Murmansk

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Deconstructing Lenin and Three Conversations in Murmansk

Murmansk

View more documents from Terese Tveterås

Military-minded Му́рманск

Murmansk: The fools on the hill

Murmansk observations

View more presentations from Pétur Magnason.

Alienated Му́рманск

After a long trip through the north of Norway it was a special experience to cross the historical borders of Norway and Russia, where you immediately feel the huge culture difference in these two countries. Suddenly we were in Nikel, and all its cruel presence of industry touched every sense of my body. I even felt how the ground collapsed under my feet when I was walking around in this wasteland.

With my mind full of thoughts around the question of the embodied beauty of Nikel, we went into the bus and kept on driving to Murmansk…

When we were approaching Murmansk we drove with the view over the city for a long time, and I instantly felt like I was in a movie where machines had taken over the city. I was entering the Machineworld.

With every inhale I took I could feel the breeze of coal and the pollution hovering around in the air, I felt how my lungs filled up with toxic waste. Even the colours around me seemed diffused because of the pollution.

The sounds around me were not pleasant, but bursts and boom noises from the machines on the harbor. I can hardly remember hearing an animal sound, nor the sound of the sea that the people in the city should have access to. I felt like the machines had placed people and all living things in an “appropriate” place for them. Like tools in a toolbox. When looked over the city it looked like the railway and the trains where some kind of border or a barrier between where the machines live and where the people were placed.

“Sight isolates, whereas sound incorporates; vision is directional, whereas sound is omni-directional.”

-Juhani Pallasmaa

Man-Cave Urbanism

Murmansk observation

Most of the inhabitants in Murmansk live in monotonous prefab 4-7 storey concrete buildings, made in the post stalinistic era. These buildings are kept in a desaturated range of colours, primarily in grey tone and works as a enormous citywall, that sorround the city of Murmansk. The opportunity as an individual to make your own expression, is very limited. As a contrast to these colourless and standardised facades, you will find the garage communities.

In the Russian society the garage not only serves as a place for repairing and store cars, but has a even more multifunctional value. The garage works as a spaciousness for expression, where you as an individual can express yourself in your own 4*4 meter plot. It is a social and informel meeting point where politics can be discussed with friends, and a hiding place away from furious wives. In this way, the garage symbolize a space for making meaning, constructing identity and therefor can be considered, to have a fundamental value in the Russian culture.

The garages are often located in larger groups or garage towns, with up to several hundreds in each group. They are primarily standardised prefab constructions, but you have as an individual the oppurtunity to paint or decorate the facades, and make your own place unique. The colourful facades can in a small scale, be considered as a way to affect the city´s, grey and monotonous expression.

Murmansk: Impressions and Observations

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Kirkenes, The Artic development laboratory

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Kirkenes

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Read this!

General comment to all assignments #1 Landscapes in change - observations:
-the assignment intends to observe, explore and encounter spatial practices more than ‘wikipedian’ facts – let it show that you have been there, seen and observed, smelled the air, walked the streets and landscapes, met engaged and engaging people – allow yourselves to be touched and intrigued - let your Murmansk observation be an assemblage of spatial practices, narratives and observations of dynamics and substructures.... or what ever stories you encountered...!

All the best
G+M

Vardø, the new Black..

The size of the island is 3,7 km.

Since 1998, the town has housed a radar installation called Globus II.

It is the only arctic city in Norway (except from Longyearbyen, Svalbard).

The island is connected to the mainland via an undersea tunnel, built in 1983.

Vardø is the oldest city in Finnmark, founded 800, and got its city status in 1789.

Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, east of Saint Petersburg, Kiev and Istanbul.

During the 17th century, 91 men and women were burnt in Vardø, accused of witchery.

Moja på Tvoja is the name of a Russian-Norwegian language, used during the Pomor trade.

Vardø has the oldest fishing village in Finnmark, and has only remaining historical harbour in this region.

Our impression is that Vardø, the people living there, and the municipality, are concerned with participating in the development of their own future. Local entrepreneurs and the municipality are engaged in projects developing Vardø, projects that give something back to the place. Not once did we hear them compare themselves with the other towns in Finnmark. This is said, to be due to the ‘dark period’ Vardø went through in the eighties, where the population halfened. The mentality in Vardø today is to focus on themselves and what can be done in this area. Smaller projects such as restoring old buildings, participating in the Europan contest, or introducing site specific concepts that will increase tourism in Vardø, are good examples of this development. These are low key projects that give something back to the area, and stand as a contrast to private investors that exploit the natural resources as we have seen it in other parts of Finnmark. On the other hand this represents a challenge, as there is no big money invested into the place.

The way the town is put together gives an understanding of how long there have been settlements in the area. Historical buildings from different time periods, create layers and a series of ways of sensing the city. The placement of these buildings on the island or in the city centre, creates a dynamic within the town. An example of this is the Steilneset Memorial, placed on the west side of the island, seven minutes walk from the city centre, walking out there takes you into a whole new mindset, and the character of the city rapidly changes from housing areas to open landscape with the view towards the sea.

See you in Karasjok

See you in Karasjok

View more documents from Pétur Magnason.

