On my first day walking around Oslo waiting to find the accommodation, I had a discussion with a shopkeeper about snow. I was hoping to experience the famous Norwegian snow covered landscape. Growing up in the UK in the West Midlands snow to me feels rarer and less spectacular than in my childhood memories. Snow that settles in the UK appears to have been replaced my rain. The shopkeeper I was chatting to told similar stories of Oslo – the amount of lying snow decreasing year on year. It is unsettling to think that a place made so magical by it’s winter climate is changing so quickly people notice it on the scale of a single adult lifetime. I began to consider how lack of snow might effect ecosystems particularly plants that shelter in the snow during the winter and how river flows might increase. As a longterm boat dweller I have been lucky enough to travel extensively on the canals and rivers of the UK and noticing changes in waterways and its effects on navigation is a common preoccupation of mine. Our accommodation was wonderful and I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to spread time with fellow artists and in reflection this time spent sharing ideas was the most valuable part of the trip.
The following day it snowed. We woke up excited as snow had settled across the ground transforming the landscape. We went to meet Madeleine Park, curator of the RAM Gallery buzzing with excitement. Following this meeting I went for a walk around the Fjord with fellow BHC artist David Checkley. We went to Losaeter an amazing communal space encouraging art and food production initiated by the art collective Futurefarmers. Losaeter is located in Bjorvika, a former port, right on the edge of the Fjord. In the centre of the farm are two tall concrete towers that are ventilation for the road tunnel below. Loeseter is made up of a grain field and allotment gardens and a beautiful cooking and art space building in the shape of a hull of a ship. The site is surrounded by contrasted new city developments – glass modern buildings, a new opera house reflecting a modern capital city. One of the issues I have been considering as part of this research is the global carbon emissions from ‘smart’ technology we describe as ‘virtual.’ Virtual communications have a real impact on climate change. This is increasing as the number of people using the internet increases and the data we create through IoT constantly monitoring our environment/urban spaces increases.
The power usage of my smart phone became more obvious to me in Norway as the battery ran out quickly in the colder climate. Using Google Maps to navigate in the city whilst in a car can decrease carbon emissions by drivers using more efficient routes but as a pedestrian in Norway using this service to navigate watching my phone battery decrease I realised my walking was not carbon neutral. Standing on the edge of the Fjord lead me to consider the ‘wildness’ of the landscape of Norway. As a boat dweller I consider myself to live as ‘close to nature’ as the UK allows. I feel very protected by in my environment in the UK, never far away from people or means of communication and a temperate climate. I sometimes think this can lead to a disconnect with environmental issues and an apathy towards climate change. I am interesting in exploring more of Norway and on the last day took a train into the forrest to explore. For me this was in many ways the most rewarding part of my visit. Getting out of the city and witnessing the edge of the forrest, walking for hours alone in the trees I was aware of how much of the country I did not understand and wish to return to experience.
