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NYKSUND RELOADED


How can we adress future challenges through materials of the past?

"Nyksund Reloaded" is an international artistic research initiative that seeks to preserve and reactivate the legacy of "The International Nyksund Project" (INP) through media art and materials of the archive. The INP was an innovative socio-pedagogical and environmental programme that took place in Nyksund, a former fishing village in Northern Norway, between 1984 and 1992.

The INP was a West-Berlin initiative that aimed to create an "international youth city" where young people were given agency over their own futures. Nyksund, once a thriving fishing village, was abandoned in the 1970s due to centralization policies and technological advancements in the fishing industry. As the village fell into decay, students and professors from the Technische Universität (TU) in West Berlin, with approval from the local community, moved to Nyksund to realize their vision.

The project was groundbreaking for its time, developing innovative technological solutions for eco-living, such as windmills, biogas generators, and solar panels for Arctic conditions. It also pioneered new practice-led youth pedagogies and peace work through dialogue. The participants started from utter scratch as there were no infrastructure left at the site. Houses were repaired, and a community was established - by mere labor and grassroot organization. A Foundation called Quabs, was established to include the local community.

The overarching vision was to establish an "International Youth City"—an eco-utopia focused on sustainable living. Over 3,000 young people from West Berlin and across Europe participated in the project during its active years. In 1988, the International Nyksund Project was awarded the EU's Environmental Prize in the "Cultural Heritage" category, recognizing the project's innovative approach that integrated international understanding, environmental protection, cultural heritage preservation, and job security. The jury praised the project's "consistent and persistent pursuit of its goals" and its "rare combination of creativity and perseverance."*

However, by the early 1990s, the project faced decline due to various challenges. Despite its significant role in Nyksund's survival and the development of a unique space that attracted both local and international visitors, the INP was largely forgotten. Its legacy remained scattered in the personal collections of former participants, with no formal archive established—until now.

"Nyksund Reloaded" aims to revive the INPs legacy for future learning in our current era of ecological and political crises. The project involves gathering and systematizing a digital, searchable “artistic archive” of documents and images from former participants and others involved in the INP. This archive will serve as the foundation for new artistic and research-based works that explore and reinterpret the materials. Through media art, the project is developing innovative ways to immerse audiences in Nyksund and the INP's legacy, using technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As part of its efforts, "Nyksund Reloaded" is using photogrammetry to digitize a former fish factory in Nyksund, transforming it into a digital space for exhibitions and learning. The project is also building a global network of similar initiatives, where art plays a pivotal role in revitalizing rural communities and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Thus the Nyksund Reloaded Project consists of three core components: THE ARTISTIC ARCHIVE, THE ARENA, and the NETWORK. More details will be available soon through the links below.

Led by Elisabeth Brun and Katja Pratschke, "Nyksund Reloaded" is developed by the NODES Collective, which emerged from this project. The collective includes key contributors such as Elisabeth Brun, Katja Pratschke, Gusztáv Hámos, Nicole B. Pedersen, Ivar Kjellmo, and Rune Mikkelborg. The project's development is closely tied to the contributions and insights of former INP participants, including Grethe Andreassen, Wolfgang Eschenhorn, Burkhard Herrmann, Anne Beate Hovind, and Harald Sommer, among others.The archive is developed in collaboration with the think tank Urbanum, represented by Gezá Kulszar and Laura Luga.

Other collaborators:

ZKU - Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik
Kultursamarbeidet Vesterålen / Nordland Academy of Art and Science / AiR Vesterålen
Technische Universität, department for Architecture and Fine Art by Prof. dr. Stephanie Bürkler
Henrik Steffens Professorship, Humboldt University Zu Berlin, with Prof. dr. Dagny Stuedahl
Westerdahls Department for Film and Media, Kristiania University College


Image credits: Harald Sommer, Carsten Lüring, Katja Pratschke, Elisabeth Brun, Ivar Kjellmo.

*Jury-statement 1988, Europäischer Umweltpreis, Bonn.


THE ARTISTIC ARCHIVE

THE ARENA

THE NETWORK






Nyksund Reloaded is supported by:




Events:

Exhibition, House of Broken Utopias, interactive and immersive artwork by NODES Collective, Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF), 20.09-20.10.2024

Digital Vandring. Walk-through of Fryseriet as a digital space and presentation of Nyksund Reloaded. Fortellerfestivalen. Nyksund. 07.09.- 08.09.2024

Experimental essay, “Utopian Signals and an-Archival Impulses: transmitting the 1980´s eco-Utopia of Nyksund”, in development with Metode, Vol. 3: “Currents - Regenerating pasts for the not-yet.” ROM for kunst og arkitektur. First workshop 12.06.2024. Second workshop 23-24.09.2024

Invited talk and workshop, “Re-activating a 1980s Utopia  through Collaborative Media Art.”  Henrik Steffens Masterclass: Creativity and Collaboration, Humboldt University zu Berlin, 06.06.-08.06. 2024

Paper / demo of work in progress AR@K symposium: The Artist, the Ghost and the Machine, Kristiania University College, Oslo. 19.03.2024

Invited talk, Art in the Village, Art in the Landscape Symposium, Sophia University, Tokyo. Online. 07.12.2023

Workshop Nyksund, Northern Norway, Nyksund Reloaded. Founding of the NODES Collective. 02.08 -21.08.2023

Residency for Elisabeth Brun, Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, with Nyksund Reloaded.26.06-03.07.2023









Running on Cargo