October 15, 2022–January 15, 2023
Luleå Biennial 2022—Craft & Art, is hosted by Konstfrämjandet (The Peoples Movement for Art Promotion) Norrbotten, Sweden and is taking place throughout the region from October 15, 2022–January 15, 2023. Artistic directors, Onkar Kular and Christina Zetterlund have expanded its contemporary art remit to include crafts of many types. The biennial takes place through the three interconnecting formats of exhibitions, festival and Learning Room.
The biennial hosts exhibitions at Luleå Konsthall, Norrbottens Museum, Galleri Syster, Pontusbadet and Havremagasinet Länskonsthall. Shaped through listening and learning with Norrbotten’s history and creativity, the biennial weaves together local stories with global questions to form threads emerging from Ice and Snow, Extractivism and Crafting Beyond the Wasteland.
Invited practitioners and organisations to the biennial exhibitions include: Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám, Aunesgården, Berit Berin, Liu Chuang, Silje Figenschou Thoresen, Tekeste Solomon Gebremariam, Gunvor Guttorm, Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson, Korpilombolo Art Association, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, MADAM Snickeri & Restaurering, Tomas Magnusson, Olof Marsja, Elena Mazzi, Erika Nordvall Falck, Helmer Osslund, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Julia Rensberg, Johannes Samuelsson, Susan Schuppli, Himali Singh Soin, Katarina Spik Skum, Søstrene Suse, Rosa Taikon, Post Workers Theatre, Georg Tiller, Mikhail Tolmachev, Rosa Tolnov Clausen, Ida Isak Westerberg, Doris Wiklund and Lena Ylipää.
The biennial opened with a festival stitching a relational map of geographic connections through workshops, exhibitions, seminars and performances across regional venues and organisations. Here the biennial has attempted to decentralise its normal operation to go to places where craft and art practices in-situ tell their own compelling stories. Collaborators include Berits Straw Craft Museum at Sörbyn-Sundsnäs Homestead Museum, Jukkasjärvi Church, Kiruna City Library where works from Kiruna Municipality Art Collection are exhibited, Korpilombolo Art Association, Sameslöjdsstiftelsen Sámi Doudji in Jokkmokk and The Sami Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok, Norway.
Recognising the expansive geography of Norrbotten, the Learning Room is a testing ground to generate new insights and knowledge with crafters, artists, and regional organisations. Operating both as a physical and virtual space the Learning Room invites guests to artist talks, making circles and workshops. The Learning Room is made possible through collaborations with Aine Art Museum, Garland Magazine, Haparanda Municipality’s Cultural Department, KUBN (Culture organisation for young people and children in Norrbotten), Norrbotten’s Crafts Advisor and Resurscentrum för konst.
Throughout the biennial the Learning Room screens loaned and commissioned films by filmmaker Karl-Oskar Gustafsson, the first Gulahallan ja birgen produced by Luleå Biennial in collaboration with Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám, Gunvor Guttorm and Laila Susanna Kuhmunen is now available online. Loaned films included, Duoji máttut—Vætnoen maadtoe—Duoje máddoinformation and A conversation about leather tanning produced by Sameslöjdstiftelsen Sámi Duodji.
Forthcoming Learning Room events include:
November 8 and 22, December 6, 6:30–8:30pm
Weaving circles led by textile artist Ida Isak Westerberg and Norrbotten’s Crafts Advisor.
November 16, 6–7:30pm
Ice Records with Susan Schuppli.
December 2–9 (open daily)
Weaving Kiosk with Rosa Tolnov Clausen in Haparanda/Tornio.
December 5, 6:30–8pm
What do we learn from making? The journey of Garland magazine with Kevin Murray.
December 10, 12–4pm
Bitcoins and Berries, talks and film screenings with Marina Otero Verzier, Benjamin Gerdes, Johannes Samuelsson and guests.
December 10, 12–4pm
Carving circle led by Tekeste Solomon Gebremariam at the European Festival of the Night in Korpilombolo.
January 10, 6–7:30pm
Artist presentation and screening of Autohoodening: The Rise of Captain Swing by Post Workers Theatre and Infinite Opera.
January 14
Earthed Imagination, biennial finissage with guest workshops and talks. In collaboration with Urgent Pedagogies & IASPIS, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts.
Note: All times indicated are CET, and some events are held in Swedish. For more detailed information about Learning Room events and locations please visit here.