Encountering northern landscapes

Hammerfest
Melkøya
Sennalandet
Alta rock carvings
vulnerable Vidda
Samediggi biotope
Kiberg
Barvika bird watching
Hamningberg - Pomor houses
Beach ridges - leavings from the land elevation
Vardø
Boat house (literally..)
Kirkenes
Bjørnevatn
Nikel
Murmansk

Encountering spatial practices in northern landscapes

A huge thank you to all the experts, informants, guides and helpers we encountered during our journey through Finmark and Kola:

Ingrid Neeraas Dahl & Øyvind Sundquist, planning department Hammerfest: presenting Hammerfest municipality’s view on planning

Snorre Sundquist, director Husbanken Hammerfest: explaining the role of husbanken in a historical and present perspective

Lene Edvardsen, academic director Husbanken Hammerfest: discussing what connects circumpolar communities: climate, renewal, indigenous issues

Reidar Nilsen, journalist: giving historical background of Hammerfest's shifting monocultures; whaling, fishing and now oil & gas

Jørgen Kristoffersen, municipal business manager Alta: presenting prospects and prosperities of Alta

Halvard Braseth, sociologist: reminding us of Zygmunt Baumann's words on Insecure security / Uncertain certainty / Unsafe safety

Sunniva Skålnes, architect / dr, senior advisor Samediggi Kautokeino: untangling the misconception of northern landscapes as untouched, enabling us to read its inscribed signs of history, narratives: cultures

Unni Steinfjell, duodji teacher Kautokeino: elucidating how practices and survival are connected to the ability to read details in the landscape

Inger Marie Nilut, joiker and teacher: telling about the position of joik in sami culture

Sara Marja Magga, information manager Samediggi: presenting the sami parliament

Tore Jan Gjerpe, engineer and social scientist Asplan Viak Karasjok: giving a radical view on Karasjok in past and present

Robert Jensen & Reidulf Ervik, politician & planning manager Vardø municipality: visioning the prospects of Vardø through projects and processes

Svein Harald Holmen, project manager: highlighting the importance of committed engagement and synergetic processes for renovation of historical buildings and sites
www.sveinharaldholmen.com

Tormod Amundsen, architect: exemplifying how a special interest and expertise develop unexpected potentials; finding, facilitating and promoting ornithological sites
www.biotope.no

Thomas Nilsen: illustrating the big view and prospects in the Barents region: a new border relation of unknown potential
www.barentsobserver.com

Fisherman: Kiberg running high on king crab economy

Jonny Andersen: the northern multiplicity man: fireman, fish-farmer, crab fisher, tourist guide, our excellent bus driver, and a lot more

Vanja Madsen & Guro Vrålstad, project managers Pikene på broen Kirkenes: mind the map; cultural complexity and initiative as a subversive act in a masculine environment
www.pikene.no

Stiger, Bjørnevatn mines: migrant workers and the structure of resource extraction in remote landscapes

Igor Shaitanov: our 24/7 indefatigable guide and gate opener to the undercurrents of Murmansk culture and night life

Dimitriy Borovkov, owner of Power Hit Radio and planner in the governor’s office: an overwhelming source of information and critical reflections about life in Murmansk in combination with a multiple involvement in cultural and political undercurrents

Guide & Elisabeth: introducing the underlying reasons for the appearance of Murmansk as a harbour to the north; the ice-breaker Lenin

Garage man: the Russian man in his kingdom; the garage

Evgeny Goman, theatre producer and director, teacher and idealist: working day and night for the idea of realising the first youth house in Murmansk – in spite of bureaucratic resistance

Planners at the planning department in Murmansk municipality showing plans and ideas for the city’s future development

Kautokeino - cultivated landscapes

Kautokeino is one of two cultural centers of the Northern Norwegian Samis today. It has close to 3000 inhabitants, of which 90% has sami as their mother language. The biggest industry is reindeer hurding. There is a slow reduction in the population. The unemplyment rate has been high, but is now decreasing.

Historically, the Samis lived as nomads in ¨lavvo¨ tents and their main livelihood was reindeer herding, sheep herding and fishing for which they used vast areas of land. Due to assimilation and centralisation politics after the 2. World War, houses were built in Kautokeino for the Samis in a typical suburbian linear model. These are not well suited for Samis lifestyle. Yet the samis have found new and creative ways to use their houses and gardens.

The Samis have lost a lot of their traditional culture and are working to (1) obtain the sámi culture and spread knowledge about the Sami people and their way of life, (2) preventing important hunting- and raindeer hurding areas from beeing ruined by industrialisation. Working with/for this they have the;

Sami Research Center, Sami and reindeer hurding highschool, Sami University College, Culturehouse, Sami Easter Festival, Sami Radio and Sami Filmcenter plus several smaller sami handcraft stores.

review #1 - Landscapes in Change / intro #2 - Vulnerability

Tuesday September 20 starting at 9.00, we'll review all your Landscapes in Change assignments:

expectations: define an expectation to the landscapes and/or cultures we will travel

observations: Spatial practices 1
-observations of spatiality and spatial practices at the locations we are visiting – for all to be observed at every lieu, but assignments are divided as follow:

-Hammerfest: Erlend / Jóna
-Alta: Dan / Yulia
-Kautokeino: Simeon / Terese
-Karasjok: Pétur / Niklas
-Vardø: Marianne / Mikkel
-Kirkenes: Robert / Silje
-Murmansk: all…

reflections: Spatial practices 2
-reflections on change..

Wednesday September 21 starting 9.00 we'll introduce next theme: Vulnerability.