settlements in Norway here they lived in
caves 9,000 years ago today the island
is home to some 500 people making it one
of the smallest and most remote
municipalities in Norway as everywhere
else urbanization makes small places in
the outskirt very aware of the constant
threat of depopulation just like it was
a hundred years ago when Norwegians
emigrated to nations overseas before I
go into how we are working with creative
collaborations between outsiders and
locals to fight depopulation today I’d
like to share a story it’s a story of
hundred years and ten thousand nautical
miles from Holmen in Tirana to Honolulu
in Hawaii in 1898 Theodore Holman an 18
year old man from tirana left his home
to begin a journey which took him to
Hawaii he emigrated just like hundreds
of thousands other Norwegians during
this time period three years later his
little sister Alma was born she grew up
and lived all her life in Tirana despite
the distance the brother and sister
managed to communicate with each other
from one side of the globe to the other
three years or as soon as Alma was old
enough to start reading tarot wrote
letters directly to her three months
later they arrived in China in this way
they slowly got to know each other but
they never met in 9025 Alma received the
package
bigger than just a letter opening it
finding out it was a camera a code
ematic a machine should never seen
before she had to write to the brother
asking how is this supposed to work it
took three months for the letter to
reach him another three months to get a
reply then the camera became an
important object in almost life and also
for the rest of the community with an
expressed wish from the brother of
documenting his home I London sending
the best pictures to him ten thousand
nautical miles away she committed to the
task and captured the island and its
people throughout the rest of the
century theatre received pictures of
better and better quality but he never
returned home he died in America leaving
no other traces than the letters sent to
Norway and alma she never got the chance
to visit him she died 1997 the same year
as internet made its entrance today we
easily send messengers and snapshots two
brothers and sisters all over the globe
it takes three seconds rather than three
months to send and it takes three
seconds for it to disappear but the
letters and pictures that Almonte are
sent they’re still here 100 years later
some thousand copies or negatives from
Alma and 150 letters from theatre have
been kept their exchange of letters and
pictures is a personal documentation of
an entire century capturing migration
economic growth The Wall Street Crash
the first world war and the second one
portrayed by two siblings from two
different island communities on the on
the opposite side of the
hello how can we know all this now how
can I tell this story well thanks to
collaboration from a person coming from
outside and some truly engaged local
people one day photographer and
archivists my artistic came to the
island finding out that this story was
lying here just waiting to be told she
saw the potential of the story and
wanted to make it a national example a
time capsule from this period of history
and she initiated to take care of all
the photos and letters before they were
two were destroyed by time but she also
wanted to add new layers to the story
bringing it back to relevance today for
example during the Second World War
there was a regulation in Norway forcing
people to where ID cards since Alma was
the one with a camera on the island she
took pictures of everyone who lived in
tirana at that time also some 500 people
with this we get an excellent view of
all who lived there but the photographer
Maya wanted to add her layer to the
story what about taking new pictures of
all people living in China today with
Alma’s old camera the same one that was
sent from Honolulu 1925 she is now
capturing all people living in China to
see who we are now but also set them
aside and see who they were before us
and questioning who we want to become
tomorrow because this story is not told
just to be dreaming of the past it’s
also for creating a tomorrow what can we
learn from persons coming from outside
seeing our history with their own
perspectives giving it as a gift to us
sometimes you did you don’t even know
that
your story is unique and sometimes
searching in history gives us new
perspectives on things that we are
dealing with today such as migration
immigration depopulation creating
sustainable societies and depopulation
is a constant theme along the coastline
in northern Norway and even if it is we
are actually experience the opposite
once a year in Tirana the population is
10 times multiplied how come well thanks
to collaboration between people coming
from the outside and some truly engaged
local people one day our lamo good
lotion came up with an ID what about
creating the most unexpected festival
out here in the cave where the first
settlers lived with international
musicians standing on the naked cliff
and using the cave as a natural stage
and get the audience spreading out in
the slope some people at the island
probably said no that’s a crazy idea
it’s not possible while others said
that’s a crazy idea is it possible let’s
