Germany, Hungary and Denmark. The group emerged from the project «Nyksund Reloaded», which was initiated by the Oslo-based artist, filmmaker and researcher Elisabeth Brun and the Berlin-based media-artist and artistic researcher Katja Pratschke in 2022. Brun originates from a village close to Nyksund, Nordland. Pratschke lived as a young woman in 1980s West-Berlin. The NODES collective consists also of media artist and artistic researcher Gusztáv Hámos (Berlin/Budapest), Copenhagen-based sound artist Nicole B. Pedersen, Nyksund-based sound artist Rune Mikkelborg, and the Oslo-based 3D-artist Ivar Kjellmo. Kjellmo was also a participant in the “International Nyksund Project” in the late 1980s. Nyksund Reloaded as a project consist of the digital model of Fryseriet, as well as the Nyksund Berlin Artistic Archive which is in development.

Disclaimer: This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

Image credits: Kjell Ove Storvik / LIAF, Elisabeth Brun
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