Notes from the deep to the cold peace 1989-2025

Artist book with notes and photo copies.
English and Norwegian text.

Notes from the deep to the cold peace 1989-2025 is a collection of personal notes and images related to the three projects Deterrence and Reassurance, Presence, the unrealised memorial Bjørnelva Memorial – and to growing up in Northern Norway.

The artist book is available in two bound copies, one in English and one in Norwegian. The content of the book will be part of the upcoming publication Deterrence and Reassurance.

Excerpt from the book:

April 16, 2025, Bergen.

I spent my teens in the small town of Harstad in the 1990s – from today’s Norwegian perspective, a period of ‘deep peace.’ I was into environmental protection and crushes, being deep and looking cool. The picture above was taken as I was getting ready to go on a journey with my Mom’s backpack. The Wall had just fallen, the Iron Curtain was lifted, the Cold War was over, and the world was opening up. The time had come for change, peace, disarmament, and care for nature. Perhaps I wasn’t quite so optimistic at the time, caught up in my teenage stuff in a small town that I couldn’t wait to leave. In the rearview mirror, though, it still seems that way, in contrast with a contemporary world riddled with armament, new and old wars, and climate and environmental crises.

For the last five years, I have worked on projects that, in various ways, are tied to the visible military presence in Northern Norway, security policy concepts, and the politics of memory. In my art, I am mostly oriented towards phenomena in the outside world rather than myself. While working on the exhibition “Deterrence and Reassurance”, the public commission “Presence” and the uncompleted Bjørnelva memorial site at Saltfjellet, however, notes, documents, and memories from the time and place of my upbringing kept coming up. They intermingled with the process as remnants of the generational experience of someone who grew up in the North during the era of “deep peace.”

Production:

Book binding: Elle-Hánsa/Hans Ragnar Mathisen
English translation: Halvor Haugen

The artist book is produced with support from Tromsø Kunstforening /Romssa Dáiddasiida.

The texts and images will be part of the forthcoming publication Deterrence and Reassurance, The Festival Exhibition 2024, published by Bergen Kunsthall and Mondo Books. Editors: Silja Leidsdottir and Mai Lahn_Johannessen. The publication will be launched Fall 2025.