try it today travel festival on is a
success bringing people together from
far and near and setting the scene for
some majestic days to remember not only
for the celebrities that that comes from
outside but also for the local ones who
lives here and experience once a year
that the everyday view turns into a big
celebration of their home well after
success it’s easy to applaud the man
behind the great ID but I’d also like to
applaud those who dared to say yes to
this crazy ID daring to welcome creative
minds from outside with your own local
impotence it’s what it’s all about very
easy to say yet something quite
difficult to do it takes training but
when you succeed with these
collaborations and creative combinations
something happens some people call it
added value others innovation or just
magic or as world-famous artist manager
once put its drama paradise only closer
I agree but 13 years after the summer
festival it was time for another crazy
vision this one goes back to a letter
that theater once wrote to his little
sister Alma sitting in Honolulu the
tenth of January 1922 he was a longing
to experience something else than
sunshine I wish I could be with you a
day in real cold weather hmm he was
longing for those days in tirana that
makes the life at the island to what it
is the shitty weather the storms the
roughness maybe it was not until he
gained an outside perspective that he
could really verbalize the charm of
drift back shitty weather from this a
new ID was born what about create the
most unexpected festival out here during
the wintertime the peak season of
hurricanes and storms inviting people to
come and experience how life here really
is as a tribute to theaters words and to
everything that makes life at the Arctic
Circle far out at sea hard yet fantastic
the Winter Festival tarana taken by
with this festival or gathering we want
to discuss and celebrate this changes
that are along the Norwegian coast line
and inviting other small communities and
people who wants to be a part of that
discussion creating our own future and
well celebrating these perspectives of
collaborations with festivals every year
is great but working and using these
values on an everyday basis is even
better today we are working with
long-term development in trauma one of
the smallest municipalities in Norway to
see what we can become in the future
nine thousand years from then and nine
nine thousand years to come and setting
up a structure like that we need to look
for new Islanders so our our our in
residency program is a part of that
structure artist-in-residence business
in residence and chefs in residence
since 2015 more than 150 projects have
applied to come to our little island and
make creative contributions to and with
the local community they get free
housing and we get free creative minds
to collaborate with it’s a win-win it
ends up with us for example a book and
new outdoor venue food products or
happening or as in this example this
summer a group of young architects came
to Tirana with an idea of renovating the
oldest boathouse we have hmmm it was
almost totally destroyed by every storm
that has been but they wanted to create
a new meeting place by the sea welcome
coming us out into the water
into the warm in September our public
sauna was opened and I can assure you
almost no Islander thought that they
needed a sauna now if they do the the
residency program is not just for coming
making quick fixes but with our open
call we want to we want people to
actually come and try out the life at
our islands living there working there
being one of us instead of advertising
about how good the life is like other
traditional meanest parties do we give
people the possibility to pack the bag
and try it out and judge it themselves
our first artists-in-residence guest was
a seaweed pioneer we will meet her later
tonight prize-winning startup the
northern company came in contact with us
they wanted to look for new
possibilities for developing seaweed
products from our freshen wild water up
there as the Asian cuisine is largely
based on seaweed and since we need to
feed the world with more sustainable
food we thought that this was a really
interesting field to be a part of of
course someone at the island said
seaweed we don’t even give it to the
cows anymore some also said yes that’s a
fantastic idea one year later they are
working with establishing a firm in
tirana creating new workplaces and
collaborating with a local fisherman
using the old fish factory for a new
purpose with their work they are
activating a whole little Society and at
the same time making us know that the
rest of the world is interested in
something we didn’t even know we had
being able to combine the creative
forces coming from outside of Tirana
with our own local competences history
tradition and resources is the main
learning here we can build strong
relations overseas and two decades
across disciplines and cultures if we
dare to let people in what will happen
next well urbanization will most likely
continue and some small places will
continue depopulate but i think all
societies big or small has the potential
to sustain if they dare to let people in
say yes and collaborate with outsiders
thank you
[Applause] [Music]