KUNST ER OVERALT
(ART IS EVERYWHERE)

This was created in response to a public art “call for work” to be produced along a route that has recently seen rampant private development and the construction of hundreds of new coastline apartment blocks for “professionals” on the outskirts of a traditionally working class, immigrant and industrial area of the city. The route, alongside the railtrack that links Stavanger with neighbouring city Sandnes has long been home to local & regional graffiti writers and more latterly stencil and street artists, yet the project excluded these artists, as most public commissions do, in favour of contemporary art projects from studio based artists deemed “professionals”. This regardless of whether these artists have any previous experience of working in public space with all the complexities and nuances involved in working within diverse communities.

The text reads “ART IS EVERYWHERE”, implying that the site already has it’s own cultural signifiers, markers and identity if only we’re prepared to take a closer look. The second work is mounted on the exhibition spaces at Tou Scene, one of the city’s largest exhibition spaces and home to Nuart.

Like most works on this page, it sets out to question who has the right, authority and power to define what is and isn’t a relevant form of public expression when attempting to “curate the city”, particularly when *trackside.

*note the 1UP van